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This article was scanned from the original issue of Soaring Magazine and captured into the Adobe PDF format. This process can result in subtle differences between the original and electronic formats. In almost all cases misspellings, odd punctuation are a result of the scanning process not the original author or publisher. Copyright 2001 Soaring Society of America. Use without permission is prohibited.
A
PERSONAL ACCOUNT
by Sylvia Colton
HELP
ME,
PLEASE!
Please read attentively:
AT THE LANDING PLACE
1.
I
am the glider pilot taking part in the
11
th World Gliding Championships whichare being held at Leszno near Poznan from2 to 23 of
June,
1968.
2.
I
ask two persons present here tocertify my landing on the Flight ControlCard. Please write in the proper blank places of this card: name of locality where
I
have landed, commune, district, as wellas enter in a readable manner full namesand addresses of both persons.3.
I
must report my landing in this local
-
ity as
soon
as possible
-
by telephone
-
tothe Direction of the Championships at
Leszno.
Please, take me then to the nearesttelephone. If
it
is far away from here,please give
me
a ride in a vehicle or lend to
me
a bicycle and offer the assistance of a guide
on
bicycle.
5.
During my absence please take careof the g‘ider, and
if
it
is possible would you let the post of militia know about mylanding and ask the post to guard theglider? My glider is costly and precise equipment and therefore do not allow any
-
body to touch
it
or smoke in the vicinity of
it.
6. After the telephone settlement
I
shallreturn to my glider and shall wait for amotor car to take me and my glider backto Leszno.
BY
TELEPHONE
7.
Please order the telephone call withLeszno near Poznan, using the catchwordand telephone number as given below.
( I
shall pay for the call at once, please informme of the cost after the call. CatchwordLot
-
Zaw, Leszno Nr. (one of the following):641, 643, 662,684,
857,
891.8. When the call comes,
I
shall speakmyself. If
I
have
some
troubles in under
-
standing, please convey through the phonethe data specified in the Landing Certificate (on reverse side of the Flight Control Card).
I
thank
you
all for your assistance in myown name as well as in the name of theDirection of the World Gliding Champion
-
ships.
hisinformationcard(inPolish,
T
ofcourse)was carried andused byeveryforeigncompeting pilot. Althoughtheofficial languages were English andPolish,amazing
-
lyfew could speak bothwell.WiththeusualAmericannaivete
I
ex
-
pectedmorePolestospeakEn
-
glish,althoughJohnNovakofTo
-
ledo, Ohio, thetranslatorofthe
U. S.
team,wastheonlyAmericanwho could speak Polish.But those who spoke German withany de
-
greeof fluencyfaredwelland didn’tfacethechallengeofsignlanguage.We all pickedupasmall vocab
-
ulary beginning with“uvaga,uvaga!”
(
attention, attention!
),
whichpreceded each announce
-
ment over theP.A.system. This re
-
markable sound system was acti
-
vated early inthemorningand penetratedtheentirefieldwithstartling clarity. ThreePolishdictionariessoonhadme sending myPolish friends intogalesoflaughter.Eitherwaymanyfoundthemselveseatingand drinking things theyhadn’t origi
-
nally considered. Allcrewssoonknew
levo,
pravo,
and
prosto
togetthem left, right, or straightaheadwhen searching for their pi
-
lots.Lesznoisanagriculturaltownof 32,000,locatedonthenearlyflat plainsofwestern Poland. InJunethecountrysideislushwithgrainandpotatoes.
A
Westernerisini
-
tially surprised atthelackofcropirrigatingequipment.Sixsolid rainy days lateras jungle rotsetsin,thelackofricepaddiesissur
-
prising.Theairfield
(lotnisko)
is located 2.5kilometers west oftown(akilometerbeing a shade over
six
tenthsofamile)andalso beyond therailroad tracks. Thetracksand theircandy
-
striped protective bar
-
rierssoonmadetheretrievessimi
-
lar to alarge
-
scaleMonopolygame
-
don’tpass
GO,
return to Welcome signs andpennantsmarkedtheentrancetothemostimpressive glider field intheworld.Thevastgrassfield was blocked from viewbyaseries
of
hangars.Onarrival
I
enteredthefirst one toregister. After picking
up
therequiredidentification,
I
de
-
cidedtolocatethepress facilities upstairs.Inaddition to numerous official offices,thishangarhousedrepair shops for instruments andgliders.Mostoftheground floor served
as
anenormouscoffee,tea
(
herbata),
orbeer
(
pivo)
hall.
