Gliding is a competitive sport and was even a demonstration sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics. It was due to become an official Olympic sport in the Helsinki Games in 1940. However, since the war, gliding has not featured in the Olympics. For gliding, international competition has been provided by the World Gliding Championships since 1938 and also by the European Gliding Championships since 1982.
The increased number of classes of glider means that it is no longer possible for all the classes to compete at the same location. The European Glider Aerobatic Championships were added in 1992. They are also held every two years.[1]
European Gliding Championships
Each of the following entries give the year and location of the contest followed by the winner of each class, nationality and the glider used.
The FAI granted World Championship status to international women's contests in 2001. The 1st World Gliding Championships were held in Pociūnai (Lithuania). However, this decision was made rather late so that it was essentially a European contest.[7] For the results of this and the following women's contests refer to Women's World Gliding Championships.
European Junior Gliding Championships
1st European Junior Gliding Championships in Falköping (Sweden), 1991
Standard Class Winner: Tomasz Rubaj (Poland), glider: SZD 55
Club Class Winner: Flemming L. Schneider (Denmark),
2nd European Junior Gliding Championships in La Roche-sur-Yon (France), 1993
Standard Class Winner: Lars Ternholt (Denmark),
Club Class winner: Yann Mignot (France), glider: Pégase C101
3rd European Junior Gliding Championships in Leszno (Poland), 1995[8]
Standard Class Winner: Guido Achleitner (Germany),
Club Class Winner: Frank Hahn (Germany),
4th European Junior Gliding Championships in Musbach (Germany), 1997[9]
Standard Class Winner: Mario Kiessling (Germany),
Club Class Winner: Michael Sommer (Germany)
The contests were replaced by the Junior World Gliding Championships in 1999. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the calendar was revised to shift the World and European Gliding Championships by one year, additionally reintroducing the European Junior Gliding Championships in 2021.
5th European Junior Gliding Championships in Pociūnai (Lithuania), 2021
Standard Class Winner: Simon Briel (Germany),
Club Class Winner: Finn Sleigh (United Kingdom),
6th European Junior Gliding Championships in Arnborg (Denmark), 30 July – 11 August 2023[10]
European Glider Aerobatic Championships are held every two years, so that they alternate with World Glider Aerobatic Championships which are held every two years since 1985.[12] These contests are flown in the unlimited category, only. In 2006, the first European Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships was held in Bad Frankenhausen in conjunction with the German Glider Championships in the unlimited and advanced category.[13] The second European Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships were held in conjunction with the 2008 German Glider Aerobatic Championships in Rothenburg–Görlitz (26 July 2008 – 3 August 2008).[14]
1st European Glider Aerobatic Championships
2nd European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Rieti (Italy) 1994[15]
3rd FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships, Pér (Hungary), 27 June 1996 – 6 July 1996[16]
The Schempp-Hirth Discus is a Standard Class glider designed by Schempp-Hirth. It was produced in Germany between 1984 and 1995 but has continued in production in the Czech Republic. It replaced the Standard Cirrus. It was designed by Klaus Holighaus.
The Schempp-Hirth Ventus is a sailplane produced during 1980–1994 by Schempp-Hirth, a German sailplane manufacturer. It was designed by Klaus Holighaus and replaced the Schempp-Hirth Mini-Nimbus. Schempp-Hirth manufactured 613 Ventus sailplanes.
The Schempp-Hirth Mini Nimbus is a 15 Metre-class glider designed and built by Schempp-Hirth GmbH in the late 1970s.
The Standard Cirrus is a Standard-class glider built in Germany by Schempp-Hirth. The Standard Cirrus was produced between 1969 and 1985, when it was replaced by the Discus. Over 800 examples were built, making it one of the most successful early fibreglass glider designs.
The Schempp-Hirth Cirrus is an Open Class glider built by Schempp-Hirth between 1967 and 1971 and by VTC until 1977. It was replaced by the Nimbus 2.
The Rolladen-Schneider LS8 is a Standard and 18 metre class single-seat glider developed by Rolladen-Schneider and in series production since 1995. Currently it is manufactured by DG Flugzeugbau.
The World Gliding Championships (WGC) is a gliding competition held roughly every two years by the FAI Gliding Commission. The dates are not always exactly two years apart, often because the contests are always held in the summer in either the Southern Hemisphere or Northern Hemisphere.
Competition classes in gliding, as in other sports, mainly exist to ensure fairness in competition. However the classes have not been targeted at fostering technological development as in other sports. Instead classes have arisen because of:
The SZD-56 Diana is a 15 metre Class glider originally designed by Bogumił Bereś at PZL-Bielsko. However, PZL Bielsko went bankrupt before it could be put into serial production.
George B. Moffat Jr. (1927–2024) was an American author, twice world champion glider pilot, and a member of the U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame. He began flying airplanes in 1953, gliders in 1959, entered his first national soaring competition in 1962, and was still an active competition pilot as of 2008. Before competing in sailplanes, he compiled a winning record in International 14 foot Dinghy racing.
The SZD-36 Cobra was a glider designed and produced in Poland from 1968.
Jerzy Makula is a Polish pilot who won the FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships seven times.
The SZD-59 Acro is a single-seat glass composite glider for aerobatics and cross-country flying by PZL Allstar of Bielsko-Biała, Poland.
The Schempp-Hirth SHK Open Class glider was developed in Germany by Schempp-Hirth. It was based on the 1964 version of the Standard Austria, known as the SH. The Austria was originally a single-seat aerobatic glider that had been designed and built in Austria from 1959 but production was moved in 1962 to the Schempp-Hirth factory in Germany.
The Swift S-1 is a single seat aerobatic glider manufactured by Polish company Swift Ltd.
The Royal Air Force Gliding & Soaring Association (RAFGSA) is a voluntary organisation which exists to provide recreational flying to all RAF servicemen and women, in particular those employed in ground duties.
17th European Gliding Championships took place in 2013 in Vinon-sur-Verdon, France and in Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland.
The Schempp-Hirth Ventus-3 is a sailplane produced by Schempp-Hirth. It replaces the highly successful Schempp-Hirth Ventus-2.
Susanne Schödel is a multiple world record holder and women's world champion glider sport pilot.
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 January 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) – Retrieved 2008-01-14
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
:Mikhail Mamistov (Swift S-1), Sergey Rakhmanin (Swift S-1), Sergei Krikalev (Swift S-1)
:Jerzy Makula (MDM-1 Fox), Adam Michałowski (Swift S-1), Marek Hernik (MDM-1 Fox)
: Martin Stáhalík (MDM-1 Fox), Petr Poborský (MDM-1 Fox), Josef Čech (MDM-1 Fox)
: Ferenc Tóth, István Matuz, János Szilágyi
: Eugen Schaal (MDM-1 Fox), Markus Feyerabend (Swift S-1), Olaf Schmidt (Swift S-1)
: Erik Piriou (Swift S-1), Daniel Serres (Swift S-1), Pierre Albertini (Swift S-1)
