Warbird Information Exchange

Greetings All -

It's been a bit quiet this past week so last night I resized some pics and thought I'd post something that's a bit of a change of pace.

Every June the Wabash Valley Soaring Association in Lawrenceville, IL holds a Vintage/Classic Sailplane Regatta. The club is predominantly made up of older, pre-composite sailplanes and to see them flying is really something special. Here's a few pics from the '05 and '06 events and I hope to get some air-to-air time for the '07 event which I'll happily post when the time comes.

First off is a 1951 Condor IV owned by Bob Gaines of Georgia. This is likely the only two place gull wing sailplane flying in the US at this time.





This 1942 Grunau Baby IIb was brought back to Britain as war booty after the war and flown there for a time afterwards. It is now owned by Lee Cowie of Missouri.





This 1957 Ka-6B is owned by David Ochsner of Michigan.





This 1958 Ka-2B is owned by Jim Short of Illinois.



This 1947(?) EON Olympia II is owned by a group of pilots within the club.



Hope you enjoyed! Mark

Way Cool!

I see that the Smithsonian NASM has one...I wonder how many are still flying?

Thanks for sharing.
Z

_________________
Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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Hi Zane -

Good question - there's the two in the club though the second one is a new build from original plans. There's a few flying in Europe but I cannot recall seeing any others noted in the U.S. I'll have to look into that. I have plans if you want to build one!

Enjoy the Day! Mark

Some absolutely beautiful flyin' machines there. I would love to see one of those events. I've been to soaring meets and they're nice, but those oldies are really something special.

August

I couldn't help but notice a great similarity between the Grunau Baby IIb and the Kirby Kadet. Of course the their respective wing forms are different but the general outline of the fuselage and rudder seem pretty close. Is there a connection? I would realy like to find plans for the Kadet. Very neat fictures. Thanks for sharing!

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Charles Neely