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THE story of Gliding and Soaring has its most visible expression in the improvement of design and performance of the craft themselves. Growing from the box-like gliders of early days to be graceful, bird-like lines of the modern high-performance sailplanes, the craft have advanced with the advance in skill of the pilots who enjoy this sport-science. 
While we cannot hope to trace here the entire development of motorless craft from the earliest days of this country's participation in the movement, we shall try in these columns to describe and picture some of the craft prominent in the history of American soaring as well as some of the different types of craft which you may be expected to see here at this Thirteenth Annual National Soaring Contest. 
[[image]]FRANKLIN PS - 2 
First, let us mention the Franklin PS_2. This craft is probably the most familiar of all gliders. It was designed by Professor R. E. Franklin of Ann Arbor, Michigan and manufactured by Franklin Glider Corporation. Although it was designed over seventeen years ago, it is still considered one of the best training and ridge soaring craft. The thirty-six foot wing is of wood and fabric construction and the rest of the ship is build of steel framework with a fabric cover. The craft weighs 220 pounds empty and has a cruising speed of about 35 miles per hour. 
[[image]] DuPONT UTILITY 
The DuPont Utility is a general-purpose ship built by the DuPont Glider Company of Delaware in 1936. Strutbraced forty foot wings of elliptical form and wood construction, fabric covered, are used. The fuselage is constructed of steel tubing cleverly faired into good aerodynamic form, and weighs about 325 pounds empty. While its performance is close to that of the Franklin Utility, it holds the distance record for utility gliders of 135 miles.
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Types of Craft 
[[image]] BG - 6 
The BG-6 is from a long line of experimental gliders designed by Gus Briegleb of California and build by the Briegleb Aircraft Company. This utility glider of steel tube construction is remarkably clean in appearance and is fitted with complete cockpit enclosure. The BG-7 is similar to the BG-6 except for the wings which are 45 feet straight taper instead of 32 feet rectangular. Briegleb
[[image]] CINEMA I 
Cinema I and Cinema II are the single and tandem two-seater creations of Stanley Corcoran of the Frankfort Sailplane Corp. Of metal tube construction, the Cinema I is unusually well streamlined considering it has a strutbraced high wing. The Cinema II is similar and has a fifty-two foot tapered soaring wing. 
[[image]] SGU 2 - 22
From the SGU 1-7 to the new SGU 1-19, first postwar glider, the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation of Elmira has made a fine line of sturdy single-place utility gliders. The