Slingsby Skylarks....

[George Ballantyne[_2_]]

Hi folks,
Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not be
out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a few
of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
Cheers,
G. Ballantyne.

[John Mitchell]

The following website may be of interest: http://rcawsey.co.uk/skylark3.htm
It opens at the Skylark 3 page but has a link to both Skylark 2 and to
Skylark 4.

My 3G was BGA 1016 which, unfortunately, I crashed at Feshiebridge and my
son's first glider was a share in a 3F - BGA 1251, BUT - which is still
based at Bowland Forest Gliding Club, Chipping.

We both have happy memories of the old girls!

John

At 13:15 02 December 2008, George Ballantyne wrote:
>Hi folks,
>Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
>information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not
be
>out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
>glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a
few
>of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
>Cheers,
>G. Ballantyne.

>
>

[John Mitchell]

The following website may be of interest: http://rcawsey.co.uk/skylark3.htm
It opens at the Skylark 3 page but has a link to both Skylark 2 and to
Skylark 4.

My 3G was BGA 1016 which, unfortunately, I crashed at Feshiebridge and my
son's first glider was a share in a 3F - BGA 1251, BUT - which is still
based at Bowland Forest Gliding Club, Chipping.

We both have happy memories of the old girls!

John

At 13:15 02 December 2008, George Ballantyne wrote:
>Hi folks,
>Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
>information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not
be
>out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
>glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a
few
>of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
>Cheers,
>G. Ballantyne.

>
>

[Tim Mara[_2_]]

there are some images of my Skylark 4 (long since sold)on
http://www.wingsandwheels.com/IVSM.htm
I also once owned the only Skylark 2 in the USA several years ago
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

"George Ballantyne" > wrote in message
...
> Hi folks,
> Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
> information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not be
> out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
> glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a few
> of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
> Cheers,
> G. Ballantyne.
>
>

[Bob]

N63SL is alive and well at Piedmont Soaring........

http://piedmontsoaring.org/images/2004/N63SL%20003.jpg

Bob


On Dec 2, 11:23*am, "Tim Mara" > wrote:
> there are some images of my Skylark 4 *(long since sold)onhttp://www.wingsandwheels.com/IVSM.htm
> I also once owned the only Skylark 2 in the USA several years ago
> tim
> Please visit the Wings & Wheels website atwww.wingsandwheels.com
>
> "George Ballantyne" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
>
>
> > Hi folks,
> > Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
> > information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not be
> > out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
> > glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a few
> > of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
> > Cheers,
> > G. Ballantyne.
> > - Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Tim Mara[_2_]]

good to know ...this is a very nice flying, (slow) older vintage
glider....easy to fly, climbs on a Bee's fart..but not a real speedy ship I
remember 75-76 knots is about top speed...faster than that the wing tips
twist enough to keep you at 76 knots..then they act like spoilers :o)...fly
it like it's a Skylark 4 and it's very enjoyable...I also once owned a
Slingsby Dart 17R.....another great old Slingsby ship....if I were looking
for a vintage glider to fly, not just to show..the Dart would be #1 on my
list..
tim

"Bob" > wrote in message
...
N63SL is alive and well at Piedmont Soaring........

http://piedmontsoaring.org/images/2004/N63SL%20003.jpg

Bob


On Dec 2, 11:23 am, "Tim Mara" > wrote:
> there are some images of my Skylark 4 (long since
> sold)onhttp://www.wingsandwheels.com/IVSM.htm
> I also once owned the only Skylark 2 in the USA several years ago
> tim
> Please visit the Wings & Wheels website atwww.wingsandwheels.com
>
> "George Ballantyne" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
>
>
> > Hi folks,
> > Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
> > information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not
> > be
> > out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
> > glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a
> > few
> > of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
> > Cheers,
> > G. Ballantyne.
> > - Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[George Ballantyne[_2_]]

Thanks for that John. Sorry to hear about the crash of 1016, hope it
wasn't too serious....
I've been on Richards site before. In fact you'll find a couple of my
recent photos on it now, one of which is of my own Skylark 3 (Bga no.
1023, 'BKE') which is now based at Portmoak again.
Lovely old machine...handling from a bygone age, that smell of wood, dope
and age...you can keep 'plastic' gliders, it has got to be 'wood' for
me!

At 15:15 02 December 2008, John Mitchell wrote:
>The following website may be of interest:
http://rcawsey.co.uk/skylark3.htm
>It opens at the Skylark 3 page but has a link to both Skylark 2 and to
>Skylark 4.
>
>My 3G was BGA 1016 which, unfortunately, I crashed at Feshiebridge and
my
>son's first glider was a share in a 3F - BGA 1251, BUT - which is still
>based at Bowland Forest Gliding Club, Chipping.
>
>We both have happy memories of the old girls!
>
>John
>
>At 13:15 02 December 2008, George Ballantyne wrote:
>>Hi folks,
>>Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
>>information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not
>be
>>out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
>>glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a
>few
>>of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
>>Cheers,
>>G. Ballantyne.

