GLIDING AT THE OLYMPICS

29 Feb 2012

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THE Much Wenlock Olympian Society Games, that is. The Vintage Glider Club says the 2012 Wenlock Games will include Gliding as a demonstration sport.

The venue for the event will be the Midland Gliding Club’s airfield on the Long Mynd, 15 miles west of Much Wenlock. Dates are 14-21 July 2012.

Gliding was an official demonstration sport at the 1936 Olympic Games at Berlin, after which it was decided to make it a full Olympic event. Unfortunately World War 2 intervened.

However the Olympic mono-class glider specially designed for the single class event, aptly named the Olympia, was so good that production continued in several countries, including the UK, after the war. Many of these aircraft are still flying.

It is these Olympia gliders that have been invited to participate in the 2012 Wenlock Games, and will represent the biggest collection of the type in the same place, at the same time since the Second World War.

The Wenlock Games were the historic inspiration behind the modern Olympic movement and to mark these Games’ significance to Olympic Games history, the 2012 Olympic mascot is named ‘Wenlock’.

Entry to the event, for which the Wenlock Olympian Society will be awarding medals, is limited to 40 gliders.

Entry forms were available from December but the event has proved so popular that all 40 places were filled by the end of January. There is now a reserve list.

Many of the pilots are from the Midlands but entries have been received from all over the UK and 13 entrants are coming from Europe and bringing their gliders with them.

The Gliding event will commence with a static display of gliders at the Linden Field in Much Wenlock on Saturday 14th July and will be part of the popular Wenlock Olympian Games Celebration. Part of the gliding displays will be a planned aerobatic display over Much Wenlock and the Linden Field.

On Sunday, 15th July the gliding competition gets underway. Weather permitting, tasks will be set to over-fly Much Wenlock. MGC will be open to the public throughout the competition. The culmination will be a ‘Grand Open Day’ on the 21st July at the Midland Gliding Club Airfield on the Long Mynd, Church Stretton, South Shropshire.

There will be opportunities to fly in a glider and try your hand on a simulator. On the 21st there will be a static exhibition that charts the history of gliding, an aerial display of modern and vintage gliders, scale models and much, much more to entertain.

LINKS
Wenlock Olympian Society 
Vintage Glider Club 
Midland Gliding Club

 

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