Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-30
AVIATION
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.

the lure Of flying in the motorleSS
planes. Witness the cases OF
Lindbergh, Hawks and others.
Of the local clubs, the Wash
ington Glider Club and the glider
club of the Aviation School of
America are well along with the
construction of primary gliderS.
The glider unit of the Standards
Flying Club, composed of Federal
employees in the Bureau of Stand
ards and other governmental bu-
reauS and departments, is plan
ming to purchase its first glider.
The District of Columbia Air
Legion Glider Club and the La
fayette Glider Corps have not an
nounced plans as yet, but some
of their members are reported to
be seething inwardly.
The Washington Glider Club,
according to its secretary, Paul
E. CARRIER, curator of aeronauticS
of the Smithsonian Institution, is
building two gliderS, primary
and a secondary. Some 500-man
hours of labor have been expend-
ed and 500 hours more will be re-
quired. There are Is members
actually at work on the gliderS
and % members have paid dues.
The glider section of the Stand
ards Flying Club has IS pledged
members, and after few more
are signed the list will be closed
and a glider purchased. Future
members will have to wait until
sufficient are enrolled to form a
second unit and buy another
glider. Lieut.. Barnaby has taken
over the job of acting as sponsor
and technical adviser to this
embryo glider club.
Students Of the Aviation School
of America are at work on the
construction of two gliderS in the
old Simmons aircraft factory,
near the site Of the Benning race
track. They expect to fly at Con-
gressional Airport.
Those who have flown gliders,
especially the trained pilot, are
warm in their commentator of
gliding as sport and as means
of training prospective airplane
pilots. Lindbergh has said that
he believes gliding will become
one of the most important factors
in primary aviation training.
Barnaby is of the same opinion.
BowluS stresses the sublime
pleasure" experienced in soaring
flight.
AS has been pointed out before,
the modern developing Of gliding
for sport and flight training pur-
poses began in Germany after the
war. That country now leads the
world in this sport, holding all
recognized glider records. In
creased attention is being given
to gliding in France, England and
Italy, however, according to re-
ports to the Department of Com
merce.
There now are approximately
200 glider clubs in Germany, the
Department of Commerce has
been informed. The Rhoen-Ros-
Sitten GesellSchaft, at Frankfort,
is the largest, and has schools in
various parts of the country. Two
thousand private glider licenses
have been issued to students, more
than half that number having
been granted during the past two
years. A student must obtain
such a license after attending a
glider school before he is permit
ted to attempt a cross-country
glider flight.
In France there are two glider
organizations, the University
Aeronautics Club and the Avia.
The club teaches its members to
fly and helps to form glider clubs,
lending both ground and equip
ment for practice. The Avia,
formed primarily for research
work, aids clubs to select appro-
pirate sites and furnishes plans
for the construction of gliderS.
The British Gliding Association
was formed recently, with the
London Gliding Club as an aff1li-
ated body.
In italy there are no glider
clubs, but the italian air ministry
maintains three schools, at Pa
vullo, Tuscany; Luigi Gavatti Air
port, Genoa, and Monte Mario
Field, near Rome. These schools
operate three months during the
Summer and teach boys II years
Of age, who must be members of
the AvanguardiSti, the Fascist
Boy Scout movement. The gliderS
used are built in Italy from Ger
man designs.
Gliding in this country is being
fostered actively by the National
Glider Association. This aSsocia-
ton encourages the establishment
of glider clubs, chartering them
as members of the national body;
acts in an advisory capacity, pro-
notes competitions, licenses glider
pilots and co-operateS with the
National Aeronautic Association
in the homologation of glider and
Sailplane records.
So rapid has been the growth of
gliding in the United States that
officials of the aeronautics branch
of the Department of Commerce
have decided to call a meeting
soon of supervising inspectors and
engineering inspectors of the
branch on duty in various parts
of the country to determine
whether regulatory or advisory
action of any sort would be ad-
viSable.
In announcing this conference,
Gilbert G. Budwig, director of air
regulations of the branch, ex-
planned that all available data on
the subject of gliderS will be as
Sembled here for examination,
study and discussion by the field
inspectors. Popular interest in
gliding, he pointed out, is grow
ing so rapidly that there is need
for uniform knowledge and pro-
cedure lin order to develop and
exnand this scientific snort to the