Famous people in soaring

On Tue, 16 Dec 2014 21:41:16 +0000, Rob Brown wrote:

On Thursday, August 30, 2012 11:07:59 PM UTC-7, Ramy wrote:
While Neil Armstrong was one of the most famous glider pilots, he
wasn't the only one.

Other famous people who where also glider pilots which I recall:

John Denver

Christopher Reeve (Superman)

Sully (Hudson landing pilot)



Others?

Bob Pearson (Gimli Glider)

Eric 'Winkle' Brown (test pilot)

I'm not sure how much gliding he did, but, judging by his comments on
'Desert Island Disks' he certainly did enough to understand the joys of
soaring. For those who haven't heard of him, here's a hint:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_%28pilot%29


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Tuesday, December 16, 2014 6:04:37 PM UTC-5, Martin Gregorie wrote:

Eric 'Winkle' Brown (test pilot)

I'm not sure how much gliding he did, but, judging by his comments on
'Desert Island Disks' he certainly did enough to understand the joys of
soaring.

Audio file

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nvgq1

At 17:57 25 January 2014, Richard Brisbourne wrote:
At 17:17 25 January 2014, David Salmon wrote:
At 15:14 05 September 2012, JohnDeRosa wrote:

BTW Peter Scott the naturalist, flew in many competitions in the
UK.

Dave

And if memory serves once won League One at the UK Nationals,
flying an Olympia 419.

Sir Peter Scott was National Champion in 1963, and was Chairman of the
BGA.

At 17:57 25 January 2014, Richard Brisbourne wrote:
At 17:17 25 January 2014, David Salmon wrote:
At 15:14 05 September 2012, JohnDeRosa wrote:

BTW Peter Scott the naturalist, flew in many competitions in the
UK.

Dave

And if memory serves once won League One at the UK Nationals,
flying an Olympia 419.


and I helped him rig for a relight on a day he won; does that make me
famous?

John F

At 22:09 24 December 2014, John Firth wrote:
At 17:57 25 January 2014, Richard Brisbourne wrote:
At 17:17 25 January 2014, David Salmon wrote:
At 15:14 05 September 2012, JohnDeRosa wrote:

BTW Peter Scott the naturalist, flew in many competitions in the
UK.

Dave

And if memory serves once won League One at the UK Nationals,
flying an Olympia 419.


and I helped him rig for a relight on a day he won; does that make m
famous?

John F

Ah, the heady days of trailer racing, what memories :-)

gives a whole new meaning to his epithet " the velvet fog "


On Sunday, September 16, 2012 12:25:30 PM UTC-4, Mike C wrote:
I know he did. In the summer of, I think, 1970 he was at Schweizer Soaring School where he was checked out by my father.

On Sunday, September 16, 2012 6:06:24 AM UTC-6, (unknown) wrote:
Correct - found this reference at http://www.german-way.com/famous-wernher-von-braun.html



In 1931, von Braun began learning to fly gliders, taking private lessons in Grunau, Silesia. He later became a skilled pilot, eventually flying everything from fighters to helicopters, but his goal of one day flying in space eluded him.



Would be interesting to know if von Braun did fly gliders in the US.



GM

che guevara flew gliders

On Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 11:07:59 PM UTC-7, Ramy wrote:
While Neil Armstrong was one of the most famous glider pilots, he wasn't the only one.
Other famous people who where also glider pilots which I recall:
John Denver
Christopher Reeve (Superman)
Sully (Hudson landing pilot)

Others?

Ramy (just signing my name, not claiming to be famous ;-)

Brian Dennehy took lessons back in the late 80s at Sailplane enterprises in Hemet, CA. Ray Stits, designer of the Stits Playboy homebuilt and developer of the "Stits" aircraft covering fabric system, also flew at Hemet.

Susan Oliver, actress and pilot.

On 6/25/2017 3:41 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 11:07:59 PM UTC-7, Ramy wrote:
While Neil Armstrong was one of the most famous glider pilots, he wasn't the only one.
Other famous people who where also glider pilots which I recall:
John Denver
Christopher Reeve (Superman)
Sully (Hudson landing pilot)

Others?

Ramy (just signing my name, not claiming to be famous ;-)
Brian Dennehy took lessons back in the late 80s at Sailplane enterprises in Hemet, CA. Ray Stits, designer of the Stits Playboy homebuilt and developer of the "Stits" aircraft covering fabric system, also flew at Hemet.

--
Dan, 5J

Dick Van Grunsven of RV- fame flys an electric motorglider