YGC Blog

Wednesday 27th.  Rain in the morning with a light and variable wind eventually cleared to a W’ly with broken cloud, the conditions being warm and humid.  The clearence came too late for any flying to take place.

Thursday 28th.   It remained warm and humid and with the pressure dropping, it was another day of rain in the morning, showers during the middle of  the day and a thunderstorm in the evening although the site missed the worst of the storms, a supercell over the Midlands  and a line of thunderstorms over Newcastle causing extensive flooding with golf ball sized hail.  A planned evening visit by employees of Quorn at Stokesley became a simulator based flying experience due to the weather, but Brian’s supper and the Germany/Italy football match on the TV added to an evening enjoyed by the visitors who have already planned a further visit in September.

Northern’s Post Script.   Jane Knight, one of the visitors at the Northerns, has penned a poem of the week which is reproduced below, plus some photos showing a typical evening of DIY entertainment in the bar.  The last four photos, showing Sue Ahern’s sampling of the male attendees before finding Mike Aherne,  is, I am sure, only another example of the friendly nature to be found at the YGC.

 

THE BALLAD OF THE NORTHERNS 2012 by Jane Knights ©            

 

In days of old when knights were bold   

There was a knave called Andy,

Known in the parish of Sutton Bank

For being rather - handy.

 

For with his group of merry men

He set the tasks for flying

A thankless task for anyone,

There’s surely no denying.

 

His weather man was on the ball

 - well, nearly all the time

But weather’s unpredictable –

To get it wrong is not a crime!

 

Now Andy’s fair accomplice Sue,

Was serious in her role

And when giving out instructions

She was truly in control.

 

Part of the clan was husband Mike,   

He and Andy did the scoring

A job not liked by many men

It can be really boring.

 

In the bar were Jen and Charlotte,

Never with an unkind word

And Matt the Wiltshire troubadour

Who always struck a chord.

 

 

In the kitchen trooper Brian,

Served his pies and chips and peas,

Whilst his low-slung-breeched lad

Wore his crotch down to his knees!

 

Nay, forget not treasure Sarah

Who is such a jolly lass;

She did wait on us with pleasure

Whilst her ‘Little John’ mowed the grass.

 

To greet us when we first arrived

At this fine northern scene

Were Vicky and her dogs, with Anne,

Then Lady Josephine!

 

So here there came ten pilots bold, 

And fearless – on the whole,

All different shapes and sizes

There is no set pilot mould.

 

Now Old King Cole was a merry old soul

And his brother grim, but taller

Plus Graham – maybe a Morris man?

Even though he was much smaller!

 

Knaves John and Lemmy were worth a bob

- or half, as they kept winning,

And Wilko, Knight of Pocklington

Was rarely seen not grinning.

 

 

And then of course came Mr Bond;

Calm, unshaken, never stirred;

Older and wiser, possibly

Than Barry our r r r r racing bird!

 

Yes, Barry, sometimes unprepared (?!)

So is Peter – much the same

Between the two of them, they’d be,

To Colin – quite a pain!

 

But calm and patient is the man   

Sir Colin of the Troise,

All are grateful to this knight,

So rare to raise his voice.

 

‘What’s on’ said Reg, always so keen

And rarely had a rant,

‘Not sure – methinks I’ll take my time’

Said tuggy master Plant.

 

In fairness it was quite a week

High winds and driving rain,

Kept merry pilots on their toes

Whilst Andy went insane!

 

 

As we bade farewell to Sutton Bank

We shed a happy tear,

And we hope the weather’s better,

When we come again next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday 21st.  A deep depression moving in from the Atlantic meant a day of heavy rain and thunderstorms so there was no flying for either the club or Northerns pilots.

Friday 22nd.  The depression was slow moving over the UK bringing more rain for most of the day and strong SW’lies as the rain stopped, with the wind gusting to around 40 kts.  Consequently, there was no flying for anyone.

