Backward Flight By Glider

[Dave Homewood]

BACKWARD FLIGHT BY GLIDER

Canterbury Pilot’s Experience

A glider which flew backwards from Halswell to the east coast off Lake Ellesmere recently gave Mr Christopher Wills, son of a former British world champion glider pilot (Mr Philip Wills) one of the most exciting experiences of his career. Mr Wills was released from an aerial tow west of Harewood at about 4700 feet. He entered cloud and climbed to 17,400 ft in a Weihe sailplane. He cleared the cloud over Halswell but entered it a second time and did not emerge until he was over the coast. Although he had been facing into the wind over this latter stage, Mr Wills was apparently blown backwards by a strong westerly wind. Using all his height to make land again, he was just able to get into the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Wigram for his landing. Mr S. H. Georgeson. who has wide experience of gliding in Canterbury, laid Mr Wills might have encountered winds of the order of 50 to 60 miles an hour. With the sailplane’s normal speed of about 45 miles an hour, the craft could have been losing ground at the rate of up to 15 miles an hour.

PRESS, 12 NOVEMBER 1956

[planewriting]

The Weihe is ZK-GAE. Its fuselage and stub wings are displayed in the Ashburton Aviation Museum. This is the glider in which Dick Georgeson famously, when over near Oxford, called up Christchurch tower in the early 1950s and said he was going to fly to Taieri (Dunedin Airport at the time). To his surprise the tower replied that they needed a flight plan. He explained that he was flying a glider but none the less gave an ETA of 1700 and this was relayed to Taieri Tower. The controllers there were astounded when he called them two hours later saying he was on finals and duly landed right on 1700 hours.

[McFly]

ZK-GAE...

Ashburton Aviation Museum

(Pete Webber)

[oj]

Interesting, but why are the canopies different?

[planewriting]

Jun 4, 2022 20:44:12 GMT 12 oj said:

Interesting, but why are the canopies different?

I believe the bubble canopy was broken and replaced.

[davidd]

I think the canopies may have been in the reverse order, the pure "bubble" being a modern replacement.

[planewriting]

Yes you are quite right David. The Weihe arrived in New Zealand with a "multi-pane" canopy, similar to the one it now wears in retirement at Ashburton, as seen above. The original was broken and replaced with a bubble canopy.