Currently Owned by: Bob McLean, of McLean Aviation

STATUS: Destroyed

LOCATION: The Aerodrome, Rufforth, York, UK

No. 23 was imported into the US by George Moffat in 1968, and its first flight, of three hours, was on September 20 of that year. George assigned the contest number "XX" ("double X-ray"), and it was featured in the film "The Sunship Game".

On April 27, 1969, the ship was modified by Moffatt by adding making it 18.8 m. George Moffat’s last flight in the ship was logged on September 28, 1969, with 155 hours on the frame at that time. Ownership was transferred to Doug Gaines, who didn’t record a flight in it until November of 1970. (Doug was later killed in an ASW-17 that also had extended wingtips.)

On June 6, 1971, a ground accident necessitated re-building the starboard wing. Also at this point the ailerons were extended and an extra hinge installed on each wing. Total time was 285.5 hours.

On May 6, 1972, further repairs to the fuselage and left front wing pincage were performed, but no note was made of the cause of damage. Total time 385 hours.

In January, 1973, the ship was purchased by Kendall Somers (shared with Dan Somers). There were nearly 428 hours on the ship by now. On August 4 of that year, Dan Somers earned his Diamond Goal and Gold "C" badge. Dan also flew the ship in the 1974 US Nationals in Adrian, MI. In June of 1974, the axle was replaced.

On September 17, 1977, it was sold to Keith Newquist, with 739 hours total time. On November 19, oxygen was installed. And on October 11, 1979, it was sold again to Robert Tede (sp?), at 818 hours. On July 3, 1984, the thousand hour mark was reached. Ownership becomes a little murky at this point. There is a logbook entry in August 6, 1985 from one Henry Haake, about the time R. Tede apparently stopped flying the ship. However, there are only summary entries in the logbook through 1988, and no entry at all for 1989. The FAA, as recently as 1995, reported that the ship was owned by one Henry Haake, 1801 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64108.

Francis Whiteley <greeley@greeleynet.com> purchased the ship and subsequently imported it into the UK in 1990. When he purchased the glider, the annual was nearly up and the weather in Kansas City wasn’t very good. There was a letter with the documentation. The A&P that had been doing the annuals and maintenance for ten years had written that he would be unwilling to sign it off that year unless more documentation could be supplied on the wing tip mod; that’s when it went on the market. The crew that performed the original C of A found that none of the required AD’s had been completed. The rudder cables were so badly hedgehogged that they had cut through the plastic tube that runs under the seat pan. My crew put it all right for a song, it just took time.

Whitely managed a 3.5 hour average my first year in the UK and 4 hours the next year.  Most flying was from winch launches.   In October 1994, he had a memorable soaring flight in it using sea thermals over the Irish Sea to the north of Lleweni Parc, Wales.

In June, 1993, Whitely sold 2/3 ownership to Neil Edwards and Steve Veness. Both Steve and Neil completed Silver "C" badges in August, 1993, and in June, 1994, Neil flew Gold "C" distance.  Steve Veness had at least three 300K flights in it in 1996.

Steve Veness is paraplegic. They had No. 23 modified for a hand controlled rudder engineered by Tony Cox of Cotswold Gliders.  The airbrake handle was moved to the top side of the rod to make space for the removable rudder handle. In addition, the air brake rod was notched and the handle slide locks with the aid of a spring. The spring creates a rotational pressure to lock the brakes in position. The location of the crank that connected the rudder cables to the rudder control rod made conversion very straight forward.

In August, 1994, Francis Whiteley sold his remaining share to Mike Weston.

On May 14, 1995, a heavy landing required a new canopy and refinishing of the front of fuselage and cockpit. In July, 1995 a hinged canopy was fitted, using a DG-100 hinge (rear opening), and a GPS was added to the panel.

In October, 1995, Neil completed Gold "C" and Diamond altitude in a flight to 22,000 ft. ASL from Feshiebridge, Scotland. At the end of 1995, No. 23 had accumulated ca. 1340 hours in 550 launches.

The glider was sold to Godfrey King and Ernie Perrin in the summer of 1999.

Sadly, in September 1999 Ernie Perrin undershot into a hedge which contained several trees and took both wings off it. The cockpit and fuselage were virtually undamaged, not even a scratch on the canopy and he climbed out shaken but unhurt. The insurance Company wrote it off as uneconomic to repair and put the wreckage out to tender  together with two other damaged Cirruses as a package deal. The three were bought by  Bob McLean, of McLean Avaition, The Aerodrome, Rufforth, York, UK. whose intention is to turn the three into one aeroplane. (Bob has the remains of Nos. 13 and 128 in addition to No. 23).  Planning as of May, 2001 was to use the fuselage of No. 23 and the wings of No. 128, and use the remains of No. 13 for miscellaneous parts.