Saturday 23rd.  The wind had decreased to fresh and veered into the WSW as the depression slowly moved away, with gusts of 30 kts being recorded.  Although a contest day for the Northerns was scrubbed, there was some club flying with 4 winch launches off runway 24 in either K21 KLW or the DG1000.  There was also a single private owner launch.  The start of flying was delayed until just before lunch and then continued for a couple of hours with Robin Hutchinson and Fred Brown sharing a flight of 1:09 in the DG1000 and Roger Burghall having 1:02 solo in the K21, the only two flights to exceed an  hour. The evening was marked by the Northerns party with live music, good food and drink.

Sunday 24th.   The last day of the Northerns provided a moderate to fresh WNW’ly that backed into the W and overcast skies that slowly cleared as the day progressed.  Club flying was delayed until early afternoon and 5 ATs were flown, predominately in the 2 K21s although Rob Bailey flew the Discus for the longest flight of the day, 1:48 getting to 3,800′ in transient wave while John Marsh/Andy Darlington had 1:20 in K21 JVZ.  The recently returned Rotax Falke had two flights. The conditions did not permit a task to be set for the Northerns, so the result after 4 contest days stood.  Graham Morris won with 3041 pts in his ASW 27, with John & Lemmy Tanner 2nd with 2994 pts in their Duo Discus and Dick Cole et al 3rd in the YGC DG1000 with 2508 pts.  Reg Watson, flying the club Discus was 9th and Ian Plant flying Rob Bottomley’s Discus bt 10th.   Congratulations to Graham and all who took part.

Monday 25th.  Monday saw a light NW’ly become a light NNE’ly over the course of the day, with overcast skies giving way to some brighter ones at times.  Flying started  just before midday and continued until after 1700  hrs with 1 private owner launching and both K21s and the Discus of the club fleet flown.  4 Trial Lesson pupils were flown and the day was marked by a little  private duration contest between Bob Calvert in his Discus and Rob Bailey in the club Discus.  Both managed 1:54 in the air providing an honourable draw.  Mike Smith meanwhile, gave Mr Webster, one of the day’s Trial Lesson pupils, the longest 2 seater flight of the day, 32 minutes in the K21, while the Falke had 2 sorties.

Tuesday 26th.  A light to moderate SE’ly greeted the day as well as a corporate group of A&E Doctors and Consultants from Hospital Trusts in the Humber and Yorkshire region led by Resh Kochabocus.  With another depression approaching from  the Atlantic and rain forecast for early afternoon, it was all hands to the pump to get the group members into the air before the rain/low cloud came.  With all 4 two seaters in operation and 2 tugs flying, 23 flights were accomplished for the visitors plus an additional 11 for club members and 4 private owners before rain stopped play just before 1600 hrs.  There was even time for Chris Gill to do his final spin checks in the DG1000 with Bob Beck in order to complete his Bronze C, so congratualtions Chris.  Most of the launches found little in the way of lift, but Bob Beck found his own private bit of wave and gave 3 of the visiting doctors 29 minutes in the air in the DG1000.  Derek Smith in his Ventus 2ct and  Rob Bottomley in his Discus bt both made use of their engines to stay aloft, with Derek managing 2:49 in the air.  Rob Bailey had 1:08 in his ASG 29t.    Caterer Brian provided a wholesome lunch for the visitors, 6 of whom then went on to fly  the simulator.  The Falke had 2 flights on another successful corporate day only marred by a wheels up landing in the DG500 much to the chagrin of the pilot.  Photos of the group with and without some of the YGC members involved in providing hospitality and instruction are shown below.

