JOYS OF GLIDING

Hokitika Guardian, 4 January 1930, Page 3

JOYS OF GLIDING

M OTO R LESS AER OPL AN ES

NEW SPORT IN SYDNEY

SYDNEY, Dec. 20

The joys of gliding and of riding on the wings of the wind in wo torless aeroplane—a sport now very popular abroad, and especially in Germany and America —will be appreciated in Sydney before very long, for the Sydney University GDder Club, the pioneer body of its kind in Australia, hopes to have two or tbicc machines ready for flying about March or April next. Glider clubs and schools are common. in Germany and America, vhoie thousands of youngsters as well as others have taken up the sport. Little German frauleins are even skimming about the air in gliders of home-marle design. The present idea is that each University Club glider in Sydney shall be owned and controlled by a group of half a dozen or a unzei. members. They will find the money, from £2O to £25, for the material foi each machine, and will design and construct the gliders themselves under the aegis of an airworthiness committee, including technical men fssociated with ordinary aircraft, end several of Sydney’s leading pilots. This committee will supervise generally the design and construction ,of the gliders. Later, enthusiasts outside the University will be allowed to link up with the Club. The numbor of non-technical members, however, will be strictly limited. The idea is that each group Must contain at least 50 per cent of members able to repair their own leadlines. The gliders will be part <>f the equipment of students at week-end and other holiday camps. It >s tbe simple glider, as distinct from as hat is known as the sail aeroplane, and the type of motorless machine r,so< by beeinners, that will probably be introduced in Sydney for a start. The glider can be given a kick-off simply by dragging or pushing it down a hillside. The sail aeroplane is rhol into the air on the catapult principle, and by means of an elastic rope.