The Pioneers of Aviation; 101 & 102

Oh! . . . . . It was with contraptions like this, the Dotto-Liliantile paved the way for the age of aviation. That was in the 1890s. His tragic death after hundreds of successful glides put an end to the fundamental research and development work that had resulted in the construction of these hang gliders. 80 years later this young instructor is flying an exact copy of a Liliantile glider. Liliantiles rail hares a glider perlits.

Like Liliantile himself, they fly solely for flying sake. Gliding is a sport, but it also involves science and technology. It's often said that flying is great, but nothing can be gliding, and anyone who's tried it will definitely agree. . Silently gaining height, covering great distances and staying in the air for hours by your own skill. That's the sporting aspect of gliding. The smooth balance movements of a glider are a pleasure to watch, and glider fields and gliding events always attract a lot of spectators. Laman are always amazed that these aircraft not only fly without an engine, they can even gain height. A festival for veteran gliders on the Vasa Cooper in the Rhearn Mountains in West Germany.

A frequent question at events like this is, how can an aircraft stay airborne without an engine? The answer is quite simple. When a glider is launched, it's given energy, kinetic energy through the speed and potential energy through the altitude to which it's been toned. But what are the forces acting on the glider? First there's the force of gravity, the weight of the glider. The opposing force is the lift provided by the wings. The drag is counteracted by the thrust, which is created by the force of gravity. Because of the lift provided by the wings, free fall becomes a glide. The higher its glide ratio, the further a glider will travel. A glide ratio of 26 means a drop of 1 meter for every 26 meters traveled. Another important factor is the sinking speed, the rate in meters per second at which the glider loses altitude. If it's caught by an upward air current that's powerful enough, the glider will soar. Although it's gliding, in other words, constantly sinking in comparison to the air around it, the force of the updraft enables the aircraft to actually gain height.

A glider pilot must find up currents of air and make skillful use of them. Powered aircraft can also fly. An aircraft can still stay aloft even if its propeller stops. Even a jumbo jet could fly without its engines, but it would of course have a very high sinking speed. If the updraft of air were powerful enough, a jumbo could even soar. But the updrafts that normally occur can only be used by gliders, especially designed to have a high glide ratio and a low sinking speed. Developments today are concentrated mainly on improving these two factors. This modern high performance glider has a glide ratio of 50. But in addition to ultra-modern gliders, the air-worthy veterans of the 30s and 40s are still in great demand. This veteran's rally on Mavasa Cooper and West Germany has attracted enthusiasts not only from West Germany, but also from Britain, France and Switzerland.

The veterans here are privately owned. They've been restored and maintained with loving care, something that often costs a great deal of time and money. This is a rather special veteran. It's a reconstruction of one of the first gliders ever to take off from Mavasa Cooper. It was built in 1920 by Peter Riedel, who as a 14-year-old schoolboy took part in the first run competition in the original aircraft. Peter Riedel, who is now 70, proves that his construction is perfectly air-worthy. Like the original, it's covered with oil paper. His aircraft resembles the power by players that were popular in those days. And that can be done without a penny. And think of yourself as a son in the year and in the 20s. In the old days, you couldn't buy a glider. They were built privately with primitive means, but great enthusiasm.

In 1921, the vampire appeared. With its cantilever wing and its enclosed fuselage, the vampire was the prototype for all later gliders. This remote-controlled model is an exact replica of the 1921 vampire. Peter Riedel's aircraft had a glide ratio of 5, but the vampire had a glide ratio of 16, which was quite a step forward. Let's take a look at some old films showing several other aircraft that took part in the first gliding competitions in the world. This film material was collected over many years by a former glider pilot.

The earlier-grown competitions weren't without their mishaps, but successful shock-cord launches also produced some smooth flights. This monoplane got well off the ground, but didn't land very smoothly. This biplane is zooming downhill like at a bottom, and now a successful flight by a monoplane. The cockpit is fared in the shape of a raindrop. This glider constituted a major step forward. It has a cantilever wing, a fared fuselage, and stable skids. This model set up a world-distance record of over 5 kilometres. Because of its broad wings, this glider could fly extremely slowly, and now back to the vampire, the first glider to remain airborne for one hour.

