Club History
Although the Essex Gliding Club as it is known today was formed in 1960 the Essex Gliding Club is rich in history which can be traced back to 1930. Unlike the sport of gliding today, gliding in the early years was quite experimental with pilots gliding down a slope rather
than soaring high in the sky!
The First Essex Gliding Club
The Essex Gliding Club as it exists
today was formed in August 1960. During the next winter a winch was built and in
the following June the first glider was acquired and gliding commenced at North
Weald. Some information (and a few photographs) about an earlier Essex Gliding
Club has now been found and although there is no direct connection between it
and the present day club, as far as is known, these facts are worth recording as
part of the history of gliding in Essex.
The earliest mention of the first
Essex Gliding Club dates from 1930 when a nationwide revival of interest brought
about the formation of numerous gliding clubs. Most of these clubs disappeared
without trace very quickly but some (e.g., the London Gliding Club) are still in
existence today.
The Essex Gliding Club evolved from a
meeting of interested parties in a garage in Green Lanes, Seven Kings – adjacent
to the Seven Kings Hotel - owned by the Tapper brothers who were haulage
contractors. Their original gliding site was at Havering Park Farm, to the east
of what is now the Hainault Forest Country Park. The first Club secretary was W.
R. Bannister of Badlis Road, Walthamstow, who was a professional pilot and who
was lost with his aircraft in the English Channel (date so far unknown).
On two days in October 1931 an
international gliding competition took place at Balsdean, near Brighton.
Thousands of spectators attended despite poor weather and the “high performance”
sailplanes were unable to give of their best as the wind was too light for hill
soaring. The second day was cut short by sea mist. There were various
competitions for primary gliders and the records show that Tom Palmer of the
Essex Gliding Club won the spot landing class by landing on the spot – the
second place man missed it by eleven and a half yards! Palmer also won the
distance class with a flight of 660 yards and came second in the duration class
with a flight of 1 minute 12 seconds. He was flying a Dagling primary glider
built by RFD. Perhaps his previous flying experience on Sopwith Camels during
the First World War helped!
In 1932 records show a new club
secretary, a W. (Bill) Webster of Coombes Road, Dagenham who had also been a
pilot during the War – at one point on SE5as’ with the Royal Naval Air Service.
By 1933 the Essex Gliding Club had
moved to a new site at Theydon Bois (on the left hand side when arriving by
train at Theydon Bois station) on land rented from a local farmer, Mr. Smith,
and they possessed two gliders, both Daglings, one of which was fitted with a
nacelle. The nacelle was a streamlined plywood fairing which fitted around the
front half of the fuselage and according to Mr. Charles Ellis, who was a member
from 1932 to 1934, it increased the performance considerably. The gliders were
kept on site in a rented shed.
There were about 20 active members in
the early thirties although total membership was somewhat larger. Accidental
damage to the gliders was frequent and it was not unusual for members to arrive
on site only to find that neither glider was flyable. The instruction was very
rudimentary as the instructors were self taught and they used the solo method of
teaching, starting with ground slides and then eventually low and high hops
before becoming considered competent to try a full power bungee launch down the
slope. Charles Ellis remembers being taught by this method and he earned his “A”
badge No.339 at Theydon on 7th August 1933. (He moved to the London Gliding
Club at Dunstable in 1935 and there gained his “B” and “C” badges). An
alternative method of training was by car towing using a 1925 Studebaker. The
ends of the bungee normally pulled by the launch team were tied to the back of
the car and a length of rope was attached between the other end of the bungee
and the nose of the glider. The instructor sat in the car facing the glider as
it was pulled across the field, shouting instructions to the trainee pilot.
As far as is known, no soaring was done at these early sites – all flights were straight downhill glides. Fortunately, a few photographs of these early days at Theydon have survived and provide a fascinating glimpse of those early days of the Essex Gliding Club.
Geoff Martin
EGC Gliding Instructor
