Long Mynd
LONG MYND: Gliding site (allowing limited visits by powered types)
Note: All four of these pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Note: Pictures by the author unless specified.
Operated by: Midland Gliding Club
Location: At southern end of Long Mynd which is a ‘ridge hill' nearly 1700ft ASL and six miles long, W of the A49 an SW of Church Stretton
Period of operation: 1934 to present day
Landing areas or strips: Several, changing over periods of time
A MIKE CHARLTON GALLERY
Note: These pictures from postcards were kindly sent by Mike Charlton who has an amazing collection. See, www.aviationpostcard.co.uk
What I think is very interesting is that a couple of captions for these postcards refer to CHURCH STRETTON - rather than LONG MYND. So I wonder when the change of name took place?
First picture: The picture on the top right-hand side of the first postcard is of the Slingsby T21B G-ALNJ, a type usually refered to as a 'Sedburg'. The Midland Gliding Club operated this aircraft from April 1949 to January 1964. The picture in the left-hand corner is of an EoN Olympia, a type built by Elliotts of Newbury from 1947.
Second picture: A Slingsby Skylark - but which type? I'd guess it is probably one of the first, a T.37 Skylark 1, built between 1952 and 1953. Slingsby went on to produce three more versions, the T.41, T.43 and the T.50.
Fourth picture: This shows, without too much doubt, a Slingsby T.49B Capstan overhead the site? The T.49A first flew in 1961, but it seems it was the T.49B that entered into service in 1963. Possibly suggesting problems with the first design?
In February 2018 Mike came across this postcard.
NOTES: As elsewhere in this Guide I thought it might be a good idea to show some of my early research notes . A mention here, a sentence in a book there, bit by bit trying to piece a picture together. The first paragraph below are my first notes regarding LONG MYND:
"The Midland Gliding Club have been based here for a long time and I have a suspicion they actually started the site off - but was it really in the 1930s?"
It now appears that in the 1930s there was formed the Shropshire Gliding Club based at the The Travellers’ Rest in Affcot. They it seems possessed a Cloudcraft Dickson Primary Training Glider. With just nine members were these the people who formed the nucleus who formed the Midland Gliding Club? It now seems not - so what happened to them?
Note: In the 1957 The Aeroplane directory, the fleet was given as: One Tutor, two Prefects, two Olympias, one Skylark, one T.21 two-seater and one Venture two-seater.
A POTTED HISTORY
In Aug 2009 I paid a second visit to Long Mynd and was given a potted history of the site listed below. Of considerable interest on that visit were a considerable number of hang-gliders and para-gliders using a field next, (and just to the north), of the gliding site. Occassionally aero-tows were taking off towards the west so the gliding club stationed a person with a ‘walkie-talkie’ to advise the aero-tow pilot when it was clear to start. This person also had a klaxon to warn these “aerial ridge-surfers” that an aero-tow was about to depart. It all looked a bit chaotic but to date has worked well in practise.
This said in France I have seen powered flying, parachuting and model flying all taking place simultaneously with apparently no problems.
1934
11th August: Fred Slingsby, (my note…yes THE Fred Slingsby), is catapulted off LONG MYND in his Falcon II, the first soaring flight from the hill.
22nd & 23rd August: Crowds watch second gliding meeting.
17th October: Midland Gliding Club formed at a meeting in the Mikado Restaurant in Martinau Street, Birmingham. Espin Hardwick elected first chairman.
1935
15th March: After a four-day legal case, ‘Justice’ Crossman effectively bans gliding from the initial Long Mynd site which he rules, “interferes with grouse shooting.” However, the MGC soon finds a new site a short distance further south, overlooking the village of Asterton.
29th October: First unofficial flying meeting at the new site.
1936
4th April: Newly built hangar officially opened.
18th & 19th April: Formal inaugural meeting.
1937
24th October: The by now very famous Amy Johnson signed up as a member and promptly made her first solo flight in a ‘Kite’ glider.
1938
18th August: Flying Officer A N Young, a visitor, achieves British gliding duration record of 15 hours 47 minutes.
21st August: Club suffered first fatality when a Falcon III glider crashed, becoming ensnared by the launch rope during take-off.
AMY JOHNSON
It was during 1938 (it might have been earlier) that Amy discovered, or was introduced to, gliding - pretty much at the end of a fabulous and famous career as a pioneering aviatrix. And had this to say:
"I have memories which no one can take away and I have learned just one or two simple truths which give me happiness. I have a few friends I dearly love, a few books, a tiny cottage and garden which give me a calm content. I have a sailplane up at Long Mynd which I fly every weekend among the clouds and blue sky in the silence broken only by the sighing of the wind in the wings, the laughter of my friends, and the occassional cry of a bird."
1939
July: First camp of the new Air Defence Cadet Corps, training young cadets.
10th September: Last flying day at LONG MYND.
10th October: Club formally closed for the duration of World War 2.
1946
July: Charles Wingfield makes British record long distance flight in a low performance glider, taking off from here and landing near Redhill. (My notes: In SURREY and possibly at the aerodrome?). He was in the air for six hours covering 147 miles
It appears possible that the first hang-glider flights in the UK were conducted here? Failing that, it seems the site soon became a centre of excellence in this sphere of ‘sport aviation’ from the late 1960s at least?
Julian Roach
This comment was written on: 2021-05-02 00:40:40I believe some of the first hang gliding flights in the UK were, indeed, quite likely conducted from the Mynd, in the 1970's but not by the Midland Gliding Club. Alvin Russell, who lived at the foot of the Mynd, imported a Rogallo wing from the USA and taught himself to fly it, with the aid, at first, of friends who more or less threw him off the edge by way of a launch. By the time I met him he had several Rogallos and gave me the chance to try out the sport, hehaving moved on to the more advanced wings that were rapidly coming onto the scene. Alvin died while hang gliding in Ireland, on Christmas Eve of 1976 in a freak accident that in no way reflected on his skill or judgement.as a pilot. In the end, I stuck to the kind of gliders they had at the MGC and co-owned a glider with Charles Wingfield, who had made that record flight thirty years before and who had returned to gliding in his 60's after a long break.
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