I agree. When I was starting out, the 1-26 class had events at local contests that were often well attended. We took our 1-26 to several regionals (pretty hopeless but I learned a lot). I flew it in the 1-26 North Americans held at our then home airport in Richmond, IN.

The 1-26 Associations even then had awards of various kinds for juniors. The assembled pilots at the old Chester, SC regionals one year were impressed when I was awarded a Replogle barograph (ask one of the old timers) as a prize, a $100 value at the time.

At many contests, the best 1-26 pilots were very good indeed, which is certainly still true at the 1-26 national contest. And you found yourself asking "how did they possibly do that?"...just like most of us ask ourselves the same question today at a regional or national contest.

No, I wouldn't want to go back to flying a 1-26 all the time now. But it was a great learning experience and a way to help develop soaring skills that could be applied then and in the future. And the chance that I would damage something in an off-airport landing (of which I had many) were less than in today's higher-performance ships.

So, yes, if there are 1-26s around at clubs that aren't being flown, encourage members to use them, after making sure they have received proper instruction and guidance.

Chip Bearden
First contest: Central Ohio Soaring Association (COSA) Annual Fall Roundup, Sep 1968, in 1-26 #36.