Why fly gliders?

[ClimbnSink]

Trivia tidbit Germany had a glider school on cape cod in the thirties.

 

[Dead Stick]

You need to do some powered flying in high mountains. Glider techniques are not only helpful, they keep you off the rocks. You are not at all guaranteed that the airplane will keep flying at full throttle without at least a basic understanding of the interaction of wind and terrain.

I cut my teeth flying powered aircraft up in the mountains. When it comes to gliders, there's nothing like a bit of ridge soaring to awaken you to the power of mother nature and there's a direct carry over to powered flight.

When it comes to flying, "additional training" is the answer to most questions regarding proficiency and safety. Glider training gives you as much, if not more, bang for the buck as anything you can do.

 

[Bill Watson]

Forced is not the correct term, gliders were an integral part of the training though as a natural development of how pilot training had always been in Germany. First you teach them to manage the energy available from nature, then add an engine.

Henning obviously has not read the history. Yes, they were forced to train in gliders due to restrictions put on them by WW one treaty's. As I always say.....READ!

JC for the win! Sort of anyway... probably more the case of exploiting loopholes rather than being forced. No one other than Germany wanted a flying, armed Germany.

The Versailles treaty essentially prohibited Germany from creating an air force and otherwise ensure that the war would be the end of all wars. Obviously it didn't work. On the air force front, the Germans trained pilots, in particular members of the Hitler Youth, in gliders.

 

[Henning]

Henning obviously has not read the history. Yes, they were forced to train in gliders due to restrictions put on them by WW one treaty's. As I always say.....READ!

Oh, your use of the word train is what threw me off. You mean how they were forced to develop the industry by the Treaty of Versailles. That had little to do with how pilots were trained after Hitler wiped his ass with it. I thought we were talking about pilot training here which continued to begin with gliders even after that. BTW, pilots trained in gliders before the Treaty of Versailles as well and still has more glider pilots than fixed wing.

 

[Jimmy cooper]

Nice try henning. It would have been easier if you'd just admitted you were wrong. Before the treaty the Germans trained just like everyone else did as aviation was in its infancy. It was due to this treaty that they went to gliders as they were forbidden to have powered aircraft. Their pilots became adept in every phase of flight and were excellent combat pilots by WW2. Far ahead of many american or British who had oftentimes no more than 100 hours when they went into combat! In fact, one of the German aces who survived WW2 , explains how this training ( gliders) enabled so many to survive over 250 plus missions, as, unlike allied pilots the Germans flew until they died , or the war was over.

 

[Henning]

Germans were training in gliders in major clubs before there was powered flight. The sport continued to get more popular as aviation developed. No German was in a glider against his will, that was my interpretation of 'forced', the pilot in the craft against his will.