The vampire and its successors made use of hill lift and were thus able to take the vital step forward from gliding flight to soaring flight. This is the principle involved. When wind blows over a hill, the air for a considerable height above it is deflected upwards and can be used by a glider for soaring. Provided the wind remains constant, a soaring flight can last for hours. A policeman by the name of Muck's Cagel became the first man to make use of another type of upcurrent. While flying a homemade glider at the Iron Competition in 1926, he was sucked up by a storm cloud. He was able to land safely again after being carried a distance of 55 kilometres, more than double the existing world record. Cagel storm flight gave gliding a fresh impetus.

This is how elegant and modern-looking gliders were in the mid-20s. The fuselage was rounded and fish-like, while the wings were long and narrow. The same aircraft had a competition on the Vasa Cooper. These events, which attracted gliding enthusiasts from all over the world, produced new developments and successes year after year. Gliding had become an international sport. It served aircraft research and with it technological progress. The Fafnir which appeared in 1930 became world famous. Taking advantage of a thundery front, Günter Grönhoff succeeded in flying the then sensational distance of 272 kilometres. The Fafnir was the most aerodynamic and therefore the most efficient glider of its day.

Günter Grönhoff and the man who designed the Fafnir Alexander Lippish. Another famous glider pilot of the time was an Austrian by the name of Robert Cronfeld. It was Cronfeld who built the Austria, a huge glider with a wingspan of 30 metres. He assumed that the greater the wingspan, the better the flying performance would be, in particular the glider ratio. Basically he was right but an aircraft this size is much too expensive to build and it's also too fragile. One day in fact the Austria broke up in a cloud. Fortunately Robert Cronfeld was able to parachute to safety. By this time another source of power for gliders had been discovered. Thermal upcurrence.

Volthiert was one of the first pilots to master thermal gliding. Here he is taking off on the banks of the Hudson River in New York in 1931. The thermal upcurrence above the sea of buildings enabled him to soar over the city. Although he could have stayed aloft for hours, here it eventually had to be waved down. His antics were causing havoc on the roads. This memorable flight saw the start of gliding in the United States. South America four years later, Volthiert being strapped in by his pupil Hannah Reich. Takeoff. Attached to one of the struts is a camera which filmed during the flight. Here he is pointing out the magnificent panorama of Rio de Janeiro and the Bay. The aircraft's instruments were small for the time. Here at himself helped to develop them. At the controls this time is Hannah Reich.

Flying one loop after another she demonstrates the safety and maneuverability of her glider. Coming into land on a race course. The mini-moa designed by Volthiert being launched by Shotcourt. Over ten years of experience went into the construction of this aircraft. The Shotcourt launch seen from another angle. The mini-moa was one of the most beautiful gliders of its day. Forty years later the mini-moa was flying at the Veterans Festival on the Vassacupa, the birthplace of gliding. Its cranked wing gives the mini-moa the appearance of a guile.

The start of the Veterans competition. The Hutter 28 first appeared in 1935. The Hutter is one of the smallest high-performance gliders ever built. The gliders have to be launched in quick succession to ensure that they all have an equal chance. This two-seater from Switzerland is forty years old. Even older is this baby too. Built in 1934 it's the oldest aircraft at the festival.

Thousands of glider pilots all over the world have trained in this model. It's even set duration records of up to forty hours. Here once again is the mini-moa. Take off on a duration flight above the west slope. No different from forty years ago. As the wind has dropped a bit one after another the veterans have to land. The Hutter 28 seen here side slipping. When the glider is banked with opposite rudder this increases the drag. This method of losing height without increasing speed is useful for landing in a restricted area.

Coming into land here is a perfectly well-preserved baby from Britain. One veteran flown by another. At the 1940 Olympic Games being held they would for the first time have included a gliding competition. The nations that planned to enter for it had even agreed on the make of aircraft which they thought would give everyone an equal chance. The Olympia Miser. This is one of the few remaining models. These aircraft should really all be in a museum and there is in fact a gliding museum on the Vase Cooper but it's much too small. There's only enough room in it for the veteran baby. For this open trainer and for a few airworthy models of old gliders.

But several glider pilots on the Vase Cooper intend to remedy the situation. With the help of donations they plan to build a new and bigger hall that will take more than twenty veterans which meanwhile are being stored in barns. But tradition isn't limited to museums. The pioneering spirit of the early days can still be experienced today especially in clubs. The countless gliding clubs that exist all over the world enable almost anyone to take up the sport. In West Germany alone there are almost 800 gliding clubs with 36,000 active members.