Sunday 17th.  A moderate W’ly brought a flying day that provided a mixture of  13 ATs, mainly for the 1st contest day of the Northerns, and winching for club flying. The  21 winch launches generated 10 flights of over an hour for club members while the Northerns competitors were set a 105 km task, SutW/Northallerton/Sut S/Ripon/Helmsley/Sut E.  The fresher winds at soaring height and broken thermal meant there were only 2 finishers, John and Lemmy Tanner in their Duo Discus at 77.9 kph, closely followed by Graham Morris in his ASW 27 at 75.5 kph.  YGC entrants Reg Watson flying the club Discus was 3rd, Dick Cole, flying the DG1000 with Phil Westerby Jones was 4th and Ian Plant flying Rob Bottomley’s Discus t 5th.   Virtually all of the rest of the club fleet were flown on the winch while, in addition, 8 private owners launched, one of whom, Alex Muanke landed out in his ASW 20.  John Marsh set the standard for the day, when off the first launch he had 2 hours in the DG303, while later Bob Calvert had 4:32 in his Discus.  Apart from the two seaters taking part in the competition, Paul Whitehead and R Denison set the  longest 2 seater flight with1:13 in K21 KLW.  Among all this activity, 3 Trial Lesson pupils were flown, as was the simulator.

Monday 18th.  The wind had dropped to become light and variable and with good soaring conditions forecast by comp met man, Steve Ball, a 302 km task was set, Sut W/Garforth/Catterick/Burn/Sut.N.  There were 6 finishers with John and Lemmy Tanner completing at 86.8 kph in their Duo Discus, followed by Graham Morris in his ASW 27 at 82.2 kph and Dick Cole with his P2 in the DG1000 at 81.3 kph.  Reg Watson landed out and was 8th, while Ian Plant, although completing the task was deducted 500 points for going through the Durham Tees Valley Class D airspace even though he had clearance from ATC.  A reading of the competition rules would have saved him this disappointment, so hard luck Ian.    Overall, the Tanners led with 1209 pts closely followed by Graham with 1153 and Dick Cole et al with1012.  Club flying was represented by an early  dual in K21 KLW to ascertain conditions aloft, a flight by Mike Smith in the DG303 and 8 private owner launches.  Mike had 1:05 in the air, one of 8 club flights to achieve an hour or more, with some of the private owners choosing to fly Hors Concord.  One of these, Rob Bailey, completed the competition task in his ASG 29 and thereby did his first ever 300 km flight.  Well done Rob.

Tuesday 19th.  A moderate SW’ly that soon veered into the W saw the competition director Andy Parish set a 260.2 km task, in the same area as on Monday.  The task, Sut W/Garforth/Catterick/Burn/Sut N proved quite challenging due to the presence of a large blue area south of Catterick due to wave interference and there were only 3 finishers, Graham Morris in his ASW 27 at 72.4 kph, Dick Cole/Phil Westerby Jones in the DG1000 at 64.4 kph and the Tanners in their Duo Discus at 59.6 kph.  Graham found and used bits and pieces of wave and determinedly crossed the large blue hole to be rewarded with a climb near Catterick just when a land out seemed likely.    Ian Plant in his borrowed Discus t and Reg Watson in the club Discus were 9th equal.  Overall,  Graham, 2153 pts, increased his lead over John and Lenny, 2103 pts, while Dick Cole et al moved a little nearer to 2nd place with 1946 pts.  Club flying contributed 20 ATs to the day’s activity, 15 of these giving flights of over an hour and there was 1 Trial Lesson flown.  Two of the club’s 2 seaters plus the Astir and DG303 were utilised, with Andy Parish taking a rest from his Competition Director duties to fly with Pauline Luty in  K21 KLW for 25 minutes.  At the other end of the scale Lindsay Mclane disappeared somewhere in his Ventus 2ct for just over 6 hours and Albert Newbery and Mike Smith also disappeared for just over 4 hours in Albert’s DG1000t, one of a number of pilots to exceed 3-4 hours in the air.  Ian Johnson didn’t trouble the endurance scorer with his flight in his DG300 during which he decided to overfly his house.  Overflying is perhaps a bit of an exageration as a lack of lift meant Ian had to land in the field next to his house, the afternoon tea at home with his wife no doubt providing him with some Brownie points.    Back at site, Resh Kodabocus completed his  second Bronze C endurance leg with 2:06 in the Astir.  Well done Resh. 

