"Chris Nicholas"

|Hi Chris,

Remember me? I was an instructor at North Weald from 1972 till
1978 when I went to the LGC (a bad move) and gave up gliding
when they refused to ratify my instructor's ticket (I only had
1000 launches instructing and about 20 solo pilots to my
credit).

However the winch story is interesting. When I was at the
Staffordshire Club in the late 60s I designed(!!) and built a
diesel winch which consisted of two old artic tractors , one
mounted on the top of the other (looked like a particularly
nasty copulation). The lower lorry was for transport and the
upper had its wheels replaced by large drums with brakes. You
braked one drum and the other ran at twice prop shaft speed
using the diff as a gear (didn't half heat up the oil). Worked
a treat and was very economical. I never saw anyone else try
this method. The SGC called it the 'Winchosaurus' as it
certainly looked primeval!

Alistair Wright
long retired glider pilot