Three of these clubs are based on an airfield gliding site in the Vase mountains. This is Gain. He's 14 years old and about to take off on his first solo flight. He's made about 60 flights with his instructor who's just giving him a few final tips. The first solo flight of the fabulous experience. But these are tense moments for the flying instructor. Nobody watching from the ground would ever think that this huge, expensive aircraft was being piloted by a 14-year-old schoolboy. Five minutes later Gain August is on approach for landing. The air breaks are open and everything's perfect. All we need now is a smooth landing. Gain August is back a little.

Gain August's first solo flight was a total success. And then it's time for the next pupil to take off. Gain August is waiting for his club mates. He knows full well what he's on for. A tradition that's been preserved since the earliest days of aviation. But let's take another look at the technical development of the glider. Most of the veterans and trainers we've seen so far have a wing section like a bird. A wing section like this has a fairly blunt tip. Its broadest point is located roughly in the front third.

And it's also got quite a pronounced camber to ensure good lift at low speed. This was thought to be particularly favourable for soaring flight. In the 50s and 60s however, glider construction was completely revolutionized when wood was replaced by synthetic resins. Wings made of these materials and reinforced with glass fiber were completely flat and smooth. Calculations and tests had also shown that a wing section produced far less drag if it was less cambered, if it had a pointed tip and if it's broadest part lay further back. The laminar airfoil as it's known had been discovered. Today gliders made of synthetic materials and equipped with airfoils of this type have glide ratios of over 50, something which glider pilots of the past only dreamt of. Pilots who want to get maximum performance out of their gliders carefully polish the fiberglass surface before every takeoff. The smoother the surface, the less drank there is and the higher the glide ratio.

Sofie is in stone again. An aeroto launch of a fiberglass glider. The pilot keeps his aircraft close to the ground to enable the tow plane to take off more easily. The pilot releases the tow rope. He can now fly off on his own, perhaps for many hours and over hundreds of kilometers. The fiberglass glider flown by world record holder Hans Vénagrosa from Lube.

It has a wingspan of 20 meters and a glide ratio of around 50. This means that from a height of a thousand meters it can glide for 50 kilometers without the help of upwinds. Aircraft like this enable pilots to adopt completely different gliding tactics to those used in the past. Whether weather conditions are as favorable as they are here, only the most powerful thermal app currents are used. After gaining height, the pilot quickly heads for the next cloud which will provide another upwind in this way enormous distances have been covered. In 1972, Hans Vénagrosa glided from Lubeck in northern Germany to beurits in southern France. He covered 1,460 kilometers and set up a world record.

But this is only one of the many world gliding records he holds. The German Alpine gliding school at Unterversen, fine gliding weather and beautiful surroundings are seen straight out of a holiday brochure. A winch launch, the aircraft rises to an altitude of 300 meters high enough for the pilot to soar along the slope in complete safety. Ridge Hill or slope soaring is the oldest form of soaring flight. The glider pilot tries to gain or maintain height in the upcurrent caused when wind meets a hill and is deflected upwards. Great care must be taken when flying close to the slope. All turns on the ridge must be started by turning out away from the hillside and the pilot must always keep a good lookout for other gliders.

We're now heading back to the slope. And now at the far end, a left turn. There's the soaring slope again. Through flying a wide figure eight we've gained a considerable amount of height. Two fundamental rules of slope soaring. Always turn away from the slope and overtake between the other glider and the hill. An exception to the normal air rules which state that the overtaking aircraft should pass to the right of the other aircraft. An alternative to the winch launch is the aerator launch. In under-vision, it's mainly the trainees who are launched by winch and visiting pilots who take off by aerator. Because of the usually excellent soaring conditions prevailing in this area, under-vision is particularly popular with pilots who want to go in for the coveted gold seas certificate.

Requirements for the gold sea are laid down by the Federation Aeronautique International. The pilot must perform a flight of not less than five hours duration in which a distance of 300 kilometers is covered and in which the gain of height is not less than 3,000 meters. Normally these conditions cannot be fulfilled by flying in the lift from a ridge. For this reason, the hill which we saw being used for slope soaring is of little use to advance pilots. There are far more interested in self-facing mountain slopes that are warm by the sun. And it's to one of these slopes that the pilot of this glider is being towed. The pilot of this glider is being towed by the Federation Aeronautique International.