Thursday 20th. Another soaring day in an initially light NNE’ly saw Cu blossom early over the North Yorkshire Moors, Wolds and Pennines  with the surrounding and intervening Vales of York and Pickering remaining cloudless until after midday, by which time the earlier Cu were showing signs of overdevelopment.  As a result of the forecast, the day’s task provided a change of scenery  with 172.8 km around Sut W/Market Weighton/Rufforth/Fridaythorpe/Sut N.    Sea air penetration as the wind strengthened and veered into the ENE provided some tricky conditions and there were only 2 finishers, John and Lemmy Tanner in their Duo Discus at 77.2 kph just pipping Graham Morris in his ASW 27 at 76.4 kph.  Dick Cole with P2 Resh Kodabocus in the DG 1000 was 6th covering 129.7 km,  while Reg Watson was 8th and Ian Plant 10th.   Overall scores were now Graham 3041 pts, John and Lemmy 2994 pts  and Dick Cole et al 2508 pts.  Club flying contributed 26 ATs to the day’s total, K21 KLW, the DG303 and Astir KRN  being flown.  Lindsay McLane again disappeared for the longest flight in his Ventus 2ct, 5:44, while a number of the club pilots attempted the Competition task, at least one, Rob Bailey in his ASG 29t, completing it, albeit with a number of low points.  Steve Ball accompanied by Steward Heaton went off on the task in Steve’s Duo Discus to see how his forecast was shaping up, but although having 2:27 in the air found the conditions on task too challenging.  Derek Taylor in his ASW 22 and Andy Wright in his Nimbus 3t both attempted similar 300 + tasks with Andy abandoning his after turning Northallerton and Derek abandoning his attempt to get to the last turn point at the Humber Bridge at Pocklington due to sea air incursion.  Phil Lazenby completed a declared 180 km in his Pegase, Sut/Tontine/North Duffield/Masham/Sut,  finding the conditions, good lift and a 4000′+ asl cloud base, “one of the better days of this season.” Richie Toon completed a 201 km Sut/Market Weighton/Northallerton/York/Sut task, having to glide out into the sea air to turn Market Weighton and being saved by a thermal off Hood Hill when a landing at Sutton seemed inevitable on  the leg to York.  George Rowden completed a declared 253 km task, Sut/Masham/Durham NE/Garforth/Sut, finding blue conditions around Masham and  transient, weaker lift with a 3000′ asl lid NE of Catterick, necesitating a westerly diversion after rounding Durham in order to get into the better conditions over the Pennines.  John Marsh found himself the only available instructor on site so, instead of flying the DG303, added more dual P1 hours to his log book, including  51 minutes with B Smith in K21 KLW.  He continued to provide his services to  the club when flying had finished for the day by cutting the grass on ruway 20.   Mike Cox completed his 2nd Bronze C endurance leg with 1:15 in Astir KRN.  Congratualtions Mike.  Les Rayment provided some moments of excitement towards the end of the flying day by abandoning a marginal return to runway 20 and doing an engine start as he headed towards the fields to the west of the main ridge.   With a number of members running to the edge to witness what happened next, the engine of Les’ Ventus 2ct fired enabling him to do a more conventional approach to a safe landing. As if that wasn’t enough of exciting flying, the end of gliding for the day saw a display of model flying including jet powered flight and an incredible display from a large model helicopter that commenced with an sudden  take off into an immediate transition into inverted flight.   The display also included the flying of a model tug and model ASW 27, the take off and climb characterists of the combination being such as to gladden the heart of Dick (Eurofox) Cole if only he had been there to see it.  Northern competitors, sponsors  and organisers then retired for the course dinner provided by caterer Brian.

