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[[image]] Photo by Ian Ingalls
Tom Page prepares to flight test his kit-build Schweizer 1-26

National Soaring Contest with his LK-10A but sold it to help on the last lap of graduate study.

Since 1951 at the University of Illinois he has been a working faculty sponsor of the Illini Glider Club. He helped that club complete the approved type certification of the flat-top LK-10A, performed the flight tests, and wrote the FAA-approved bulletin used by many LK owners to modify this durable surplus sail-plane.

Tom planned the American SOaring Handbook project in 1956, obtained the grant from the Link Foundation to SSA which started it off, and wrote the first chapter to be published, Airplane Tow, now in its second edition. He is working on further chapters, and serves as adviser on others to the editor of the project, Alice Fuchs. He is also an occasional contributor to the Soaring.

Shortly after being elected as an SSA Regional Director, Tom was appointed to the new SSA Integrated Training Committee in early 1961. One of his projects for his committee, a suggested draft for a flight test guide for private, commercial, and instructor ratings, in gliders, has been taken over by the FAA for its series of such flight and test guides.

Tom has recently completed a Schweizer 1-26 kit, "with lots of help from club members." When he's not flying it, he's instructing for his club. When he's not doing either he teaches public administration, supervises legislative staff interns in the  Illinois General Assembly with a grant from the Ford Foundation, serves on the Advisory Board to the 

May . . . 1962

Illinois Department of Personnel, writes monographs and articles on administrative problems, and consults with government agencies on hard questions.

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GOLD ALTITUDE WAVE FLIGHT
by Lloyd P. Hunter
March 25, 1962
This day was the third day in a row that there was a 20 to 30mph wind blowing from the northwest. There was no indication of wave activity.In fact, the absence of lenticulars was emphasized by the presence of some widely scattered cu. off to the northwest.
I had planned to move my Schweizer 1-23D sailplane from Midddletown , N.Y., to Wurtsboro on this weekend and intended to make the short ten-mile cross-country rather then de-rig. In making this flight (perhaps extended by an hour of ridge soaring) the decision to carry a sealed barograph was almost an afterthought. The strong wind might possibly develop some wave activity later on. 
I asked Steve Bennis to tow me from Middletown to withing reach of Shawanga Ridge almost straight up wind. The tow was a bit rough but otherwise uneventful. About three miles from the ridge we entered a region of good lift and I released at 3000 ft. expecting to find an area of lift running parallel to the ridge. Unfortunately this lift topped out at only 3500 ft. and I had to accelerate to 90 mph to penetrate the remaining two miles to the ridge against the 40 mph wind found at this altitude. Fortunately there were one or two more narrow regions of lift or I would never have had enough altitude to penetrate the 2000 ft./min. sink encountered in the lee of the ridge.
With such evidence of the strength of the winds aloft, I decided to fly the ridge ten or twelve miles north in order to get nearer to the Catskills above Ellenville. Immediately upon arriving at Ellenville strong lift was encountered which increased as one flew away from the ridge up wind. At 5000 ft. all turbulence ceased and the ethereally smooth lift so often found in lee waves took over. At this altitude the wind had shifted toward the north and had increased in velocity to about 50 mph. 
At 8000 ft. the wind was almost due north at nearly 60 mph. The lift was rapidly diminishing so an attempt was made to penetrate straight up wind to try to attain the primary wave. This maneuver merely achieved a new low point of little more than 2000 ft. as I scrambled back. Repeating the climb, the lift was now much weaker and the turbulence did not stop until about 7000 ft. The cu. were now quite close with bases at about 7000 ft. The wind was still as strong as ever and from the north. After exploring the neighborhood of Ellenville and reaching a maximum of 10,000 ft., it seemed that a position some six or seven miles west would be more directly down wind from the higher peaks of the Cat-skills. Careful flying succeeded in arriving there without loss of altitude. A slow penetration up wind was rewarded with gradually increasing lift. Now the air became some-what turbulent but the lift increased to 400 ft./min. This remained almost constant until the peak altitude of 14,000 ft. was attained for a gain of 11,874 ft. At this point the spoilers were opened and the final descent was begun even though there was 300 ft./min. lift still available. It seemed the better part of discretion to go no higher without oxygen. Total flight time was three hours. At no time were there any lenticulars to serve as guides even though the humidity was high enough to produce cu. The biggest thrill, aside from the achievement of Gold altitude, was the sight of a field of cu. viewed from 6000 ft. above their tops, and the realization that such altitudes can be achieved in the Hudson Valley.

NEW FEMININE RECORD
FAI's latest list of records indicates that the flight made on Dec. 11, 1961, by Denise Trouillard and Suzanne Suchet of France established a new world soaring record in the feminine multi-place altitude gained category of 23,805 ft. (7256 meters), as well as the current altitude above sea level record of 28,120 ft. mentioned in the March Soaring. The flight was made at Issoire, France, using a Wassmer WA-30 "Bijave" sailplane. The French gain did not exceed the previous record of 23,622 ft., set in Poland on Dec. 5, 1961, by the 3% needed to set a new record but for some reason it was accepted by FAI. The U.S. record for this category is 10,797 ft. gained; none has been established in the altitude above sea level category.

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