The pilot is being towed by the Federation Aeronautique International. The pilot of this glider is being towed by the Federation Aeronautique International. The pilot of this glider is being towed by the Federation Aeronautique International.

The pilot of this glider is being towed by the Federation Aeronautique International. The pilot of this glider is being towed by the Federation Aeronautique International. The pilot is being towed by the Federation Aeronautique International. The pilot of this glider is being towed by the Federation Aeronautique International. Gliding originated in Germany, but it's now a highly popular pastime in many other countries as well.

But how do people come to take up gliding? Most of them start off with spectators, their interest grows, and one day they ask the flying instructor if they could have a go as well. But gliding costs money, every club charges an admission fee and monthly subscriptions. It always goes down well when newcomers start off by lending a hand on the workshop. And it's also nice to see a new face helping with launches, even though he's not yet allowed to have a go himself. First of all he has to attend a course of theoretical instruction to learn the fundamentals of gliding. Theoretical instruction is usually given when the weather is too bad for flying.

Finally, the big day arrives. The pupil is allowed to climb aboard in front of the flying instructor. Training is about to begin. Once a pupil has made his first solo flight he can go in for his A's certificate. To obtain it he has to circle the airfield three times and make a precision landing. And this is the badge he's awarded if he passes. Two girls means that the pilot has obtained his B certificate. This also involves three circuit flights but the pilot has to make complete turns in both directions and then side slip in for a precision landing. Inside slipping the aircraft is banked to increase the drag and thus the sinking speed. In this way it's possible to land with greater accuracy. To obtain his C certificate the pupil must be able to saw in other words gain height in an upward air current. The practical test which must last for at least 30 minutes is supplemented by a theoretical examination. The C badge has three goals on it.

These gliding examinations are almost as old as gliding itself. Pupils went in for their A, B and C certificates even in the 1920s. The requirements and also the methods of instruction were quite different. Since there were hardly any two seaters in those days beginners had to be taught in single-seater aircraft. Each pupil was given careful instruction but he flew solo in an open trainer right from the very beginning. At first he just skidded along on the end of the shock cord. Gradually the pupil got further and further off the ground. Sometimes the instructor even launched the aircraft himself. The hops gave way to short flights. Finally after having completed about 20 to 30 launches and fulfilled a few preliminary requirements the pupil went in for his A certificate. The crash helmet was obligatory.

A few final words of encouragement from the flying instructor. And then a shock cord launched from the top of a slope. The pupil had to fly as straight as possible for at least 30 seconds. And he's done it. The B certificate test in the 30s and 40s. One of the requirements was a precision landing. A shock cord launched from an even higher slope. The B certificate test involved five flights of at least 60 seconds duration.

The special requirement was a perfectly executed S-turn. No easy task at such a low altitude. And now the precision landing. Another four flights like that and the pilot could proudly collect his B certificate. A stiff breeze blowing up the slope. Just the right weather for the C certificate test. To pass it the pilot had to remain airborne for at least five minutes.

The pupil climbs into a trainer with an enclosed fuselage and a canopy. This was an enormous step forward from an open trainer and the pupil had to make it without any previous instruction in a two-seater. This silent film was made almost 50 years ago. In the interest of safety, precise launch commands were given. Take up slack. Run. The trainer is flying figure eights to and fro in the upward air current above the slope.

This aircraft is a grunar baby. A popular veteran. It's still flown even today. After making a steep turn the baby quickly gains height again in an upward air current. Time is up. The baby comes into land which in this wind isn't easy. This is only custom renau days after a pilot's first solo flight. The pupil doesn't seem to mind. He's proud to pin on his C back.

This is gliding pioneer Volfiard in a trainer. He's performing one loop after another in this primitive aircraft. The word on his seat means no hands and to illustrate just how safe his aircraft is Volfiard even removes the control stick. This veteran is even older. It's a reconstruction of a biplane built by Peter Riedel in 1920. Peter Riedel is now over 70 years old but he still enjoys flying as much as ever. He learned to fly on this meadow on the Vase Cooper in 1920.

At that time he was 14 years old. In the past when a pupil had gathered enough experience on the ground his instructor would send him off on his first overland flight to learn. Today a pupil is usually accompanied on his first cross-country flight by his instructor. Not only does the pupil learn more this way but it also considerably reduces the risk of him having to land outside an airfield because of a lack of upward air current. The training flights take place not only over short distances but also over triangular courses several hundred kilometers long.

