Our History
London Gliding Club was officially inaugurated on February 20th 1930, and in March the first flights took place at Stoke Park Farm, in Guildford, Surrey. By May the club had secured the use of Ivinghoe Beacon.
The gliding activity attracted so many visitors that special trains were laid on from Euston to Tring, and in July we were visited by the Prince of Wales -the crowds caused chaos on the roads and soon after the club was evicted from Ivinghoe Beacon after the National Trust accused it of “ spoiling its peaceful enjoyment by the public".
The club moved initially to a farm in Totternhoe, and then to ‘Pascombe Pit’ -still known to members as ‘ The Bowl’. The gliders were launched by “bungee” from the top of the hill, and the pilots flying along the hill had instructions relayed to them by flag signals for "too fast" or "too slow".
The first hangers had been erected by 1932. In 1935 these were replaced by the present hangar and clubhouse, designed by renowned architect Kit Nicholson who later became a National Gliding Champion. The building is now Grade 2 listed and retains all the character of its 1930’s heritage.
During the Second Word War gliding was prohibited and the club became a prisoner of war camp. Remenants of which can still be seen at several places on the airfield. Several club members played important roles in the military Glider Training School. The club reopened in 1949.
Over the years the club was able to purchase the fields adjoining the original land and by the 1960’s the airfield reached reached its present size. Right from the start the London Gliding club has been a pioneer in the art of soaring.
We achieved the first cross country flight by a British pilot, the first ‘Silver C’, and in 1939 the first soaring flight across the channel to France (from Dunstable!). We set early records for duration (22hrs in 1937), and for height (over 14,000ft above Dunstable in 1939).
To this day Dunstable pilots have continued to set records and win trophies both across the UK and at international competitions.
Originally gliders were made of wood, with wings of painted fabric, supported by metal struts or bracing cables. In the 1950’s training was in open cockpit Slingsby T21 gliders, replaced in the 1960’s by the Schleicher ASK13.
By the end of the 1980’s we had standardised with fibreglass ASK21 dual seat trainers and ASK23 single seaters, these remain the core of our fleet today.
Today there are over 100 gliders based at Dunstable. Of these, 14 are owned by the club for training and use by members, the rest are all privately owned aircraft. Some of these come from the earliest years of gliding and are still flying – there is a vigorous vintage gliding section within the club. At the other end of the scale we have some of the most modern and advanced gliders in the world.
From our archive
