Shalbourne Gliding Club History & Shalmag Archive
The Inkpen Gliding Club, Southern Soaring & the Thruxton Gliding Club, 1968 – 1976
There has been gliding activity on the ridge to the south of Shalbourne since 1968. The original club was called the Inkpen gliding club and was based at the Inkpen airfield in Wiltshire. In 1973 Southern Soaring moved its operations from Compton Abbas airfield in Dorset to the Inkpen airfield. The club carried on at Inkpen until 1976, but due to a failed aerotow planning application the club was forced to move to Thruxton airfield in Hampshire. The Inkpen gliding club was later renamed as the Thruxton gliding club, but gliding activities ceased there in 1995.
Shalbourne Soaring Group, 1979 – Present
Shalbourne Soaring group, originally based at Inkpen Airfield was formed in 1979 as a winch only operation. Later the club moved to its present location, the Rivar Hill airfield and was renamed as Shalbourne Soaring Society. Today the club is known as Shalbourne Gliding.
In the winter of 1978 a small group of keen gliding people talked over the idea of starting a new club at the old Inkpen site near Hungerford. The idea was put to Mr M. Hine and we couldn’t have wished for a better landowner. He said he would be delighted to see the gliders back and immediately helped us to get the club started. With the kind help of Mr and Mrs Hine and Mr W. Sheppard we bought a K-7 and reconditioned a winch. We started flying on May 12, 1979 with two instuctors and four solo pilots and the club was born, We now have 45 members with one full Cat instructor and two assistant instructors. We have an Oly 28 and already syndicates are forming and a, Mini Nimbus, Std Libe’lle and Bocian are flying with us. Another Oly 28 and a Kranich are on their way. Congratulations to Mr Eastman for being the first member to go solo with Mr J. Jones a close second!; Mr G. Wells and Mr J. Mace for re-soloing and Mr G. Nicholls who has gained his assistant instructors’ rating. We are looking forward to the winter to bring north winds to enable us to use the superb ridge which runs from Shalbourne to Highclere.
The angry farmer incident
Shalbourne Soaring Society: (alias Rivar Hill): Gliding activity has been in the area since 1968, however, the current club was formed in 1979. A winch only site, their claim to fame is based on local legend. A local farmer took exception to the previous club at the site and took pot shots at a glider. Folk tales has it a Blanik was peppered with shotgun pellets.
Shalmag Archive
Shalmag Archive
Shalmag was the old club magazine. This internal publication ran from around 1984 to 2009. Click on the PDF links to view each individual edition of Shalmag.
| TriGraph | Reg. | BGA | Serial # | Manufacturer | Type | DoM | Acquired |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DLD | 2192 | 8766 | Schleicher | Ka8 | 1969 | ||
| EAZ | 2543 | Schleicher | Ka8 | 1962 | |||
| EGF | G-DEGF | 2669 | 1936 | Slingsby | Sport Vega | 1980 | |
| EMV | 2803 | Schleicher | Ka7 | ||||
| EUF | G-DEUF | 2957 | B-1090 | PZL | SZD 50-3 Puchacz | 1983 | |
| EVT | 2993 | Schempp – Hirth | Bergfalk 4 | 1971 | |||
| FJH | G-CFJH | 3294 | 1763 | Grob | Astir | 1978 | 15/07/1997 |
| HCF | G-DHCF | 3832 | B-2047 | PZL | SZD 50-3 Puchacz | 1991 | 20/12/1991 |
| JFY | G-CJFY | 4490 | 8 | Mechta | Me7 | 1998 | |
| JMX | G-CJMX | 4634 | 13107 | Schleicher | AS-K13 | 1968 | 2000 |
| JPC | G-CJPC | 4663 | 13256 | Schleicher | AS-K13 | 1970 | R51 Test flown 040413 @ Bicester |
References
Reference
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/bga-sg-archive/Books/British%20Gliding%20Clubs%20Directory.pdf
Southern soaring move to Inkpen 1973
Photos of the Inkpen gliding club at Thruxton
Inkpen Gliding club – S&G April-May 1976
Much to our surprise the “Dismal Jimmies” of the gliding world already have us dosed down and our airfield under the plough. The outcome of our planning appeal is probably several months away. Yet we are fully confident that the result will be in our favour. In the meantime we are carrying on as though nothing has or will happen. Summer is coming, so to all our friends we say: “Come and see us, we are in business as usual.”
SHALBOURNE SOARING GROUP – S&G 1980
In the winter of 1978 a small group of keen gliding people talked over the idea of starting a new club at the old Inkpen site near Hungerford. The idea was put to Mr M. Hine and we couldn’t have wished for a better landowner. He said he would be delighted to see the gliders back and immediately helped us to get the
club started. With the kind help of Mr and Mrs Hine and Mr W. Sheppard we bought a K-7 and reconditioned a winch. We started flying on May 12, 1979 with two instuctors and four solo pilots and the club was born, We now have 45 members with one full Cat instructor and two assistant instructors. We have an Oly 28 and already syndicates are forming and a, Mini Nimbus, Std Libe’lle and Bocian are flying with us. Another Oly 28 and a Kranich are on their way. Congratulations 10 Mr Eastman for being the first member to go solo with Mr J. Jones a close second!; Mr G. Wells and Mr J. Mace for re-soloing and Mr G. Nicholls who has gained his assistant instructors’ rating. We are looking forward to the winter to bring north winds to enable us to use the superb ridge which runs from Shalbourne to Highclere.
We welcome anyone who wishes to use the ridge and our launching facilities, so why not come with your glider and enjoy flying from a site that will give exciting ridge flying and some excellent field landing practice ready for next spring? But please no aeroplanes.
J.D
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