Currently Owned by: David Rance, Chris Ellis 
STATUS: Flying
LOCATION: Long Mynd(Midland Gliding Club)
The history of #22 is quite illustrious. Her
first owner was Bernie Fitchett, a brilliant young competition pilot, who took
delivery in August 1968. He flew very successfully finishing 4th in the
1969 Open Nationals and winning in 1971. I can't find a result for 1970.
In those days she bore the competition number 40. After this the history
enters the dark ages as the first entry in our current log book states that it
is a replacement for the original which was stolen in 1974.
We must assume the Bernie sold as references in
"Sailplane & Gliding" show him competing in Standard Cirrus in
1972. From 1974 she appears to have been flown by 'rolling' syndicate of
changing members based at Lasham and Parham. On March 1st 1997 John Abbott and
I bought her from Barry Bartlett and Teresa Telus who based her at Lasham and
had comp # 782.
We took her to our Midland G C site at the Long
Mynd, Shropshire where my comp #18 went on the fin. John and I were joined
later that year by Dave Rance. During the winter we moved her into a barn on
Daves farm where she was given a thorough going over, upgrading the radio,
varios and the panel in general and also installing oxygen. We also virtually
rebuilt the trailer.
In 1999 Dave and I bought John's share and now
operate as a syndicate of 2. There is a photo of him flying 18, as she is now
known, on the club website- www.longmynd.com.
We fly in local competitions and Dave has
entered her in the Northern Regionals later this year. I will be visiting
family in Arizona during the last weeks of May and would be happy to meet up
with any Cirrus flyers out there.