Quote:
Originally Posted by Chadburn
I would recommend Gliding it is a superb feeling when you are soaring, the Gliding Club I was a member of had an open cockpit Glider and it was surprising what you could hear from the those on the ground-------------and sometimes see  when you quietly glide over them. |
I was a pupil of the RAF gliding school at Woodford airfield in Cheshire (the airfield was Avro's operational flying base for the development of the Vulcan and the Shackleton Mk III at the time). At one end of the runway was a disused sand quarry, much overgrown with shrubs and birch saplings. We used to train every Sunday (when Avro rarely made test flights of their aircraft) and the site was relatively peaceful.
In the summer the quarry was much favoured by amorous couples. It was a favourite pastime of the instructors, having observed the goings-on from the air on the approach, to perform a steep dive down into the quarry, only feet above the ground and zoom up and over the lip and the boundary fence before landing on the runway.
When the person underneath the couple (more often than not a girl) saw a T21 Slingsby Sedbergh glider diving directly at her at about 100 knots) it really spoiled their day. It wasn't only the diving glider that pulled out!