26 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2010
● Portsmouth Naval Gliding Centre’s new Duo Discus aircraft Pictures: LA(Phot) Chris Mumby
Sailplanes? Plain sailing HOBBY? Social activity? Sport?
Post-deployment downtime? Yes, yes, yes and yes. Gliding can be all these things – and Service personnel are in an ideal position to take advantage of the benefits of unpowered flight.
Those based in Hampshire are directed towards the Portsmouth
Naval Gliding Centre, one of three such operations in the Senior Service, Culdrose and Yeovilton being the others.
The Portsmouth centre, at the
old HMS Daedalus Fleet Air Arm airfield in Lee-on-the-Solent, has been in existence since 1947, and is the second largest Service gliding club in the country. Members already manage to cover 17,000km annually gliding around Lee and in competitions, using a fleet of six two-seat and five single-seat gliders, complemented by two tug aircraft and a professionally-built winch. Thanks to the RN & RM Sports
Lottery and the Nuffield Trust, the centre recently added a refurbished Duo Discus high-performance glider to the fleet (pictured left on her first outing over southern Hampshire and Portsmouth Naval Base). Designed mainly for fast cross-
country flying and gliding competitions, the Discus will be used to extend the scope of the training offered to members.
The centre, which operates every
weekend and Wednesday afternoons, can launch under most weather
conditions, with the tugs towing up to 4,000ft while the winch allows for cost-effective lower-level launches. Some members use the centre to
further a hobby, and a way of meeting new people. For others, it is an inexpensive way to get airborne, and some treat it as a cutting-edge sport, whether they prefer racing or aerobatics. The centre offers training to solo standard and beyond, the team of unpaid
but highly-professional
instructors encouraging students to achieve solo status and then build skills and gain experience through the British Gliding Association system of badge qualifications. Members compete in both
inter-Service and national gliding competitions,
and there are
opportunities to visit other Service and civilian gliding clubs in both the UK and Europe. Two one-week courses are run through spring and summer for pre- solo and post-solo pilots, and gliding qualifies as an adventurous training activity. Short courses for Service personnel returning from Afghanistan for rest
and recuperation are also run, and on several days at weekends the centre hosts groups from St Dunstan’s, the charity supporting blind and visually- impaired ex-Servicemen and women. Anyone wanting to learn to fly or
experience the sport will be welcomed at any of the three Naval gliding centres.
Details of the clubs can be found on
the Royal Naval Gliding and Soaring Association’s (RNGSA) website or the individual club websites, and you can ring the relevant centre to book a trial lesson or just take a look round. Portsmouth: Telephone 01329 287552 or see
www.pngc.co.uk Yeovilton: Call Nick Weaver on 07552 121255 or e-mail nick_
weaver@hotmail.com or Derek Marpole on 01935 863055 or 07966 237257, or David Green on 01935 850837 or 07843 661642 Culdrose: Telephone Tony Richards on 01326 221670 or 0780 8348450, or e-mail
tony@trevonehouse.fsnet.
co.uk For those based away from these
Navy sites the RAF and Army Gliding Associations offer a range of alternate opportunities across the country.
● Part of the Portsmouth Naval Gliding Centre’s fl eet on the ground at Lee-on-the-Solent
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