Oxford Gliding Club


Oxford Gliding Club operates at RAF Weston-on-the-Green, north of Oxford. The club celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2012.

Club history

The pre-war ancestor to the Club was the "Oxford University and City Gliding Club" which had its inaugural meeting at Christchurch College on Thursday 2 December 1937. The founders were predominantly Oxford academics, including author and anthropologist Robert Sutherland Rattray, Professor H H Price, philosopher Professor Gilbert Ryle and physicist Professor Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell. They were helped in their search for a suitable site by aviator Amy Johnson. Frederick Lindemann went on to become scientific advisor to Winston Churchill and was paymaster general during World War II.

Historical operations

Flying began on Saturday, 7 May 1938, at a site known as Cumnor meadow, which is now on the bed of Farmoor Reservoir. The Club fleet consisted of two open primary gliders, one of which had a streamlined nacelle. Club members had to build an access road to the site, including a bridge over a ditch, and a basic hangar. The famous Austrian gliding pioneer, Robert Kronfeld became manager and CFI of the Club in June 1938. Club pilots and gliders took part in a public Air Show at RAF Upper Heyford in the summer of 1938. The Club moved from Cumnor to the Chiltern ridge at Aston Rowant, close to the Lambert Arms pub, for the 1939 season. The formation of the Oxford Gliding Co. Ltd. dates from 1939, including the original £4,000 share capital which is still on the books to this day. On the outbreak of war in 1939, all recreational aviation ceased, and the club was eventually reformed at Kidlington in 1951. An increase in powered aircraft activity at Kidlington resulted in the club relocating to RAF Weston-on-the-Green in 1956.

Club operations

Glider fleet

The highest performance club glider is the Glaser-Dirks DG-505, a two-seater which is used for cross-country training. Interchangeable wingtips allow this glider to be operated in three different modes. The club also has two Grob Astirs, which are of GRP construction. The club has one Schleicher ASK 13 two seat glider, which is used for training pilots to solo standard. These are of a tubular steel frame and wood construction. Once competent to fly solo, pilots can convert to the Schleicher K 8, which has similar handling to the K13, and are of a similar construction. Finally, the Slingsby T.21 is a vintage open cockpit side-by-side two seat glider.

Launches

The club uses a self-manufactured winch, which can give launches 1400 feet or higher. On windy days, due to the length of some of the launching runs, lightweight gliders can reach heights of up to 2500 feet. The club has recently switch to dyneema cable, away from the traditional steel, which offers a stronger cable at a lighter weight.
The cables are distributed by Skylaunch. The winch is operated by all solo pilots of the club who fulfill the conditions of being;
The club does not use the aerotow method of launching gliders, primarily due to the lack of a suitable "tug" aircraft.

Club fleet

Two-seater aircraft

Single-seater aircraft

The club have recently acquired an additional K8, G-DEED, on loan from the Windrushers Gliding Club.