What its like to fly an open cockpit vintage glider.

[@awood12345]

Cool, my dad is restoring one of these in the UK at the moment.

[@awood12345]

And it turns out its WB986, the one build next after this one! lol

[@paulbebbington5265]

Would you by any chance know of it's history, where it came from, not many left, the one I flew was owned by the Portsmouth naval gliding club, what was HMS Daedalus before it became Lee on Solent airport

[@okrajoe]

Best of luck with the restoration!

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

1981 I was a 15 year old Air Cadet in the UK and I had 2 flights in the T21. 1982 I soloed in the Kirby Kadet MK3. All winch launches. Truely magical aircraft

[@okrajoe]

I didn't realize there were open-cockpit gliders around and still flying. 👍

[@SirDrifto]

Not too many of them left

[@TDCflyer]

The moment I saw even the first view of the cockpit I went "that is a Slingsby, thats soooo cool!" Thank you for sharing! Those had such an unique design.

[@SirDrifto]

Thank you for the kind words. It really is a sweet bird!

[@christopherstevenson9737]

There is a flying Slingsby T-21 in Tehachapi, CA. The Vintage Glider Assoc. Pilots here have a small museum of classic - AND FLYING sailplanes. I flew in the Slingsby just this Memorial Day Weekend!! Sooooo cool to fly open cockpit in this vintage sailplane. Come check out this soaring site some day!

[@markwood7759]

As my son says, I'm currently restoring it's literal sister WB986 built by Martin Hearn as MH013. Consecutive production aircraft on the line!

[@SirDrifto]

Wow that is amazing 👏

[@wesleycardinal8869]

Great video, very clear. I felt like I was up there with you. Little films like this make KZbin worthwhile 👍

[@SirDrifto]

Thank you for the kind words 👍

[@TheAverageDutchman]

I've flown in one twice now and I absolutely love the rowboat, as we've nicknamed it in my club. There's just something different about flying vintage wooden gliders over modern plastic. And then there's the "arm over the side, sitting in the open, wind in your hair" of the Slingsby T21

[@SirDrifto]

They’re a blast

[@skylarkman2000]

Amazing vintage aeroplane !

[@paulregan6257]

I flew in one of these and a Kirby cadet mk3 as an air cadet and realy enjoyed it , 645 vgs RAF Catterick

[@paulbebbington5265]

Started my glider career on a t21 Did my 1st solo on 16th birthday

[@SirDrifto]

Now that is cool!

[@desertpoj]

I’ve flown one of those, a Slingsby T-21 Sedbergh. However, my first solo was in a T-31 Cadet, whose performance was even worse. A good starting point to fly F-4s and Boeings though!

[@buzzinbritain8222]

Actually some are modified with canopies and are called T21c's............ first glider I ever flew and my first solo aircraft at 16 - then the minimal legal age to solo....have flown about 10 different T21's over the years. There is also the sole T46 (erroneously called the T21C) which is modified with canopy and lowered wing - still up for sale in the Netherlands I believe.

[@SirDrifto]

That is fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

[@glynmatthews6697]

I’m building an RC 1/3 scale Tyoe 46 - (type 21 c) , this was a great video! 👍🏻

[@brianparsons4465]

Learnt to glide in one of these and later when I became an instructor I taught loads of people to glide in a T21b.

[@Sorarse]

When I was learning to glad back in the early '80s, the club I was flying with had two of these, a red one and a green one. The green one was affectionately known as Kermit, because of the colour and because the two small wind deflectors looked a bit like frog's eyes. I have no idea what happened to them.

[@guyottaway1166]

Was lucky to fly in one as a 13yr old Air Cadet at RAF Swinderby (Uk.)...1975

[@SirDrifto]

Very cool

[@tonyfranks9551]

Wonderful.....real flight...

[@SirDrifto]

Free as a bird

[@webbevents]

to be pedantic, this T21B was built in 1950. T21B first flew 1947... not quite WW2. ;)

[@EdSmith-wb6lx]

UK did not convert to metric until late sixty's i emigrated to USA in 1972 and English people were just getting used to metric system now the people people in England use it all the time so when i go back to visit i have to convert in my head speed so i dont get speeding tickets. But at leased i can drive on the correct side of the road sitting in the correct side of the car. So i am sure original instruments where in MPH, knots, and feet. They where when i was in the air cadets 1957/58 in Leicester

[@stephenpittman4291]

With those cloth helmets and old style goggles you look like Biggles and Algie-lol

[@SirDrifto]

I'll take it 😂

[@brianparsons4465]

Sorry but if you're flying in the left hand seat you fly left handed because the spoiler lever is in the centre of the cockpit. Part of the skill of instructing in a T21.

[@onkcuf]

Really breezy and cold?

[@Trevor_Austin]

Now how fast have you flown one of these things? You are not trying until the windscreens “ping” flat. Also, do you really need it check fold flat spoilers? I also suggest that a simple aircraft such as this should be treated as such. It makes it a lot more fun. I’m very disappointed that given such a good day one that you weren’t swanning around at cloudbase but spoilers at 6-700 feet says it all. What a waste.

[@SirDrifto]

It was my first time in this bird

[@larsoleruben]

Why did you not climb in the thermal?

[@SirDrifto]

that day we flew honestly, was pretty much a sled ride, not too many thermals unfortunately.

[@archangel9114]

In this time and era that's considered a UFO 🤣

[@SirDrifto]

That's pretty dang spot on 🤣

[@jamesjanota985]

Can you go cross country in any glider?

[@SirDrifto]

Well technically yes. The glide ratio of a newer glider is much better.. but you could still on this.. Infact the flight after this one, they got to an altitude of 10,430ft off one thermal.

[@LeWi100]

even tho the old gliders sink like a rock if you try to fly them fast, they are usally very light, which means the climb rates in thermals are often actually better than in modern high performance gliders