Saturday 9th.  A moderate westerly that quickly decreased in strength and veered into the NW meant that the winch was brought out of its storage area, parked near the launch point in readiness for being taken to the end of runway 24, but not used.  Instead, 12 ATs were flown off runway 24, the change in wind direction and strength leading to some interesting climb outs as the tug/glider combination flew into the curl over at the edge of the hill.  On the other hand  subsequent approaches onto runway 30 were reasonably straightforward.  The National Rally week of the Vintage Gliding Club at Sutton Bank officially ended today and it was therefore fitting that  Mr Kerley, one of its members,  topped the endurance stakes with a flight of 56 minutes in somewhat tricky soaring conditions.  However,  most people managed at least 30 minutes in the air.  YGC member, Bob Calvert, another of the 6 private owners to launch, had 45 minutes in his Discus, while Martyn Johnson/Ken Duxbury flying  K21 JVZ, had 28 minutes. 2 seaters were the only club gliders to be flown, 2 of these flights for Trial Lesson pupils, but the flying day came to an abrupt halt when an intense thunderstorm developed close by, bringing a torrential downpour that resulted in the office roof leaking, the severity of the leak being 6 on the bucket scale.  The local A168 was closed by floods near Topcliffe but the rain wasn’t all bad news as the opportunity was taken for the simulator to be put to use.

Sunday 10th.  A day of initially light and variable winds but with low cloud and showers delayed launches for a while, but eventually 22 ATs were flown, 2 by private owners and the rest in 3 of the club’s two seaters and the Discus.  Developing soaring conditions led to 4 flights over an hour. with Rob Bailey in the Discus and Andy Hatfield in Astir EBM having 2:14 and 2:09 respectively.  Rob Calvert in his Discus and Colin Troise flying the DG1000 solo had 1:43 and 1:04 each.  3 Trial Lesson pupils were flown and John Marsh/L Sucharov had the best of the two seater flights with 43 minutes in K21 KLW. 

Monday 11th. A light to moderate NNE’ly airstream brought in extensive low cloud, complete with showers and eventually more general rain so no flying was possible. 

Tuesday 12th.  The wind had stayed in the NNE and remained light to moderate, but with a higher cloudbase and fewer showers, flying started at around 1030 hrs and continued until around 1630 hrs by which time 16 ATs had been flown.  2 of the  3 private owners rigging, Rob Bailey in his ASG 29t and  Lindsay McLane in his Ventus2t contributed to the 4 pilots who exceeded an hour in the air, Rob clocking up the longest recorded time in the air with 2:46.  Some of this time was spent pair flying with Lindsay out to the east coast where the cloud base was significantly  lower at around 1500′ in places.  Lindsay then departed to the south leaving Rob to visit Scarborough before visiting Pocklington and cloud bases of 5000′ before overdevelopment led to a return to Sutton.  Bob Calvert and Denise Grimshaw had 1:45 in the DG1000 while Jesper Mjels had 1:27 in the Discus.  Mike Wood, flying the Astir just failed to beat the 1 hour mark with a flight of 53 minutes.  2 Trial Lesson pupils had a pleasant introduction to gliding.

Wednesday 13th.  The light flow from  the NNE continued with soaring conditions improving slightly compared to Tuesday.  21 ATs were flown, with 3 two seaters and 4 single seaters of the club fleet and 2 private owners contributing launches.  Ron Beezer demonstrated that soaring was possible of the first flight of the day with 2:08 in  the Discus, but Rob Bailey was again aloft for the longest time, with 3:04 in  his ASG 29t transiting Durham Tees Valley airspace for an O/R to Durham before visiting the east coast again and dodging hail showers.  The period from 1100 hrs to 14oo hrs provided the most consistent soaring period of the day, during which Bob Calvert/Denise Grimshaw had 2:01 in the DG1000 and Mike Wood clocked up 1:12 flying the T21 solo.  Mike Cox, an early solo pilot, had 1:15 of his second launch of the day to obtain a Bronze C leg.  Well done, Mike.  Just to prove that soaring was possible later in the day, Andy Parish accompanied by Heinrich Hoeth had 1:10 in the DG1000.  All in all, 6 flights exceeded an  hour and there was also time for 2 Trial Lesson pupils to be flown, one of whom, N Armstrong, had 42 minutes in the air in the company of Brian Wise in K21 KLW.