For the pupil this step forward into the advanced school of gliding is a wonderful experience. The two-seater trainer being launched by Winch. The instructor sits in the rear seat. After release the pilot first of all circles in the upward air current underneath the cloud in order to gain height. The training flight like this will give the pupil enough experience to undertake a cross-country flight on his own. His aim is to obtain his silver sea badge. He must gain a height of a thousand meters, cover a distance of not less than 50 kilometers and remain airborne for five hours. To obtain his gold sea badge a pilot must show a gain of height of not less than 3000 meters and cover a distance of 300 kilometers. Today these are merely average performances but in 1922 which is when these pictures were taken, pilots didn't even consider them possible.

It was in the vampire that the first hour-long flights were made and the upslope wins on the Vassacrupe in Germany. In the 20s and 30s most gliders were launched by shop-cord. This is Wolf Hirt in his famous Minimera. He also experimented with motor car toes which enabled him to launch his newly designed aircraft from flat sites as well. It was in this glider in 1934 that Wolf Hirt covered a distance of 352 kilometers. Wolf Hirt was one of the great pioneers of gliding.

The car toe was followed by the winch launch. The rope was one round the drum and the glider pulled into the air like a kite. The next step in the development of launching was the arrow toe. In the early days the rope that towed the glider was up to 200 meters long. Modern nylon-towing ropes are only about 40 meters long. The pilot releases the cable and uses the height he has gained for a soaring flight in a mass of warm air known as a thumb. The air heats up more quickly over some parts of the landscape than it does over others, usually over inhabited areas.

As it heats up it expands. When this mass of air is blown against an obstacle by the wind it's deflected upwards. As the air rises it cools. The moisture contained in it condenses to form a cumulus cloud. The warmer and less densities compared to the surrounding air the more quickly the thermal will rise and of course the more use it will be to a glider pilot wanting to gain height. Cumulus clouds are a visible sign of thermals. But the rising warm air doesn't always condense and so thermals can also exist when the sky is perfectly clear. The presence of cumulus cloud however makes it much easier for pilots to find thermals. The pilot is helped in his search for thermals by highly developed instruments.

The instrument on the bottom right of the panel is a variometer which indicates the rate of climb or descent at present almost nil. The modern electric variometer on the left indicates the rate of climb or descent acoustically. The higher and more frequent the tone the faster the glider is climbing here at a rate of 2 meters per second. This is music to a glider pilot's ears. It means that he's made contact with the thermal. If the pilot has just touched the edge of the thermal his rate of climb will soon begin to drop. He then makes a steep turn and comes back to the thermal. The principle of moving the glider over until it's circling and the strongest part of the thermal is known as centering. This is what it looks like in practice.

When the pilot has got the maximum lift out of a thermal he then converts the gain in height into distance. Wherever there are updrafts there are also down drafts and they should be flown through as quickly as possible. When the pilot reaches the next thermal it depends on his altitude whether he centers and makes use of it as in this case or whether he flies onto the next thermal. This also depends on the efficiency of his glider. On nice days thermals are very common it's just that you can't see them. With older gliders which have a glide ratio of around 25 it's necessary to make use of every firm. This of course takes up a lot of time and there's a strict limit to the distance that can be covered.

But in the case of modern gliders which have a glide ratio of around 40 the situation is quite different. The pilot can afford to miss out some thermals and thus progress much more quickly. In extremely favourable conditions expert pilots are able to make rapid progress without losing height. They make use of the thermals that they pass through but only rarely do they circle. In this way distances of well over a thousand kilometres have been covered. But this isn't possible in the old gliders built in the 20s and 30s. Made of wood they're extremely slow and have a low glide ratio of around 25. Nor is it possible in a two-seater trainer like this a modern composite construction with a glide ratio of around 30. Top performance can only be achieved in a fiberglass glider with a low drag design and an extremely smooth skin.

At the top the glide path of a fiberglass glider below that of a trainer. As the speed of the trainer increases its glide path becomes steeper. But the fiberglass aircraft has less drag so it loses height at a far slower rate. This Janus II cedar is flying next to a powered aircraft at a speed of almost 200 kilometres an hour. The Janus is built in this factory near Stuttgart. It was the first synthetic two-seater ever built. Some models like this are used for introducing less experienced pilots to the special characteristics of fiberglass aircraft. Others are suitable for training beginners. With some of the newer fiberglass single-seaters this sort of instruction is no longer necessary.

