Shenington Gliding Club
Encyclopedia
Shenington Gliding Club is a British gliding
club near the village of Shenington
in the Cotswolds
, seven miles north west of Banbury
.
The present club was founded in 1991, though gliding had been a regular activity at the airfield since 1984. The club operates every day of the week and currently has three K13
, a K21, three K8
, an Astir
, a motor glider
, two lpg powered winches and a super cub tug. There are numerous privately owned gliders.
The club hosts trial lessons for visitors and runs courses with professional instructors from March to October.
No. 21 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was based at the airfield operating Vickers Wellington
s, Miles Martinet
s and Hawker Hurricane
s.
The airfield was also used for the flight testing of the Gloster E28/39 in 1942 after it had made its maiden flights at RAF Cranwell
.
After the war it became a storage depot. After a brief period as a Flying Training School, it finally closed as an RAF
station in 1953.
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as 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...
club near the village of Shenington
Shenington
Shenington is a village about west of Banbury. It was an exclave of Gloucestershire until the Counties Act 1844 transferred it to Oxfordshire. Shenington is on Oxfordshire's boundary with Warwickshire.-Manor:...
in the Cotswolds
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, seven miles north west of Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
.
The present club was founded in 1991, though gliding had been a regular activity at the airfield since 1984. The club operates every day of the week and currently has three K13
Schleicher ASK 13
|-References:**...
, a K21, three K8
Schleicher Ka 8
|-References:*Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1966–67. London:Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1966.**...
, an Astir
Grob G-102 Astir
-References:**Hardy, M. Gliders & Sailplanes of the World. Ian Allan, 1982*...
, a motor glider
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 ,...
, two lpg powered winches and a super cub tug. There are numerous privately owned gliders.
The club hosts trial lessons for visitors and runs courses with professional instructors from March to October.
RAF Edgehill
The airfield was completed in 1941, and called RAF Edgehill.No. 21 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was based at the airfield operating Vickers Wellington
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...
s, Miles Martinet
Miles Martinet
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Amos, Peter. and Brown, Don Lambert. Miles Aircraft Since 1925, Volume 1. London: Putnam Aeronautical, 2000. ISBN 0-85177-787-0....
s and Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
s.
The airfield was also used for the flight testing of the Gloster E28/39 in 1942 after it had made its maiden flights at RAF Cranwell
RAF Cranwell
RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. It is currently commanded by Group Captain Dave Waddington...
.
After the war it became a storage depot. After a brief period as a Flying Training School, it finally closed as an RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
station in 1953.