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Cambridge Gliding Centre
Cambridge Gliding Centre is a gliding club based near Cambridge in the United Kingdom on the Bedfordshire/Cambridgeshire county border. Nearby major towns include Bedford, Cambourne, Huntingdon, Royston, Sandy, St Ives and St Neots. The club is based at Gransden Lodge Airfield, where it moved to from Duxford Aerodrome in October 1991. Formerly known as the Cambridge University Gliding Club, it became known as the Cambridge Gliding Club in the mid-nineties. In 2006 the club began trading as the Cambridge Gliding Centre. The Cambridge Gliding Centre provides flying lessons, and 'learn to fly' courses for aspiring glider pilots, along with advanced training, e.g. aerobatics, and conversion courses for more experienced pilots. Experience trial flight gift vouchers are also available. Some club members are record-holding pilots. The Cambridge Gliding Centre operates a fleet of four two-seat trainer and four single seater gliders, has access to a motor glider, state-of-the-art s ...
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Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is also used for the sport. 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, ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. When conditions are favourable, experienced pilots can now fly hundreds of kilometres before returning to their home airfields; occasionally flights of more than are achieved. Some competitive pilots fly in races around pre-defined course ...
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St Neots
St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable of the town's name are common. is a town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is west of Cambridge. The areas of Eynesbury, Eaton Ford, Eaton Socon, Love's Farm and Wintringham form part of the town. The town centre lies on the eastern bank of the River Great Ouse. The town is close to the A1 road (north-south), as well as the A421 and A428 roads which link Cambridge to Bedford and Milton Keynes. St Neots railway station is on the Great Northern route between London and Peterborough. St Neots had a population of 33,410 in 2021. Toponymy The town is named after the ninth century monk Saint Neot, whose bones were brought to St Neots Priory from Cornwall in around 980AD, resulting in pilgr ...
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Gliding In England
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is also used for the sport. 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, ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. When conditions are favourable, experienced pilots can now fly hundreds of kilometres before returning to their home airfields; occasionally flights of more than are achieved. Some competitive pilots fly in races around pre-defined course ...
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Naomi Heron-Maxwell
Helen Naomi Heron-Maxwell (25 June 1913 – 1983) was a British woman parachutist and glider pilot in the 1930s. She was the first woman glider pilot in the United Kingdom to achieve the Silver-C badge. She promoted gliding and helped to establish gliding clubs. She was a ferry pilot for the Air Transport Auxiliary in the Second World War. Early life Helen Naomi Heron-Maxwell, known as Naomi, was born on 25 June 1913 in Folkestone. She was the daughter of a baronet, Sir Ivor Heron-Maxwell, eighth Baronet, and Lady Heron-Maxwell. She was the second child and second daughter of four children; her younger brother Patrick was the ninth baronet. Her father died in 1928 when Naomi was a teenager. The family had been wealthy, but were less so after his death, and Naomi got a job as a secretary. She "could not cook, nor sew, and she refused to be presented at court". Flying In 1934, aged 20, Heron-Maxwell took flying lessons on a Gipsy Moth at Abridge Flying Club, Essex. Alan Cob ...
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Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is also used for the sport. 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, ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. When conditions are favourable, experienced pilots can now fly hundreds of kilometres before returning to their home airfields; occasionally flights of more than are achieved. Some competitive pilots fly in races around pre-defined course ...
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Motor Glider
A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight without thrust from the means of propulsion. History In 1935, an occasional or auxiliary motor that could be retracted was suggested by Sir John Carden. This was incorporated into the Carden-Baynes Auxiliary that first flew on 8 August of the same year. A later version of the Budig glider was powered. Categories Most motor gliders are equipped with a propeller, which may be fixed, feathered (e.g. AMS-Flight Carat), or retractable. However jet engine-powered motorgliders are now available from some manufacturers, some of which are intended for use only as "sustainer" engines, i.e. for sustaining gliding flight rather than as self-launching aircraft. Sustainer motor gliders Sustainer motor gliders must be launched like an unpowere ...
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Aerobatics
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment, and sport. Additionally, some helicopters, such as the MBB Bo 105, are capable of limited aerobatic manoeuvres. An example of a fully aerobatic helicopter, capable of performing loops and rolls, is the Westland Lynx. Most aerobatic manoeuvres involve rotation of the aircraft about its longitudinal (roll) axis or lateral (pitch) axis. Other maneuvers, such as a spin, displace the aircraft about its vertical (yaw) axis. Manoeuvres are often combined to form a complete aerobatic sequence for entertainment or competition. Aerobatic flying requires a broader set of piloting skills and exposes the aircraft to greater structural stress than for normal flight. In some countries, the pilot must wea ...
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Duxford Aerodrome
Duxford Aerodrome is located south of Cambridge, within the civil parish of Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England and nearly west of the village. The airfield is owned by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and is the site of the Imperial War Museum Duxford and the American Air Museum. Duxford Aerodrome has a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Ordinary Licence (Number P678) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Cambridgeshire County Council). The aerodrome is not licensed for night use. History Early Use The area around Duxford was first used for military purposes as part of the Army Manoeuvres of 1912. It was not until October 1917 that construction was started on a more formal airfield. The new aerodrome was built as part of a pair with a sister station at Fowlmere. The hangars built in the period correspond to a Directorate of Fortifications and Works drawing number 332/17. The drawing was signed by ...
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Gransden Lodge Airfield
Gransden Lodge Airfield is a former wartime airfield located west of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. The Cambridge University Gliding Club (now Cambridge Gliding Centre) moved to Gransden Lodge in October 1991, having previously shared Duxford Airfield with the Imperial War Museum Duxford. History Gransden Lodge opened in April 1942 as an operational RAF Bomber Command station called RAF Gransden Lodge with three concrete runways. At the end of 1945 the airfield was transferred to Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 19 ... but the last operational squadron was disbanded in February 1946. The RAF station closed in 1955 and it was also used for some motor races, including the first major postwar motor race in the UK on 15 June 1946. Operational ...
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St Ives, Cambridgeshire
St Ives is a medieval market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Great Ouse, and there is St Ives Bridge, a historic stone bridge dating from 1425. The bridge has an unusual chapel incorporated into the structure. The nearby Quayside offers pleasing views of the river and the bridge. The settlement was known at first as Slepe: it was at a convenient Ford (crossing), fording point on the river, which encouraged the establishment of a route for travellers between northern and eastern districts of the country, and London and the South, enhancing its importance. A little before the year 1000 CE, a coffin was dug up during ploughing: it apparently contained the remains of a holy man named Ivo of Ramsey, and as a result the town became a destination for pilgrims, and the name Slepe was changed over time to St Ives. A royal charter authorised the holding of a fair in the town; at the ti ...
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Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of the City of Cambridge was 145,700; the population of the wider built-up area (which extends outside the city council area) was 181,137. (2021 census) There is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area as early as the Bronze Age, and Cambridge became an important trading centre during the Roman Britain, Roman and Viking eras. The first Town charter#Municipal charters, town charters were granted in the 12th century, although modern city status was not officially conferred until 1951. The city is well known as the home of the University of Cambridge, which was founded in 1209 and consistently ranks among the best universities in the world. The buildings of the university include King's College Chap ...
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Sandy, Bedfordshire
Sandy is a town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. It lies to the east of Bedford, to the south west of Cambridge and north of Central London. It had a population of 12,171 at the 2021 census. The town takes its name from a low range of sandy hills on the eastern side of the town, which form part of the Bedfordshire Greensand Ridge. The main part of the built-up area lies between the hills to the east and the River Ivel to the west. The A1 road skirts the western edge of the town. Sandy railway station is on the Great Northern route between London and Peterborough, with the railway running along the eastern edge of the built-up area. The parish also includes the hamlet of Beeston, which straddles the A1 to the south-west of the town. The headquarters of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is at The Lodge at Sandy Warren in the hills to the east of the town, where it has been based since 1961. History The Sandy area has a long histor ...
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