To
thewestwasa new building, housing four 85
-
foot
-
longrepairstallsthatcould accommodateeightgliders. These stalls were especially goodas they freedhangars for otheruseand couldbeusedforglider storage later.Furtheronweretwin85
-
foot
x
105
-
foothangars.Thefirstwas set upforpilot briefings withtheusuallongrowsoftablesandchairs.Theeast wall featurednumerousen
-
larged photographs ofvillagesand airfieldsthatwouldsoonbecomefamiliar turn
-
points.Thetonguetwister names such as Sulmierzyce, Przylep,andPiotrkowneverdid rolloffthetipofourtongues,butradio coding gavethem new names or numbers anyway.Overhead, parachutes were pinioned under therafterstoprotectthebriefingassemblage from thelocalbird
col
-
ony.Variousnon
-
competingPolishgliders,includingthedelightfultwo
-
placeBocianandthenewstandard
-
classPirat,were languish
-
ing in thethirdhangar.Seeing no familiar faces intheapronarea,
I
headed north past newlyplantedlawnsbordered by longrowsofscarletrosestoward thenewestpermanentbuilding.
A
cantilevered control tower domi
-
natedthetwo
-
storyrockandcon
-
creteadministrationandresidence building.Thesecond floor housed mostofthepilots in two
-
to
-
a
-
roomaccommodationswithbath;whilethemainfloorfeatured a lounge,meeting hall, doctor’soffice,and small restaurant. Nextweresome bungalow units wheretheremain
-
ingpilots lived. Thelast perma
-
nent structure wasthedininghall/kitchen which wasalso used atthe’58Internationals.ArowofredpoppiesandaPol
-
ish
-
speakingguardmarkedtheen
-
tranceto the hugetentcity for crews.Totheleftwasalargecon
-
creteswimmingpool
-
logicallyun
-
occupied since
it
was cold and windy. Once pastthepool,several peoplewereobserved lunging alongmyanticipated route through thecrew tents. Thereasonsoonbe
-
cameapparent. Large concretesteppingstoneswereawkwardlyspaced through the tent streets
so
thatwitheverystrideone foot landed between theblocks.The
U.S.
team’screw(malesection)was housed inthelast row north(closest to theparking lot and take
-
offarea)adjacent to theRus
-
sian crew, Adrawling Texan “Well,I’llbe” told me thatFritzKahlof Marfawasa third thewayaround theworldalso.MarshallClay- bourn, team captain, offered me coffeethatcould straighten eye
-
lashesanda French rollofques
-
tionable age.
A
lookaroundthetentindicatedtheInternationalswasa duration event also. Com
-
fortablecots,bedding,adequate
10
SOARING
clothespoles,andtableswerepro
-
videdbythehosts.Electricalout
-
letsandlights were in each tent. The tent floor was heavy rubber andseveral pop
-
out plastic port-tion. Most teamsbroughtcoffee pots or soonpurchased them. Theholesprovidedadequateventila-laundryhangingonthe tent ropesAfter confirming mysuspicionscompletedthatlived
-
inlook.about the leadenskiesofLeszno,
I
hastenedtosetupmynewlypur
-
chasedtent.GeorgeandSuzanneMoffat innocently ambled by and soonwewereguessingwhattheGermantentdirections meant. Dinner time producedthere
-
mainderoftheteam
A.