>>
>>
>

[[email protected]]

On 2 Dec 2008 13:15:02 GMT, George Ballantyne
> wrote:

>Hi folks,
>Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
>information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not be
>out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
>glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a few
>of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
>Cheers,
>G. Ballantyne.


You may be pleased to hear that the Skylark at Bowland Forest is still
going strong. It was completely overhauled last year and now looks
resplendent in canary yellow and blue. I was also pleased to hear the
comments about the Dart 17R as I am a proud owner of one myself and
fly my Dart from Bowland Forest too. (We do have some modern ships at
Chipping as well - honest, although my last flight was in a Slingsby
Swallow, but that's another tale!)

Keith

[SGSflyer]

On Dec 2, 7:15*am, George Ballantyne >
wrote:
> Hi folks,
> Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
> information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not be
> out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
> glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a few
> of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
> Cheers,
> G. Ballantyne.
>

By chance, I found a Skylark currently advertised on Craigslist in
California. The advertisement has pictures and the sailplane has a
rather big trailer. If it were not so far away, I would be very
interested in it. For the price, it looks pretty good. You can search
Craigslist in Orange County for the ad. For those interested, I copied
the ad below: (Please note that this is not my advertisement nor do I
know the individual selling it. Therefore, I left the phone number off
the copy below but it can be found on Craigslist along with the
pictures.)

Slingsby T.43 Skylark 3 Sailplane with trailer $5000

1957 Skylark 3d Sailplane complete with trailer.

Good condition but needs some minor work. Trailer just had new paint
job and is also in good shape.

Glider and trailer are located in Wildomar, CA. Interested parties
only. Thanks!

[Neal Pfeiffer]

For Slingsby gliders in the USA, try the FAA registry site
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/acftref_inquiry.asp

Insert Slingsby in the Manufacturer Name box and you get a summary of
all Slingsby gliders in the US. You can select individual entries for
more info.

I know it doesn't give info on condition or such, but it indicates it is
still in the system and may be viable. I have extracted names and
addresses from it to use for postal-mail invitations for our regional
Vintage Sailplane Meet.

...... Neal

George Ballantyne wrote:

> Hi folks,
> Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
> information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not be
> out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
> glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a few
> of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
> Cheers,
> G. Ballantyne.
>
>

[Bob Gibbons[_2_]]

On 2 Dec 2008 13:15:02 GMT, George Ballantyne
> wrote:

>Hi folks,
>Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
>information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not be
>out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
>glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a few
>of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
>Cheers,
>G. Ballantyne.


Dick Johnson's 2-time US National's winnning Skylark 4 ('63 & '64) is
still putting in 5 hr+ flights at Texas Soaring Association for its
current owner, who has been flying it for the past 30 years.

Bob

[wowway news]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob" >
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.soaring
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: Slingsby Skylarks....


N63SL is alive and well at Piedmont Soaring........

Bob
Is N63SL the original registration number for your Sky 4?
I have lost the serial number of the Sky 4 that I sold about 1971.
Wonder about its whereabouts.

Duane Eisenbeiss
eisenbeiss at compuserve.com

[Surfer!]

In message >, Neal Pfeiffer
> writes
>For Slingsby gliders in the USA, try the FAA registry site
>http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/acftref_inquiry.asp
>
>Insert Slingsby in the Manufacturer Name box and you get a summary of
>all Slingsby gliders in the US. You can select individual entries for
>more info.
>
>I know it doesn't give info on condition or such, but it indicates it
>is still in the system and may be viable. I have extracted names and
>addresses from it to use for postal-mail invitations for our regional
>Vintage Sailplane Meet.

You should do the same think in the UK with the CAA's G-INFO database:
http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=s
earch

However I thought the Lark was a T43 and there aren't any in it - were
they exempt from the EASA transition? There is a T21 registered, though
not the one at our club (the one the OP and I fly at).

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net

[Martin Gregorie[_4_]]

On Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:59:34 +0000, Surfer! wrote:

> You should do the same think in the UK with the CAA's G-INFO database:
> http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?
catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=s
> earch
>
Its not that good. Take model and variant attributions shown on it with a
grain of salt. Last time I looked, there were no Pegase 90s on it, only
101s. One that I KNOW is a 90 is recorded as a 101 and I suspect there
are others like this.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

[Frank Whiteley]

On Dec 2, 5:28*pm, Neal Pfeiffer > wrote:
> For Slingsby gliders in the USA, try the FAA registry sitehttp://registry..faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/acftref_inquiry.asp
>
> Insert Slingsby in the Manufacturer Name box and you get a summary of
> all Slingsby gliders in the US. *You can select individual entries for
> more info.
>
> I know it doesn't give info on condition or such, but it indicates it is
> still in the system and may be viable. *I have extracted names and
> addresses from it to use for postal-mail invitations for our regional
> Vintage Sailplane Meet.
>
> ..... Neal
>

Not all Slingsby's in the US are on the FAA database. For example, the
one on craigslist is sporting an N number that's currently assigned to
a new C172R so it's apparently been removed from the FAA registry at
some point. There are two T.43F's listed. Cached version of the
Skylark 3 page from Nov 14, 2008 says canceled in the remarks. Today
it says 'Extant in USA'. SN 1092.

