Slingsby T. 51 Dart Sailplane

[cprich22]

I know a guy called dave who owns a dart 15 in syndicate. its an amazing thing to see fly.

[yamchasbigpants]

I have a skylark 3, yes its a pig to rig, but in the air is where it counts, i wouldnt trade it for a glass job, Great vid btw

cheers craig.

[MrGrumpybugger]

Not sure if any of you ever rigged one, but it was a pig and its predecessor the Skylark 3 was even worse, you needed an army as did the Eagle. But the workmanship!!!!!, nothing to touch it now!

[Andypilot333]

"The Industry that's Always on the Up"??????

Up in Flames more like.........the factory was destroyed by fire November 1968, and a short while later that was the end of the 'old' Slingsby.

[cirrusflyboy]

The last few seconds of this video show the Dart's propensity to spin! Presumably intentionally on this occasion.

[winsor68]

Unfortunately the "Plastic" revolution overtook gliding at about the same time the Dart was put into production...

[winsor68]

They just don't make them like they used to...Modern Glassfibre sailplanes were the beginning of the end of affordable gliding as a sport.

[cirrusflyboy]

I think you will find that a modern standard class glassfibre sailplane will still cost about twice an average annual salary, so in real terms the cost is about the same. GRP gliders are easier to mass produce once the external moulds are made, so you might even find they work out cheaper than hand building a new Dart or a K6. And of course they perform much better. In the UK you can now pick up some of the earlier generation GRP sailplanes on the secondhand market for as little as £5k.

[Motoguzzi750]

TRy and get Ann Welsh - "The Story of Gliding". Hard to get I expect, but a magic book

[Andypilot333]

Yeah, I treasure my ex-library copy. 80p from the sale about 10 years ago, and now not for sale at any price (not even stupid eBay prices)!!!

BTW its Ann Welch, she died recently. Most respects.........

[AussieAviator]

Thank you so much for posting this !

Cheers,

Graham Slingsby

[peepeevagi]

My old aviation teacher has one!

[stjohnstjohn]

£1200 - I'll take two!!

[Bomberguy]

That's what I said!

[Syd1940]

In 1964 I was earning around £800 pa so £1200 would have been a big investment for the 24 yo I was then :) A Mini de-luxe car was about £500.

Lovely stuff BG. I have Derek Piggot's book on my shelf now.

[denberg2]

Keep 'em coming, Bomberguy!

I know Derek Piggott well. He used to run the UK's most well known gliding centre, Lasham.