Thursday 14th.  The early, moderate ESE’ly freshened and backed into the E as the day progressed, eventually causing a change of runway from 02 to 06.  28 ATs were flown, the first few having to be terminated at 1500′ QFE due to the relatively low cloud base.  All the day’s flights were in club 2 seaters with all 4 utilised as Resh Khodabocus’s new doctors group were introduced to gliding on a corporate day, 22 of the day’s ATs being undertaken for this purpose.    With no opportunities to soar, circuits were the order of the day, with Derek Smith/A Neep and Les Rayment/G Cardwell managing 20 minutes each in the DG500 and K21 JVZ respectively to provide the longest flights of the day.  Flying was of course combined with a good cooked lunch courtesy of Brian so a good day was had by all, as the following photos show, the first showing the new doctors group and the second  the same group with the YGC tuggies and instructors who provided the flying experience.

 

Friday 15th. A day of frequent, heavy showers kept the gliders in the hangars.

Saturday 16th.  A deep depression centred over the country meant of day of general rain and strengthening S’ly winds as a series of fronts crossed the site.  No flying was possible, so the competitors for the first day of the Northerns were welcomed by Competition director Andy Parish, introduced to the Northern’s team and requested to return for a briefing at 1000 hrs on Sunday 17th June when improved conditions were anticipated.  The only flying of  the day was on the  simulator.

A nice pic from the USA.  YGC’s tug will look much like this

Tuesday 5th.  A moderate wind varying between south and south east brought in predominately overcast skies but, somewhat surprisingly, reasonable soaring conditions.  Flying commenced at 1030 hrs and continued until 17 45 hrs, in which time 52 ATs were flown, generating 12 flights of over an hour.  All  the club 2 seaters were flown and 3 of the single seaters while club members and the visiting Vintage Gliding Club members contributed 23 launches from private owners.  Soaring commenced around 1215 hours and continued until around 1645 hrs, with visitor A Veitch in his Skylark setting the bar with a flight of 2:08.  Messrs Redshaw and Johnson had 1:19 in their Capstan, while YGC members Jack McGregor and Jim Clarke had 1:08 in the K21.  Rob Bailey, flying the club Discus instead of his ASG 29t, had 1:44 and a further 3 members of the public were introduced to gliding via the Trial Lesson route.

Wednesday 6th.  Flying was delayed until around 1300 hrs by low cloud and rain, but this did allow a couple of flights on the simulator in the morning.  Thereafter, flying continued until 1740 hrs, mainly from 28 winch launches in the moderate SW’ly, but 2 ATs were flown at the end of the day as the wind died.  A line of heavy showers to the south of the site threatened to interrupt flying from mid afternoon onwards, but did not encroach until the evening.  The members of the Vintage Gliding Club enjoyed a good half day hill soaring, with thermal and some weak wave to add interest.  Rob Bailey, flying  the DG303, contacted the wave over Dalton and climbed to 4,600 asl before it collapsed as the line of showers referred to earlier moved closer.  17 of the day’s flights exceeded an hour with 16 private owner launches and 3 of the club’s two seaters and 3 of the club’s single seaters flown.  Visitor Bob Lloyd had 3:02, while his compatriots in the Vintage Gliding Club, Messrs Redshaw and Kurley had 2:37 in their T49.  Among the YGC pilots, John Marsh, flying the DG303, had just under 2 hours while Fred Brown shared a 1:36 flight in the DG1000 with Phil Westerby-Jones.  Among all this activity a single Trial Lesson pupil was flown.  After putting away all the kit the visitors assembled for  dinner with entertainment in the form of a Falconry display under, by now, rainy conditions.

Thursday 7th.  With an active depression approaching from the SW, the day was one of moderate SW’ly winds, low cloud and rain as the pressure continued to fall.  Consequently there was no flying and with the forecast for Friday promising more rain and stronger winds, some of the Vintage Gliding Club members decided to call it a day and head home.