Frank Whiteley

[Colin Field[_3_]]

On Dec 2, 1:15*pm, George Ballantyne >
wrote:
> Hi folks,
> Would appreciate very much if anyone out there could send me pictures,
> information, histories, etc, of any of the Skylarks that may or may not be
> out there still. Any snippets or anecdotes too! My 'old bird' (the
> glider, not the wife!) is still going strong, I hope there are still a few
> of Fred Slingsby's creation still airborne.
> Cheers,
> G. Ballantyne.
>

Email sent... Let me know if you don't get it.

Colin Field, half-owner of Skylark 3 BGA 742 'AXL'

[wowway news]

>

I have lost track of the Sky 4 that I used to own. Wonder if any of you
responding to this thread might be able to help.
The ship was imported new to the USA in 1963(?) for Rene Comte (Swiss pilot)
to fly in the USA Nationals at Elmira, NY. It was intended to be sold at
the end of the National contest.
The sailplane was purchased by Jack Baugh and was kept in the factory where
the Sisu was being built. I bought the sailplane in 1964 and took it to
Monroe, GA and then to the Chicago, IL area when I relocated in 1967. In
1971 (?) I sold the ship to Roy LeCrone (who I have also lost track of) who
bought it for his wife to get her Gold distance flight..
This ship had an original registration number of N-256JB. I have lost the
serial number. I thought that one of you responding to this thread might
have the ship and have changed the registration number. Any help would be
appreciated.

Duane Eisenbeiss
eisenbeiss at compuserve.com

[[email protected]]

Duane,

A quick look at Richard's site shows that your Skylark 4 was serial
number 1385 and is now registered C-GCUM and based at Deep River,
Ontario.

Simon

[Ian]

On 2 Dec, 18:14, "Tim Mara" > wrote:
> good to know ...this is a very nice flying, (slow) older vintage
> glider....easy to fly, climbs on a Bee's fart..but not a real speedy ship I
> remember 75-76 knots is about top speed...faster than that the wing tips
> twist enough to keep you at 76 knots..then they act like spoilers :o)

When I was looking for a glider I was offered a Skylark 4 special
which had been built for a competition (worlds?) in the USA. Big
thermals, high cloudbase so running was more important than climbing
and it had NO washout at all in the tips. Apparently it went like a
witch but would flick into spin without warning if you were unwise
enough to thermal below 50kt...

Ian

[Ian]

On 3 Dec, 07:59, Surfer! > wrote:

> However I thought the Lark was a T43 and there aren't any in it - were
> they exempt from the EASA transition?

Yup. All Slingsby models up to and including T50 are Annex II. See
page 39 of

http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/c/doc/ptf/Annex_II-25-Feb-2008.pdf

Ian

[VinceC]

I have documentation on my website of the Merlin written by Martin
Simons. This was a development of the Skylark 2 and never appeared in
his range of books

http://www.scalesoaring.co.uk/VINTAGE/Documentation/Merlin/Merlin.html

[Alistair Green]

The Nottingham University Gliding Club (based at RAF Cranwell, England) has
a Skylark 2, which was donated to us in 2007:

http://www.nugc.net/about-club/club-fleet/

This picture was taken at Lasham during the 2008 Inter-University Task
Week:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4bNxx0NfNYlOp3or7x--eg

(Trigraph 'CCS', BGA registration number 1441)

[Ian]

On 15 Dec, 00:00, Alistair Green
> wrote:
> The Nottingham University Gliding Club (based at RAF Cranwell, England) has
> a Skylark 2, which was donated to us in 2007:
>
> http://www.nugc.net/about-club/club-fleet/

Looks smart! Mind you, that 30:1 is in strange Slingsby units,
corresponding to about 25:1 in real life ...

Ian

PS We're enjoying the K13!

[XA310]

The following Skylarks are based at Keevil, UK:

T.41 Skylark 2 BGA899.
T.43 Skylark 3 BGA735 Skylark 3 prototype.
T.43 Skylark 3B BGA871
T.43 Skylark 3F BGA988
T.50 Skylark 4 BGA1115
T.50 Skylark 4 BGA1189.