The Aster has a glide ratio of 38 which means that it can't produce really top performances. But it's still far superior to the wooden constructions that have been used in clouds up to now. Modern fiberglass gliders are also easy to transport and assemble. Their skin is as smooth as glass. Developments in the field of aerodynamics have led to some astonishing improvements in performance. Let's look at how world-distance records have progressed since the early days of gliding. To start with some world records from the first 30 years of gliding. In 1921 Wolfgang Klemperer took off from the Vase Cooper in his blower mouse and covered a distance of 5 kilometres. Ten years later Gunter Grönhoff flew his fafner a distance of 272 kilometres.

The 1,000-kilometer barrier was broken for the first time in 1964 by an American. And then in 1972 Hans-Vernagrosser of Germany flew 1,460 kilometres in an AWS 17 fiberglass glider. Grosse flew right across Europe from Lubek to Beiruts. Finally, in May 1976 Karls Streetik of the United States became the first pilot to break the magic 1,000 miles barrier. On a mountain return flight in another AWS 17, he covered a distance of 1,610 kilometres. Today it's not only distance that counts but speed as well.

A 100-kilometer triangle course has been covered at a speed of almost 160 kilometres an hour, under favourable thermal conditions naturally. Compotitions are a real test of gliding ability because all the pilots have to fly in the same weather conditions and thus have an equal opportunity to make use of thermals. Only the aircraft are different. Here at a regional competition being held at Neumannster Airfield in northern Germany, there are several wooden gliders taking part. This is only one of the many regional competitions that are staged all over Europe during the summer months. Well, it's the first of all briefed on their task for the day and on weather conditions. The official in charge of the launching is Heinz Hoot. Many times German champion, in 1963 he also won the World Gliding Championship. Before taking off, this competitor is photographing the clock and also the board showing the task for the day.

Now he's photographing the tail unit of his aircraft with its markings. Later, like all the other competitors, he'll also photograph the turning points as proof that he's fulfilled his set tasks. These pilots have already released their toe ropes and they're circling the airfield in the thermals. The weather isn't particularly favourable but it's good enough to enable the gliders to stay aloft, within half an hour all the competitors are airborne. The launch officials and the timekeeper are now at the starting line. This frame with two wires stretched across it enables the observers lying underneath to determine the starting times exactly. A glider is approaching at an altitude of almost a thousand meters. From now on the flight will be assessed. One hour later the weather has deteriorated. It's become misty and there are hardly any thermals above.

One after another the competitors come into land off thin. This landing site was well chosen and the glider has come to a stop near a road, retrieving it should be no problem. On this occasion none of the competitors managed to fulfil the set tasks. Like that regional competition the world championships in Finland the same year were also marred by poor gliding conditioners. Basically these world championships were run on exactly the same lines as the regional competition in Neumannston. It's just that everything was on a larger scale. Soaring flight above the forests and lakes of Finland. These aircraft are all circling in the same thermal.

Unfortunately the weather soon deteriorated. The sky became overcast and the upcurrent subsided. It was only with difficulty that the competitors managed to make it back to the airfield. Another day of the competition was marred by strong winds. Glider pilots disliked wind because it disperses upcurrents. But preparations for launching went ahead just the same. On days like this success depends more on luck than on actual flying skill. They were also karma days but they failed to produce the thermals that the world's finest glider pilots needed so badly.

Time and again they were unable to complete their tasks for the day and had to land off field in difficult terrain. The retrieving crews had their hands formed. An off field landing amongst forests and lakes. But competition pilots are too experienced to take unnecessary risks and so very few of the gliders were damaged. Full speed back to the airfield. Perhaps there'll be time for a second flight with more luck. And these are the lucky ones who have fulfilled their set tasks for the day. Only at the last minute do they jettison the water ballast which they took along to make them faster.

The standard class was won by Ingorena. From the strain of competition to share enjoyment and the two-seater SB-10, one of the most beautiful of all modern gliders. The most beautiful glider pilots were able to complete their tasks for the day and had to land off field in difficult terrain. The most beautiful glider pilots were able to complete their tasks for the day and had to land off field in difficult terrain. The most beautiful glider pilots were able to complete their tasks for the day and had to land off field in difficult terrain.