No . 137
The Trusty Servant
Winged Wykehamists
Prompted by Professor Sir Bryan Thwaites ’ s article ( see Winchester ’ s Quinquenium Mirabile in TS 136 ), Richard Middleton ( Coll , 51-55 ) recalls the following Thwaites-inspired flying adventures :
Thwaites was my maths don for a time , I suspect when I was in VI Book hoping to get a chemistry scholarship to New College . Maths at that time seemed fairly straightforward - when my year took GCE O Level I think we all got 100 per cent , apart from someone who lost focus for a moment and had to be satisfied with 98 . However , Thwaites , with his aeronautical experience , suddenly made it relevant . He announced that we were going to build a wind tunnel , which would provide invaluable opportunities for the RAF cadets to learn about how planes fly . I have no idea if the wind tunnel ever materialized , but perhaps that was not the point : what mattered was that we learned to use double differential equations and other abstruse tools , and suddenly understood that maths was not just an academic exercise but highly applicable to the real world . This stood me in good stead when , at New College after completing my National Service in the Sappers , I switched from chemistry to civil engineering .
Like many other dons , his enthusiasm for extra-curricular activities contributed enormously to his popularity . He commanded the RAF section of the Corps , and he was determined to get us airborne . We started with an alarmingly skeletal glider called a Slingsby Grasshopper , which was launched by two teams of boys pulling on bungee cords until the desired tension was attained ; the pilot then pulled the release and was catapulted into flight . We only made short hops on Meads , but in 1954 Thwaites persuaded a real pilot to undertake a launch behind a car , and make several circuits . What alarmed people like me ( I suffer from vertigo ) was the absence of any fuselage : beyond your feet there was nothing much except fresh air !
From the Grasshopper we progressed to the T-21 Sedbergh two-seat trainer , which we flew at Lasham using winch launches , which gave plenty of altitude ( enough to find thermals , if you were lucky ), and even permitted some aerobatics such as loops .
Other aeronautical students of the ’ 50s add their recollections and how these activities in some cases influenced their future careers . Andrew Pritchard ( Q 49- 52 , Coll 52-57 ) continues :
I recall being launched in a similar glider ( maybe the same one ) in New Field , pulled by Bryan Thwaites in a jeep , as part of the CCF ’ s RAF contingent activities in around 1954 . Once the jeep stopped pulling , the “ glider ” sank alarmingly fast , but controllably . We also benefited from an arrangement by which four of the contingent ( we had to sign up , parental permission required ) were taken to Lasham airfield by taxi after morning school on some Tuesdays for gliding training during the
Preparing to launch the Grasshopper , 1954
afternoon . Alas , I didn ’ t quite make it to solo flight but others , notably my fellow Collegeman , Anthony Oldfield , were more successful .
I wonder if this happens still ?
Confirmation from Anthony Oldfield ( Coll 50-55 ):
I could have been in one of those photographs , maybe the man in the pilot ’ s seat . I had two flights : the most successful lasted about ten seconds , and rose two feet above the ground .
I do not recall the name ‘ Grasshopper ’, it was always known to us as the Flying Bedstead .
With all [ the distractions of flying courses arranged by Dr Thwaites ], our flying bedstead lost its appeal , and your photographs could show the one and only time that it flew on Meads .
Warwick Banks ( D , 52-55 ) also claims the pilot seat :
What a surprise to see the Grasshopper glider in Meads again .
As I was in the RAF Section I may well be in the picture , even in the cockpit ! Some of us discovered a much more reliable way of launching this behind
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