I have not been able to find any records of when it took place, but I am guessing I was around 14 years old at the time. My Dad was working at Stewarts & Lloyds Tube Works in Corby. My recollection is that he had work colleagues who belonged to a gliding club, who invited him along once after work, and Dad asked me if I wanted to come too. I am guessing he chose me as I enjoyed making and painting Airfix aircraft kits, and had once expressed an interest in joining the RAF !
Anyway, I believe this was my earliest experience of flight, and my memory is that it was very nearly my last. I cannot remember whether my Dad went up before or after me, but the picture above is of him prior to his take off, sat in the back. I do remember that the gliders were pulled into the air by winch. I also remember at one point being taken to a hanger where we were shown a glider that had been damaged earlier in the day in a heavy landing, but fortunately the pilot had come out of it unscathed.
I do remember aspects of my flight quite clearly. There had been some other visitors to the club from a nearby pub and, when it was my turn to go up, the pilot I was with flew us over to this pub. I remember seeing people down below waving up at us and the pilot “waved” back by tilting the glider wings from side to side for what seemed like a number of passes.
I cannot remember what word he used, but the pilot suddenly uttered something to suggest all was not well. I didn’t know what the problem was, but later it became clear that these “waving” manoeuvres had caused him to lose a lot more altitude than he had planned, and at this point we were still a long way away from the gliding club. I do wonder whether, over time, my memory has exaggerated what happened next, but I remember that we descended steeply and rapidly on our way back to the landing slip. I recall that we came down so low that the bottom of the glider actually touched the tops of the wheat in the field before the one we should be landing in. However, the speed generated by the descent allowed the pilot to bring the glider back up just enough to clear the hedge and land within the first few hundred feet of the runway. The glider had to be towed right to the other end for the next flight.
I know I never went again and I do not think my Dad did either, but it was definitely a very memorable experience.