Friday 8th.  The pressure fell to 985 mb as the centre of the depression passed close by, the morning being characterised by moderate SSE’ly winds, rain and the site in cloud.  The clearance arrived early afternoon and with the cloud base rising, rain turning to isolated light showers and the wind veering into the SW and strengthening, Phil Westerby-Jones took the only winch launch of the day mid afternoon and was still airborne when the writer left site around 1630 hrs.  On the ground, preparations started for the Northerns, due to commence on Saturday the 16th June, with the repositioning of  the control cabin from its storage area to its normal place in front of the clubhouse.  Due to the heavy overnight rain the puling power of  2 tractors was required  to extricate the cabin from its storage area behind the trailer park.

With the YGC EuroFOX project underway, this diary is intended to keep the YGC Members up to date with news and progress as we move towards February 2013 and the start of the actual build.  In the mean time, a build team of up to 4 people will be formed, and decisions made as to the new tug’s equipment fit and registration - how about G-MOYR as a start?

 

Some text goes here. You can also add images if you like!

Monday 4th.  A weak ridge of high pressure led to a soaring day in an initially moderate N’ly that decreased to a light E’ly by evening, light morning showers quickly decreasing in frequency as the cloud base rose to over 4000′ asl .  The Vintage Gliding Club members took full advantage of the conditions as did YGC members,  so a crowded launch point resulted as 77 ATs were flown, 46 of them by private owners with the remainder in  7 of the 9 strong club fleet.  Most of the Vintage Gliding Club members remained local, the conditions sometimes looking better than they actually were, as demonstrated by YGC member Phil Lazenby  who finished up in Paradise in his Pegase.  Paradise Farm actually, as a series of good looking clouds failed to provide any lift, resulting in a field landing.  John Ellis, flying his Nimbus 3t declared Sut/Pontefract/Catterick/Burn/Sut but after rounding Pontefract found himself slowly descending while trying to hill soar a ridge near his home town of Masham and had to resort to his engine.  Steve Ball/ John May in their Duo Discus Xt also had to resort to their engine near Masham and use it virtually all  the way back to Sutton in their flight of 2:15,  as large blue holes and areas of overconvection made staying up tricky.  George Rowden, flying his LS8t, like Phil Lazenby, was so convinced that there was good lift around that he  found himself too low to use his engine and landed for a relight, following which he completed his truncated task of Sut/Wetherby S/Catterick/Sut, but found the going difficult getting to Catterick, the lack of lift requiring large deviations off track.  Rob Bailey crossed the Pennines and visited the Lakes in his flight of 5:25, reporting excellent soaring conditions over the western side of the Pennines and seeing a marked sea breeze front coming inland from Morecambe Bay. Bob Calvert in his Discus kept to the east of the Pennines in his flight of 5:26.  Conditions over the NorthYorkshire Moors were at times exceptional, with Mike Wood, flying the T21 with Nick Gaunt, reporting a solid 8 kt thermal all the way up to cloud base.  28 of the day’s flights exceeded an  hour, with Andy Hatfield topping the endurance stakes for solo YGC pilots with 2:15 in the Discus and John Marsh having 1:37 in the DG500 with D Clare.  The day’s flying included 4 Trial Lesson pupils, with soaring continuing into early evening as demonstrated by Robin Hutchinson, who  had over an hour solo in the K21 off the penultimate launch of the day and left good lift in order to land before the evenings events commenced. 

These events had a more public emphasis as the Roulston Scar viewpoint on the YGC site was a official location for one of the beacons celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  The site was opened to the public from 1900 hrs, a large Marquee housing a bar and seating area for a live band, the Moonshine 5, having been erected on the previous Friday.  The Hillside Scouts provided a mobile chuck wagon dispensing drinks and hot snacks, while facilities were also provided for DIY barbecuing and there was an ice cream van in attendance.  The above facilities are shown in the following photographs.

 A well known member of the YGC can be seen providing the bass guitar backing in the  above photograph.

Cars continued to stream onto the airfield from 1900 to after 2100 hrs with runway 24 turned into a temporary car park.

 

But not all attendees arrived by car, a particularly vocal group arriving standing up in an Union Jack bedecked tractor pulled trailer, having negotiated the twisty and steep While Horse Bank.

