Usk - Sunday 18th May 2014 - Astir gliders

The airfield at Usk is a couple of miles to the north east of the town of Usk, Monmouthshire in south Wales.

The South Wales Gliding Club is based here with a number of two seat trainers plus some K8 single seaters too.

As with many gliding airfields a lot of the based gliders reside in metal glider trailers.

A quick stop mid morning on a beautiful early summers day found the club busy preparing for a days flying. In addition a pair of single seat Astir gliders were being prepared for flight beside the row of glider trailers.

G-DEOD is a Grob G102 Astir CS77 built in 1977 with c/n 1614. The Astir was a very succesful Club Standard glider with over 1,200 examples being built by Grob in Germany of which approx 250 were of the CS77 version. This example was originally registered on the BGA register as "BGA 2859" before becoming "G-DEOD" in June 2008.

G-DDKX is a Grob G102 Astir CS built in 1976 with c/n 1331 - the original production version of the G102, over 500 of this version were built.  This Astir wears the competition code "353" on the tail.

Even after nearly 40 years there are currently 115 examples of the Grob G102 Astir series gliders on the UK CAA aircraft register. 


Click here for a web link to the South Wales Gliding Club




 Steve
  

Poland - Radom Piastow airfield

The airfield at Radom Piastow ( EPRP ) is approx 6 miles North West of Radom city. This grass airfield is home to the local Aeroklub Radomski operating both aircraft and gliders. In addition there are also some privately owned aircraft too.

There is small elegant clubhouse that includes a cafe open to the public. Permission was granted to walk over to most of the hangers during my visit on 28.8.09.

SP-ZUD PZL M-18 Dromader recently repainted into this bright yellow c/s, this aircraft was built in 1983 and is used for aerial fire fighting.

SP-KMC Cessna 182Q Skylane was built in 1978 and imported into Poland in 2001 from German as D-EVER

SP-FRK PZL Koliber 150 was built in 1984 as SP-ARK a Koliber 110 - it became SP-FRK in 1989 and was converted to 150 standard in 1993

SP-AFM PZL 104 Wilga 35A was built in 1982 and delivered to the Polish Aeroklub. I've seen it active at Radom Piastow in 1997 and 2000 - now it looks in need of some attention

SP-SMWD Ekolot JK-05 Junior a Polish built ultralight being pushed back into a small private hanger

SP-ACM Extra 300L c/n 48 was built in 1997

SP-KGK Cessna 152 dismantled inside the Aeroklub glider hanger - this aircraft was built in 1977 and was imported to Poland from Germany as D-EDLN in 2005

SP-3038 SZD 9Bis Bocian 1E two seat trainer was built in 1976

SP-2503 SZD 30 Pirat was the second Pirat to be built ( in 1966 ) and is now the oldest remaining example of this singe seat design after the prototype ( SP-2502 ) was destroyed in 1966. Based with Aeroklub LOT.

In total I logged 36 aircraft and gliders at Piastow of which 18 were gliders. Two private hangers on the Western side of the club housewere not accessed.

Bodmin, Cornwall - 11.4.09

Bodmin airfield is situated just 1/2 mile from the A30 just a couple of miles NE of the town on the edge of Bodmin Moor. The airfield has a small simple cafe with some outside tables too.

A request at the Tower gave me permission to walk around to the hangers - residents seen included

G-OTUN EV-97 Eurostar built in 2002

G-GAOM Robin DR400 Dauphin built in 1977 as F-GAOM - imported into the UK in 2005 with a nice simple "F" to "G" change

G-CWFB Pa-38 Tomahawk built in 1978 originally as G-OAAL before becoming G-CWFB in 2000 when operating with Cardiff Wales Aviation ( G-CW....... )

G-BSDW Cessna 182P built in 1976 and registered as G-BSDW in 1990

Cessna 175C Skylark built in 1961 - the 175 model had a more powerful engine than the similar looking early Cessna 172 models - only approx 2,000 examples of the Cessna 175 were built.

G-BKRH Max Brugger Colibri MB2 - this homebuilt aircraft was completed in 1988 and has visited many of the PFA fly in rallyes over the past 20 years - it was previously based at Cranfield.

G-GLKE Robin DR400 Regent looking in excellent condition, this example was built in 1992 and arrived in the UK in 2007 having previously been F-GLKE - another simple "F" to "G" revision.

G-XSAM Vans RV-9A kitbuilt aircraft completed in 2008 - the black and yellow colour scheme is similar to the current RAF training colours



G-CFJG Skyranger this ultralight aircraft design is very popular in the UK, this example was kit built in 2008.

The airfield is also home to several old Aeronca aircraft including G-BRER, G-IVOR and NC33884 plus Air Camper G-CCKR. Altogether 32 aircraft were present at the time of this visit.