Having been at the re-enactment, I feel I must make one or two
corrections.
There is no remaining 1853 glider. The replica in the Elvington museum
was built in 1974 at Lasham for an Anglia Television programme, using
materials which would have been available to Sir George Cayley. It was
flown at Lasham towed by a car, and then eventually at Brompton Dale.
The "control" was by a pivoted cruciform surface rather like the flight
of a dart, as indicated in the sketches from Sir George's publications.
Although it flew, it was difficult to control and the opinion of Derek
Piggott who did the test flying is that it was dangerous and should stay
in Elvington Air Museum.
The glider for the enactment on Saturday 5th July was a joint venture
between Virgin Altlantic and BAE Systems at Brough where it was built.
This aircraft used mainly aluminium for the structure and achieved a
marked weight reduction over the 1974 replica. Although the control
surfaces were again cruciform in shape, they were fixed, with hinged
rear surfaces forming conventional elevator and rudder. I am not sure
about lateral control. The plan of the main lifting surface was the same
as the published sketches and the 1974 replica, i.e. it had a very low
aspect ratio. The flights across the dale were achieved in virtually nil
wind by a bungee launch with 6 men per side. It was clearly
controllable, with a flare at the termination of each flight. About 3000
people attended the re-enactment. In the evening there was a Celebration
Dinner at Brompton Hall (which is now a school) attended by about 100
people. There was an after-dinner speech by Derek Piggott who described
his experiences with the original replica and gave his assessment that
it was too dangerous to fly again. The test flying and some of the
flights on 5th July were carried out by the CFI of the Wolds Gliding
Club at Pocklington.
I am grateful for the original email on the Europa site which drew my
attention to the activities.
There is a web-site: www.the-aeroplanes-inventor.co.uk/Main.htm
Ken Whiteley #19
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