ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 245288
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| Date: | Wednesday 26 June 1946 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Slingsby T.9 King Kite |
| Owner/operator: | Cambridge University Gliding Club, |
| Registration: | G-GAAB/BGA302 |
| MSN: | 262A |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Long Mynd, Church Stretton, Shropshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Long Mynd, Church Stretton, Shropshire |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Slingsby T.9 King Kite G-GAAB: First registered (C of R G2) to Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd., Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire on 21 May 1937. In addition to the registration G-GAAB, it was also on the BGA (British Gliding Association) register as BGA302. (Only five gliders aspired to the G-GAA.. registration as G-GAAA to G-GAAE before the idea was dropped in favour of BGA registration numbers)
G-GAAB took part in the Cambridge University Gliding Camp on the Long Mynd during June 1946. It was a week of tremendous cumulonimbus clouds.
On the 26th June, the King Kite G-GAAB (BGA 302) broke up in cloud causing a fatal accident to its (RAF?) pilot. The official reason for this accident was "Glue failure". Unless the pilot was Willy Watt, it seems to us now that it would have been dangerous to take a machine that picked up speed very quickly, and had no speed-limiting airbrakes, into a cumulonimbus cloud (if it was one) and that it might not have had to have glue failure to have come to pieces in those circumstances. However, who are we to challenge the official pronouncements of the day? The CUGC's Rhönadler had also been condemned through glue failure earlier that year just after it had gained the height prize at the Easter Meeting by being taken to over 7,000 ft in cloud. The Condor 2 was also struck off charge because of glue failure. These machines had not been kept well during the war.
The above led to the BGA's pronouncement that there had to be new gliders for the British Gliding Movement (the Eon Olympia etc).
Sources:
1. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT217/542: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C574696
2. https://cevans.me/VINTAGE/Documentation/KingKite/KingKite_Docs.html
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-G.html
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingsby_King_Kite#After_Wasserkuppe
5. "Sailplane & Glider" magazine July 1937: https://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpages/Sailplane%20&%20Glider%201930%20-%201955/Volume%208%20No.%207%20Jul%201937.pdf
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Mynd#Gliding
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Nov-2020 21:47 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 27-Jul-2021 23:20 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Category] |
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