Gliding Heritage Centre

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Gliding Heritage Centre
Manuel Crested Wren at Gliding Heritage Centre (34085281530).jpg
Hampshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Hampshire
Location Lasham Airfield, Hampshire
Coordinates 51°11′07″N1°01′23″W / 51.1854°N 1.0231°W / 51.1854; -1.0231
Type Aviation museum
Website www.glidingheritage.org.uk

The Gliding Heritage Centre (GHC) is a collection of vintage gliders based at Lasham Airfield, Hampshire, UK. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Origins

Christopher Wills, the son of Philip Wills, founded the Vintage Glider Club in 1973. He died on 4 May 2011 but left a bequest of £100,000 to build a hangar to house vintage gliders plus his Steinadler. A group of enthusiasts decided to create a Gliding Heritage Centre which could be visited by members of the public in a building called The Chris Wills Memorial Hangar. It is a registered charity No 1148972. [4]

After raising more money and with much volunteer work, the first hangar was opened on 4 August 2013 during the 41st International Vintage Glider Club rally that was held at Lasham that year. Further fund raising allowed the building of a second hangar to house the ever increasing collection of gliders. Hangar 2 was officially opened on 25 August 2018. [1]

A dedicated workshop was added following a further bequest from Trish Williams. This allows some of the aircraft in the collection to remain airworthy, as well as helping to restore and conserve the rest of the fleet. The workshop is also used for teaching the skills required to restore and repair wooden gliders, as these skills are becoming increasingly scarce. It is planned to add a viewing area in the workshop to allow the public to see work that is being done. [1]

Collection

Public tours of the museum are scheduled at 2:00 every Sunday with the starting point in the club-house of Lasham Gliding Society,. [1]

TypeManufacturerDate
Scud-I Abbott-Baynes (Replica)1931
Scud-II Abbott-Baynes1935
Scud III Abbott-Baynes1936
Clarke Chanute [5] TWK Clarke & Co1910
EoN Baby Elliotts of Newbury 1949
EoN Eton Elliotts of Newbury1951
Olympia 2b Elliotts of Newbury1958
Olympia 460 Elliotts of Newbury1960
Olympia 463Elliotts of Newbury1965
Grunau Baby Hersteller Flugzeugbau1952
Lo 100 Wolf Hirth 1953
JSH Scorpion [6] [7] J. Halford1977
Weihe Jacobs Schweyer1943
Kaiser Ka3 Kaiser 1958
Drone Kronfeld Ltd 1936
TG-3a Schweizer1942
Spalinger S-21h J. Lemp1943
Willow Wren Manuel1932
Hawk Manuel1969
Crested Wren Manuel1986
Steinadler MG19A Oberlerchner1955
Colditz Cock Replica2000
MU13-D Scheibe 1957
Zugvogel 3b Scheibe1963
Zugvogel 3bScheibe1964
Bergfalk 55 - II Scheibe1963
KA 6E Schleicher 1968
Scott Viking 1 Scott Light Aviation1938
Gull-III Slingsby 1939
Grasshopper Slingsby1953
GrasshopperSlingsby1962
T8 Tutor Slingsby1946
Prefect T30A Slingsby1948
Prefect T30BSlingsby1958
Skylark 2 Slingsby1955
Skylark 3b Slingsby1959
Skylark 3fSlingsby1961
Dart 15 Slingsby1964
Swallow Slingsby1967
Foka 4 SZD Poland 1963
YS 53 Yorkshire Sailplanes1974
Zlín Z-24 [8] Zlin1946

Other gliders in private ownership are also made available to the collection from time to time.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "GHC Home page". Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  2. "List of aviation museums" . Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  3. "British Gliding Association". Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  4. "Charity Commission". Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  5. "RAF Museum's description" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  6. "ABPic Photo library" . Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  7. "All-Aero.com web site" . Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  8. Bezouska, Paul (2007). "Zlín - The success story of the Moravian aircraft manufacturer". Fliegerrevue Extra (19). Möller: 29. ISSN   0941-889X.