Distance wood has flown

Nyal Williams worte:

'Al Parker and Ben Greene set a world distance record
from either Marfa or Odessa to Kansas (I believe Salina).
If memory is correct, Ben was still flying his SH-K.'

I think Ben's flight was from Odessa to Great Bend,
Kansas. And it was in an Austria S, not the later
SHK. I don't believe Ben ever had an SHK. IIRC, it
was a 'Distance ot a Goal' record.

And are you maybe thinking of Ben Greene and Wally
Scott's famous flight from Odessa to Columbus, Nebraska?
They were flying AS-W12s. That was a jointly held
US Distance Record. I don't think Al ever co-held
a record with anyone.

Dick Johnson made the first ever over 500 mile flight
from Odessa, to Salina, Kansas. And interestingly
enough, two days before, he crewed for another person
at the Odessa camp on a straight out distance flight.
How many people can you think of now that would give
up potential record days to crew for someone else at
a record setting camp?

Steve Leonard
Wichita, KS

Dick Johnson made the first ever over 500 mile flight
from Odessa, to Salina, Kansas. And interestingly
enough, two days before, he crewed for another person
at the Odessa camp on a straight out distance flight.
How many people can you think of now that would give
up potential record days to crew for someone else at
a record setting camp?

Steve Leonard
Wichita, KS



---Johnson's flight (the world's first 500+ mile flight)
was done in a wooden glider, the RJ-5. Flight was 861km/535
miles flown in August 1951, which beat Olga Kleoikova's
1939 record of 749km/465 miles (which BTY stood as
the world feminine record until 1977!) which was also
flown in a wooden glider, a Rot Front-7. Johnson also
set a Natinal goal record of 510km/ 317 miles, a National
distance record of first 579km/360 miles, then 584
km/ 363 miles (both before the big one), and an 85.0
kph/ 52.8mph 100k National speed triangle record in
it for that matter as well flying that same wood.

Paul Hanson

'Do the usual, unusually well'-Len Niemi

You are right, I was thinking of Ben's and Wally's
flight in the ASW-12s.

However, Ben did have an SHK. He owned it for about
a year and traded it to Richard Berry for a Libelle.
I flew this glider while Berry had it: N4660X; it
is still registered somewhere in New Jersey if memory
serves.

At 04:30 16 April 2007, Steve Leonard wrote:
Nyal Williams worte:

'Al Parker and Ben Greene set a world distance record
from either Marfa or Odessa to Kansas (I believe Salina).
If memory is correct, Ben was still flying his SH-K.'

I think Ben's flight was from Odessa to Great Bend,
Kansas. And it was in an Austria S, not the later
SHK. I don't believe Ben ever had an SHK. IIRC, it
was a 'Distance ot a Goal' record.

And are you maybe thinking of Ben Greene and Wally
Scott's famous flight from Odessa to Columbus, Nebraska?
They were flying AS-W12s. That was a jointly held
US Distance Record. I don't think Al ever co-held
a record with anyone.

Dick Johnson made the first ever over 500 mile flight
from Odessa, to Salina, Kansas. And interestingly
enough, two days before, he crewed for another person
at the Odessa camp on a straight out distance flight.
How many people can you think of now that would give
up potential record days to crew for someone else at
a record setting camp?

Steve Leonard
Wichita, KS

At 07:54 16 April 2007, Paul Hanson wrote:

Dick Johnson made the first ever over 500 mile flight
from Odessa, to Salina, Kansas. And interestingly
enough, two days before, he crewed for another person
at the Odessa camp on a straight out distance flight.
How many people can you think of now that would give
up potential record days to crew for someone else at
a record setting camp?

Steve Leonard
Wichita, KS



---Johnson's flight (the world's first 500+ mile flight)
was done in a wooden glider, the RJ-5. Flight was 861km/535
miles flown in August 1951, which beat Olga Kleoikova's
1939 record of 749km/465 miles (which BTY stood as
the world feminine record until 1977!) which was also
flown in a wooden glider, a Rot Front-7. Johnson also
set a Natinal goal record of 510km/ 317 miles, a National
distance record of first 579km/360 miles, then 584
km/ 363 miles (both before the big one), and an 85.0
kph/ 52.8mph 100k National speed triangle record in
it for that matter as well flying that same wood.

Paul Hanson

'Do the usual, unusually well'-Len Niemi


--In regards to the RJ-5, it being a wooden glider
is not entirely true. It's main spar and supplementary
spar were made of duraluminum, as well as the D-tube;
the rest was wood with some fabric as well. Not a woodie
in the purist's books anyways, at least not with that
much load carrying metal.

Paul Hanson

'Do the usual, unually well'--Len Niemi

Steve is correct. I used to own Ben's Austria S (N4622S); it is still
flying in WI. The logbooks reflect a flight from Odessa north to KS;
however the flight was just a few miles short of the world record, so he
trailered back to Odessa, and flew the (slightly) longer flight the next day
taking off about 10 miles further south, from the town of Alpine, IIRC. A
herculean effort not only of soaring, but also of crewing.


"Steve Leonard" wrote in message
...
Nyal Williams worte:

'Al Parker and Ben Greene set a world distance record
from either Marfa or Odessa to Kansas (I believe Salina).
If memory is correct, Ben was still flying his SH-K.'

I think Ben's flight was from Odessa to Great Bend,
Kansas. And it was in an Austria S, not the later
SHK. I don't believe Ben ever had an SHK. IIRC, it
was a 'Distance ot a Goal' record.