Gliding

Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s. Long distances are now flown using any of the main sources of rising air: ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. Techniques to maximize a glider’s speed around the day’s task in a competition have been developed.

About Gliding in brief

Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s. Initially the objective was to increase the duration of flights but soon pilots attempted cross-country flights away from the place of launch. Improvements in aerodynamics and in the understanding of weather phenomena have allowed greater distances at higher average speeds. Long distances are now flown using any of the main sources of rising air: ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. Local and national competitions are organized in many countries, and there are biennial World Gliding Championships. Techniques to maximize a glider’s speed around the day’s task in a competition have been developed, including the optimum speed to fly, navigation using GPS and the carrying of water ballast. If the weather deteriorates pilots may need to land elsewhere, perhaps in a field, but motorglider pilots can avoid this by starting an engine. The sport of gliding only emerged after the First World War, as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, which imposed severe restrictions on the manufacture and use of single-seat powered aircraft in Germany’s Weimar Republic. In the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin gliding was a demonstration sport, and it was scheduled to be a full Olympic sport in the 1940 Games. A glider, the Olympia, was developed in Germany for the event, but World War II intervened. By 1939 the major gliding records were held by Russians, including a distance record of 748 kilometres.

Gliding did not return to the Olympics after the war for two reasons: a shortage of gliders, and the failure to agree on a single model glider. The re-introduction of air gliding to the world Olympics has occasionally been proposed by the world governing body, the Fédéronautique Internationale, but has been rejected on the grounds of lack of public interest. In 1950s, many aeronautical engineers could design, build and maintain gliders and many clubs started. This stimulated the development of both gliding and pre-war gliding. Soaring Society of America, for example, increased from 1,000 to 16,000 by 1980. The first German gliding competition was held at the Wasserkuppe in 1920,: 51 organized by Oskar Ursinus. Within ten years, it had become an international event in which the achieved durations and distances had increased greatly. In 1931, Gunther Grönhoff flew 272 kilometres on the front of a storm from Munich to Kadaň in Western Czechoslovakia, farther than had been thought possible. By 1937, there were 50,000 glider pilots by 1937. The number of pilots trained to fly gliders has increased by many, including many pilots who wanted to continue flying gliders after the Second World War. By 1980, the membership of the Society of American gliding societies increased to 16,.000. The membership for the gliding society of America increased by more than 1,500 by the 1980s for example.

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