Union Jacks were well in evidence as illustrated in the next photo of a member of  the public.

The clear, calm and by now cool conditions were appreciated by the large crowds, many of whom brought their own chairs and provided the unusual sight of runway 20 occupied not by gliders and tugs but people having a picnic.

Finally, as the sun set and darkness descended, many of the crowd moved to view the lighting of the gas powered beacon on Roulston Scar, the equipment and gas being provided by a combination of the Hillside Scouts and the local branch of Round Table.  With a BBC North  camera team in attendance,  a count down at 2210 hrs led to the lighting to the beacon, by this time a number of other beacons being visible in the Vales of York and Pickering, the North Yorks Moors and as far as the Pennines in the excellent visibility. 

A fitting end to a great day’s gliding and Sutton Bank’s contribution to the  world wide lighting of 4,000 beacons as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.

Tuesday 29th.  The start of flying was delayed until just before lunch by a low overcast in a light to  moderate  WSW’ly flow, but the morning was profitably spent as Ken Arkley to give a presentation on Gliding to a visiting group from the Pinderfields Hospital.  The cloud then started to break and lift, allowing the visitors to getflying via the club’s 4 two seaters , the more adventurous taking to aerobatics withDick Cole and Mike Smith while some also tried out their flying skills  on the simulator.   Caterer Brian provided a steak lunch for the visitors withflying continuing in the afternoon resulting in a busy day with 30 ATs flown and some usable convection after lunch as the cloud continued to break and lift.  This enabled Peter Clay in his Ventus to show everybody else  how it was done withaflight of 3:25.  This was only 1 of 3 flights to exceed an hour, with Jack McGregor taking A Carpenter for 1:22 in the DG500 later in the day.  Resh Khobacous had the  only single seater flights of the day, having 26 minutes in the Astir of his first launch and following that up with 80 minutes of his second to record his first Bronze C endurance leg, so well done Resh.   Some of the flying Doctors are shown on the following photograph.

 

Wednesday 30th.  The wind had become light and variable, but the mainly cloudy skies meant soaring opportunities were relatively limited, only 2 of the day’s 16 ATs exceeding an  hour.  Both of these were by private owners, Rob Bailey having 1:17 in his ASG 29t and Phil Lazenby having 1:15 in the first flight in his recently acquired Pegase.  Club glider flying was limited to the K21s and the Ka8 with M Cox having 37 minutes flying the K21 solo and Ian Plant taking K Ridley, the only Trial Lesson pupil of the day, for 33 minutes, also in the K21. 

Thursday 31st.  Early rain followed by frequent showers meant this was a non- flying day.

Friday 1st June.  A light wind from the E’ly quadrant was accompanied by a low overcast, and although the day remained dry, no flying was possible.  However, it was a day for celebration as John Ellis and assistants completed the job of replacing the lower half of the doors of Hangar No 1, the completed repairs being shown on the following photograph.  Given that the task of  repairing the doors coincided with John having an operation on his shoulder as well as  back problems, congratulations on a job well done are well deserved.

Saturday 2nd June.  The cool cloudy conditions in the predominately light to moderate E’ly flow continued so flying was confined to the simulator.  The opportunity was however taken for Terry Jones, Station Commander of RAF Linton on Ouse, to scatter the ashes of Moyra Johnson, the YGC’s much beloved, past President, on the airfield. 

Sunday 3rd June.  The light E’lyflow continued to bring in a low overcast, but the rain which affected the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee river pageant and much England and Wales stayed just to  the southof the site.  The cloud base slowly rose during the day so that flying, albeit circuits, commenced around 1400 hrs and continued to just before 1700 hrs, in which time 8 ATs were flown  utilising 2 of the club’s two seaters.  John Carter and P Molloy posted the longest flight of the day, 25 minutes in the DG1000.  The club welcomed members and gliders from the Vintage Gliding Club for their week long UK National Rally  and the day was also marked by a flypast by a Tucano from RAF  Linton on Ouse piloted by Flight  Lieutenant  John Trueman in honour of past President Moyra Johnson.