Sailplanes

his, the second volume of ‘Sailplanes’ by Martin Simons, describes the extra-ordinary transformation in soaring that took place from 1945 to 1965. To take advantage of discoveries in low drag aerodynamics it became necessary to develop new structures and methods of construction. Almost every possible combination of materials and techniques was tried with varying success. A great variety of sailplane types appeared. Towards the end of the period, glass- reinforced plastics were achieving great advances in performance. In parallel, sophisticated electronic instruments and radios were introduced, training methods and piloting techniques changed, records undreamed of before were set, broken and broken again. Competition tasks, formerly simple distance or goal flights, changed to closed circuit races over hundreds of kilometres. As in Volume 1, the drawings illustrating this work are on a constant scale of 1:50, with cross sections and leading dimensions. Colour shading indicates the materials used. Numerous coloured and black and white photographs are included, many of them rare or previously unpublished. The text contains explanatory material as well as descriptions of the 120 or more sailplanes included.