So, today was the very last day of this years Moorsbus season, and Katharine and I ended up going to Sutton Bank for a short walk along the edge of the escarpment to the white horse carved into the hillside, before completing a longer loop back to Sutton Bank visitors centre.
There was low cloud as we started, and the views over the Vale of York were poor, but slowly the cloud cleared and we were entertained by watching gliders being launched and landing at the Yorkshire Gliding Club airstrip.
Sutton Bank had been in use as a glider launching site for 25 years before the YGC was formed and had also been used by Slingsby Sailplanes to test their aircraft. The first official recorded use of the site was in 1911 when Erik Addyman launched his self-built glider off the edge of Sutton Bank. The Yorkshire Gliding Club was formed in April 1934 as an amalgamation of the Bradford Gliding Club with the Ilkley and District Gliding Club by Phil Wills, Fred Slingsby and Norman Sharpe. The club moved to Sutton Bank in the second half of 1934 when they negotiated a lease on the site from the land owners (it was owned by the Church of England) with the site being perceived as second only to one at Dunstable in the development of British gliding. However, in the early days of gliding the airspace at Sutton Bank was deemed of far greater value as its launch site was 600 feet (180 m) above the ground level at the bottom of the cliff compared to Dunstable's 200 feet (61 m) clearance.
Our walk along the escarpment edge is on the fringe of the grass strip and is therefore an ideal viewpoint to see the gliders in action. This one is an Alexander Schleicher ASK-21 glider, and it was making a turn ready to land.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
It must be an impressive experience to be towed off the landing strip, suddenly finding that the ground changes from being a few feet below your glider to being over 600 feet below as you fly off the escarpment!
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
It must be an impressive experience to be towed off the landing strip, suddenly finding that the ground changes from being a few feet below your glider to being over 600 feet below as you fly off the escarpment!
Ian
Thank you Nina. It is quite impressive watching the gliders in action.
Ian