May 2-4, 1997

Steve Cameron is the point man in organizing a "fly in" of Open Cirruses and "Friends of Cirruses" May 2-4 in Spartanburg, SC. We think a critical mass of five will make this a "go", so if there’s a chance you might make it, please contact Steve at 105 Commons Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29302, (864) 948-0506 or e-mail to SCAMCOT@aol.com as soon as possible.

May 23-26, 1997 (TWO events!)

The eastern Vintage Sailplane Rally will be at Jim Stoia’s operation at the Manning, SC airport; contact Jim Stoia, Rt. 4, Box 685, Manning, SC 29102. The western one will be held Tehachapi, CA; contact Jeff Byard, 13555 El Camino Real, Atascadero, CA 93422, e-mail at jbyard@thegrid.net. These rallies have proven to be great fun in the past, with very informal contest flying, good eating and entertainment, and good old hangar flying. There will be more info on both these meets in The Bungee Cord, the official journal of the Vintage Sailplane Association.

June 12-15, 1997

Antique/Classic rally, at Wabash Valley Soaring Association in Vincennes, IN. For more information, contact Howard Petri, <petri@iucf.indiana.edu> or at 4550 E. Heritage Woods Road, Bloomington, IN 47401, telephone (812) 334-2421.

June 15-21, 1997

George Applebay is organizing the first Southwest Vintage and Classic Sailplane Rally at the Moriarty, NM Gliderport. There will be flying, entertainment, and awards for various categories of planes and pilots. Registration ($50) is limited to 60 aircraft. To register, send a note to Southwest Glider Rally, Box 1812, Moriarty, NM 87035 or call (505) 832-0755.

From Burt Compton, <burtbear@aol.com>: Fritz Compton is now 82 years old - flys the Cirrus aggressively and reads the clouds better than anybody. This Cirrus (#33) has an flight time of 2:59 per flight over its lifetime. We set a goal to exceed three hours every flight now, in order to boost the average to over 3:00 hours per flight! It's not easy! We wonder how many other sailplanes in the entre fleet in the USA can show such a high average flight time?

From Howard Petri, <petri@iucf.indiana.edu>: …We are definitely holding a midwest antique/classic rallaye here at WVSA [Wabash Valley Soaring Association]. It will be June 12-15. We’ve made all the arrangements with Simine and Jim Short. It ought to be in Soaring one of these days. Some of us are then going to leave for Moriarity, NM and the antique/classic rallaye which starts there about the 15^th. …

From Gary Nelson (No. 70), <gnelson@execpc.com>: The weeks to my next flight can now be counted on one hand as I’m heading to Marfa, TX the end of March for Sam Fly and Dick Johnson’s thermal and wave camp. This promises to be quite a learning experience - one worth the long drive south. [Any other Cirri want to join Gary? .. Ed.]

At the 1997 SSA convention were Charles Yeates (No. 77), Burt Compton (No. 33), Frank Whiteley (former No. 23), George Moffatt (former No. 23), and myself (No. 67).

At breakfast, Burt shared some really neat data he got from Martin Heide last fall while on a visit to Germany (Martin designed the ASH-25). Martin gave Burt a copy of the "sacred cow" polar that is apparently used as something of a benchmark in comparing gliders in Germany. The "cow" is a Cirrus, German registration D-0471. From the polar data, it appears that the best L/D is about 39.5 at about 92 kph (or ca. 49.9 kts). With this newsletter is a copy of the polar and airspeed correction graphics.

Burt also discovered some interesting history about early Cirruses - seems that those through No. 33 had metal tanks for ballast, but they leaked badly and couldn’t get certified (the metal wouldn’t flex like the wing).

George Moffatt dropped by at breakfast and confirmed that he’d sawed off the wingtips of No. 23 to add scratch-built (NOT Schempp-Hirth mod kit!) extensions that added 3-4 points to his best L/D.

I also had an informal lunch with Tilo Holighaus, Klaus’ son, who is now directing Schempp Hirth - a most charming and talented young man. He confirmed also that Schempp-Hirth never made any mods for tip extensions for the Cirrus. Curiously, he did not know the origin of the "B" designation to many Cirrus articles - note the enclosed polar refers to a "Cirrus B". In that context, Schempp-Hirth never made different models (except the VTC variant made in Yugoslavia). He thought the original prototype - the V-tail Cirrus - was in South Africa, but wasn’t sure.

Another Cirrus confirmed! Cirrus No. 4, N49ME (Originally N1194) is currently owned by:

This ship is in service, at Mountain View Airport, Tehachapi, CA. Apparently, it was imported by George Moffatt, according to Pierre Salinger’s book on Schempp-Hirth. However, this ship, with contest number "CI", was featured in the film "The Sunship Game", produced in the seventies, along with No. 23, which was definitely owned by George Moffatt. In the movie, No. 4 was owned and flown by Gleb Derujinski in a Regional contest at Sugarbush, and at the 36th (?) US Nationals (which Moffatt won in No. 23). Apparently both ships had their wingtips extended between April, 1969 and September, 1969. Bob Wicks purchased the Cirrus in July of 1976, and flew it until 1992 (putting ca. 650 hours on it). A major restoration was undertaken at that time which, at this writing in 1997, is nearly finished. At some time prior to Bob’s ownership, the tail number was apparently changed.

Bob also suggested, in a clipping that accompanied his note, that a Cirrus was involved in an accident on August 10, 1995 in Peoria, AZ. However, the note didn’t indicate which Cirrus, or if the damage was extensive. If anyone knows and details about this, holler.

Rudder Cables: Frank Whitely reported that he’d felt some resistance in the rudder systems which proved to be badly rusted cables. They had to cut the seat pan out to fix the situation. He added that he replaced it (the seat pan) with a mod they made so it could be unbolted readily.

This is reminiscent of Charles Yeates’ experience with rusted cable in the tow release mechanism!

Does anyone have detailed data on fitting a removable seat pan in the Cirrus? Sounds like this is going to be a more frequent requirement over time as the need to work on cables and other parts under the seat becomes greater.

Bob Wicks has reported his intention to finish a complete restoration this year, and Charles Yeates and Dick Vine are still considering a refinish to their bird. Frank Whitely reported that he’d painted No. 23 back in 1980, and was pleased with the results. Any more reports of refinishing? And how they are faring?

Spoiler Connections: We have a couple of reports from No. 23 and No. 33 that spoilers could be sucked out, requiring some tightening of the connecting rods. I don’t think this has anything to do with the AD on the spoiler Hotieler fittings, though…