Nympsfield - 12th July 2010

The airfield at Nympsfield is located high up on the hills a few miles south of Stroud, Gloucestershire along the B4066 towards Dursley.

The airfield is home to the Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club ( BGGC ) and also Targett Aviation.

G-DEWR Grob G 103A Twin II Acro c/n 33894-K-132 coded "P70" is part of the BGGC training fleet. This particular glider has an interesting history. It was originally delivered new from Grob in Germany in 1985 as a Viking T1 training glider with military serial ZE525 ( also allocated BGA 3015 Trigraph EWR  ) to the RAF for use by Air Cadets within the Volunteer Gliding Squadron ( VGS ) system.

In January 1990 ZE525 was damaged when a VGS hangar collapsed at Predannack, Cornwall - I saw it myself hangared at RAF Syerston in October 1990 with rear fuselage damage. The glider was subsequently rebuilt and passed on to the Royal Air Force Gliding and Soaring Association ( RAFGSA ) where it operated with tail code "R70" by the Anglia Gliding Club based at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk.

This glider was bought by the BGGC at Nympsfield in 2006 and flown as BGA 3015  - the "R70" tailcode was easily changed to "P70" ( "R number" tail codes are reserved for the RAFGSA ). In December 2007 the glider was registered with the CAA as G-DEWR as part of the process of bringing modern gliders onto the Civil Aviation Authority controlled UK aircraft register - thanks to Richard Cawsey for help with the above.

G-CFYV Schleicher ASK 21 c/n 21468 is operated by the Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club - this glider was first registered as BGA 3639 in 1990 with Trigraph tail code FYV. For many years it was based at Booker / High Wycombe.  In November 2007 this glider took up the CAA registration G-CFYV.



For more information about the BGGC visit their website via the link below

http://www.bggc.co.uk


Outside the Targett Aviation workshop at Nympsfield was the rare Phillips ST2 Speedtwin G-STDL.

G-STDL c/n PFA 207-12674 is the only example of this design in the UK. It was the second Speedtwin to be built and was originally registered as G-DPST in 1996 ( it became G-STDL in 2006 ). The Speedtwin was designed by Peter Phillips and the first example of this distinctive design was registered as G-GPST c/n PFA 207-11645 in 1990. This first example was sold to an owner in the USA in 2008.

G-STDL is a sleek tandem two seat all metal aircraft painted in a very distinctive two tone blue scheme and is currently fitted with twin Walter M332B engines.
   
For more information about Targett Aviation visit their website
 
http://www.sailplaneservices.co.uk/


Steve