Flight from Colditz by Tony Hoskins

Author:Tony Hoskins
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / Aviation
ISBN: 9781473848559
Publisher: Frontline Books
Published: 2016-05-31T04:00:00+00:00

The fabric skin is applied to the tail of our first replica. (Author)

The fuselage of the test replica receives its fabric covering. (Author)

I made my way up to Cambridge Gliding Club for my glider examination very early in the morning; the weather forecast was unseasonably good and we were expecting clear skies by mid-morning. This was perfect, allowing me time to carry out all my checks.

Arriving at the same time as the duty crew, I pulled out their newest ASK 21, and carried out the daily inspection.1 A quick wash and a clean and she looked lovely – it was then time for briefings and to meet the examiner. Briefings done, we took the machine out to the launch point, up the wire, a few exercises and we were back pretty quickly. Expecting another trip, I rolled up to the launch point as briefed, but out hopped the instructor who wanted to debrief. All done, one flight. Maybe I hadn’t forgotten too much?

Coffee was duly supped and it was then I saw a car making its way around the airfield. In it was Tom, the Editor, who I was yet to meet, and Jason, the Production Manager. Introductions over, I discovered this was the advance party here to set up cameras and microphones for the filming. Hugh would follow shortly, and I wasn’t to meet him until the cameras were rolling.

Internal cameras, external cameras, radio mics, battery packs, all had to be squeezed in and checked for non-interference. After a couple of sound checks we were ready for the off. As Hugh was an Australian it was necessary, of course, to await the announcement of the cricket scores on the radio before any flying got under way. I instantly found him a most humble and inquiring chap and I liked him. He understood as much as I did that the job that lay before us was massive. Hugh, though, had only just been handed his task, whereas I’d been working for nearly three months already – he had just a matter of weeks to complete his task.

We talked for a while before the camera operators went off for the strap-in and safety briefing. Again, after relaying once more about the canopy jettison and what to do in a bale out, we set off for the first of many flights. I picked winch launching for the demonstration as it accurately depicted the initial acceleration we required for launching at Colditz, and also meant in the short daylight hours we could get multiple flights in should camera failure occur.

With three launches in the bag, the camera crew jumped in the tug, and we took an aero-tow to 4,000 feet in the late afternoon sun for some air-to-air footage. Hugh also tried his hand at a bit of gliding. Rolling up next to the hangar as we really were the only flyers of the day, I reflected that it had gone well, although Hugh now had an awful lot of questions. I helped pack the glider away in the hangar as quickly as possible to let the Cambridge Club guys go.

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