For any who are interested the BJ series of gliders began in South
Africa in the 1960's . Pat Beatty and Fritz Johl were the designers/
builders and eventually the series ran to a B-8( Later designs were by
Pat alone ) .
Pat Beatty was a member of the club I flew out of in Johannesburg the
1970's . He was a truly innovative designer and introduced many unique
ideas into his designs .
His wife Betty, also a glider pilot of some fame in South Africa -
mainly for pioneering wave flying in the Cape town area ( Betty's
wave) wrote a very interesting book entitled " Just for the Love of
Flying" which includes a chapter or two about the BJ series of
gliders . Sadly she and Pat died in a motor accident in 1991. Pat's
gliders including the BJ 2 and BJ 4 established a number of World
Triangle Speed records in the 1970's .