J.Smith‘screwincludedBob Klemmedson of Orinda, California, andHarold DrewofSurrey,England;RalphBoehmofSinsbury, Connecticut, crewedwithSuzanne for George Moffat;DickJohnson’screwin
-
cludedhis wife AliceandSteveBairdofRichardson,Texas; Angie SchredercrewedforherDick, backedupbyJimRhineofTulsa,OklahomaFritzKahlofMarfa pitched in whereneededandob
-
servedthescenewiththeawarenessofa man who will host thenextInternationals in 1970.Themajorityofteamsarrivedatthebeginningofthepracticeweek,June2ndthroughthe8th.Al
-
thoughthreepractice tasks wereanticipated,onlyone(onJune5th)waspossibledue to inhospi
-
tableweather.
A
totalof
15
pilotscompleted a 106
-
kilometer
(
66-mile
)
trianglebetweenLeszno,Wasosz, Gola, andhome.Formany,local flying wassufficient chal
-
lenge.GeorgeMoffatand
A.
J. Smith hadjust recently participatedintheHahnweidecontestnearKirch-heim Tech, West Germany, inMayandwere therefore alreadyaccustomedtotheirSwiss Elfe’s
(
standard
-
class
S-3’s
)
,
aswellasunseasonable weather. Intheopenclass Dick Johnsonwasintimately familiar withhisHP
-
13; however, DickSchreder wouldbecompetingina new,
T-
tailedversionoftheHP
-
14whichhadfirst flown themonth before. OnJune 8th theofficial roll call ofeach team wasmade,thelongestin Internationals history
-
105
pi
-
lotsfrom
32
nations.Anannounce
-
mentrevealedthattheInterna
-
tional OSTIV Jury haddecidedthetwo Czechoslovakian M-35scould competeinthestandardclassde
-
spiteflaps which would besealed.Thelaunching procedure, using tensailplanesineachrow,wasdescribed.Eachdaytheorder to take
-
offwould progress byten.Notake
-
offselection time by thepilotwouldbepermitted.
If
a relight wasnecessary,thepilot would fol
-
low his class, and
if
theother class’launching was inprogress,hewouldbelaunched alongside thatclass.Twenty
-
five towplanes, mannedbyPolishGold
-
badge pi
-
lots,wereexpectedto launch bothclasseswithin
90
minutes.TheBritish team manager, AnnWelch, asked whetherteam flying wasprohibited. This procedure en
-
tails pilots exploring a task routeindependently,butpoolingtheir findingsbyradio,thusprovidingmorechoicesofaction for each pi
-
lot involved. This question was especially provocative as inthepastthePolish pilots have used this tac
-
tic to produce high standings
-
the bestexamplebeingatthe’65In
-
ternationalsatSouth Cerney, Eng
-
land, where all Polish pilots fin
-
ished within the top fourinbothclasses.
It
wasanticipatedthattheywould have a field dayover theirown country, utilizing their secretcode
-
Polish.Themanagementrespondedthatcooperationbetweencompeting
pi
-
lotswasnot forbidden. Admittedly
it
soundsunnatural to help acom
-
petitor
if
youthinkofthecham
-
pionships as anindividual effort (wherethereisnoofficial team championship),But
if
thepilot
is
flyingfornationalglory,teamfly
-
ingmakesa lot
of
sense.However,itdoesrequirea high degreeofun
-
selfishnessandtrust.Althoughthepractice task thatdaywascanceled,theofficialmeteorologist, Wiktor Gorczynski,deliveredhisscientific explanation fortheprecipitation.
At
breakfastthatmorning Marshall hadre
-
markedthattheradishesandon
-
ionswewere served were thePo
-
lishDristanandcould clear upany
-
thing.Allexcepttherain.Thefollowing day, June9th,
it
waswell worth the80
-
somestepsupthecontrol tower towatch as theopening ceremonies began. Not onlyare15,000peopleata glider meetratherunique,buttherewasa knowledgeable excitement amongthespectators. Gliding istothePolesmuchasbaseballistomanyAmericans.Thesolemnities began withwel
-
coming speeches bytheDeputyPrime Minister ofPolandand the
OCTOBER
1968
11