Every so often a classic book on gliding appears which is on everyone’s wish list. Such is Sailplanes 1920-1945 written by Martin Simons and published by Equip. It is quite brilliant. