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Soaring NOV.-DEC. 1941 12 MORE RECENT SOARING ACTIVITES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST by AMOS WOOD An excellent gliding site which may become the permanent training center for Seattle glider fans was tried out the second week in October by Prater Hoag, Jack Blum and Don Sweetman in Charles Barton's primary. This site is near the town of Snohomish, Washington, an historic logging and mining center, thirty miles north of Seattle. The "L" shaped field is on the Holmes property and borders a wide expanse of farming country more than capable of producing cross country possibilities. Though the site is under consideration as permanent field, the soaring possibilities are not being overlooked. Already the townspeople have showed their interest in flying by watching from the highway in their automobiles. The Commercial Club of Quincy, Washington, has done a great deal toward enticing the soaring pilots of the state toward their district. Upon hearing that Bud Titus, Lee Holman and Emily Doty had been making thermal flights up to 7500 feet in Bud's Cadet, The Commercial Club directed some public funds toward scraping away the grown-up sagebrush from what at one time had been an airport, and blossomed forth with a runway better than a mile long. The best altitude from this new field is 5400 feet by Emil Doty, the best duration 1 1/2 hours by Bud Titus. A meet is already being planned for the Fourth of July. More about it later. The Tacoma Soaring Club is busy at the present time repairing their Baby Albatross after some pilot trouble at low altitude. It probably won't be in the air much before Spring. In Seattle the overtime at Boeing still keeps many pilots away from the ridges. The Bowlus belonging to Fred Brunton, Dave Mowrer, and Amos Wood has the spoilers installed and is ready for covering. The Briegleb B-6 of Lee Holman's is at a standstill, as are the three H-17's. Carmen Carson, former gliding instructor of South Euclid, Ohio, is now in the Seattle area working at the Keyport Torpedo Station. In view of the fact that the activities of the Pacific Northwest Soaring Association are so far away from other soaring activities of the country, we are most eager to receive Soaring magazine. We only wish it came out every month. Certainly there is enough activity. New members of the PNSA are anxious to purchase secondary equipment, of which there is none in this part of the country, so any news of gliders for sale is more than welcome out here. News Item For the information of Floyd Sweet's many friends who want news of him, we are glad to report that his condition is definitely not serious. He has several small bones broken in one of his feet and is now at--Billings General Hospital, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana To the Atlantic (Continued from page 8) ing on a very large Army field at Staten island, N.Y. The M. P immediately dashed out to tell us that we could not land there. We answered questions for the O. D. and made our call to Harris Hill, 182 miles away. We had an excellent supper on the Army, and rested while we waited for our crew. They were at Wilkes-Barre when I made my call and they did not arrive until 1:30 AM. If conditions are very good, my brother follows along my course, telephoning to Harris Hill Every hour. Mexico City--or Bust By error this half of the letter from Mexico City issued in our September-October issue was omitted. (Continued from page 13, September-October issue): "Then, once on its way the movement would keep on growing through its own impetus. "Your suggestions are very practical, but for people who reside in the States. Living abroad, as we do, we run into certain difficulties and have to cope with very different problems. In the first place: you say that practically all the glider pilots have learned to fly in clubs. Since there are no clubs here, that avenue is closed to us. Not only that, but we have no real gliding instructors. You say, also, that if no instructor is available, one of the club members should get his training in an already established club, and then promote his own. Our present would-be members have jobs and a steady income. BUT--they cannot take enough time off to go all the way to the States and study. Therefore, we would like to know if you have any one who would be interested in coming down to instruct us and head us in organizing such a club. "Gliding is a giant still in its babyhood. It's not only a sport, it's a science. It holds a great field for pioneering and experimentation in aerodynamics, meteorology, flying under such especial conditions as the latitude and altitude of this locality afford, and so on, ad infinitum. "We want to express our gratitude for the attention you have given this letter and would appreciate any suggestions you may offer." (Signed) Victoria Patterson Roy Strozzi Fred P. Kaufer Here's your chance, boys! Will some competent pilot and instructor please take over this job? How about you, Dick Johnson, with the two-place Schweizer? Lockwood, Illinois Lewis School of Aeronautics We hear they are being obliged to turn away students because of the Marine Training schedule. Indications are that these so-called test courses will continue to grow in size as well as importance. Pasadena, California Our Youngest Competing Pilot of the 1940 National Contest Becomes Our Youngest Instructor of 1941. The following news is from Dick Johnson, Silver "C": "I am now operating with the Schweizer two-place as instructor with the Briegleb School of Motorless Flight as Rosamund Dry Lake. The school, run by Gus Briegleb, has two BG-6's and a ground trainer,a nd I operate at the Schweizer with the stronger than I have ever found in the East and often it is difficult to get down. Herman Stieglemeier flew to 14,000 feet one day and 10,000 feet the next in his 'Stick.' There is over 25 square miles which is as smooth as a highway. The lake is usable, all except one or two months of the year. Although it is ninety miles from Los Angeles, plans are being made to make it the soaring site of the Southern California Soaring Association and to build a hangar and buildings. The property including a long runway and water can be rented for $100 per year. "At Rosamond we tow to about 2,000 feet, although higher tows may be made. The highest has been 3,600 feet. We usually fly about five hours a day during instruction and passenger rides. The "Rhonbussard" is being repaired by the Volmer Jensen and it should be flying soon. It was damaged when one wing tip caught on a bush during a take-off at Torrey Pines. "Harland Ross and H. Bowlus are both starting two-place tandem ships of high performance. They both put the pilots and passengers in front of the main spar and use about 1 [degree] sweep forward. This helps the visability from the rear seat. "The new 'Baby' is an excellent ship, being stronger and heavier by 75 lbs. It has an A. T. C. "I believe that we have the most active and the best pilots in the country around Los Angeles and San Diego." Yours truly, (Signed) Richard Johnson, 1346 Locust Street, Pasadena, California To be Noted The Elmira School, we understand, has been transferred--lock, stock, and barrel, to what is to be known as the 29 Palms Air Academy at 29 Palms, California--taking with them a good deal of the equipment, particularly the Schweizers which were used during the training course at Elmira. And, of course, all personnel: John Robison William Putnam Ray Parker Lawrence Creighton Maurice Waters Dick McGrath Don Sanford All are very busy with a new group of twenty army students and we hear unofficially the classes will be upped twenty each month until pilots are being trained at the rate of one hundred at a time. It sounds pretty interesting. And we want to wish them best of luck.
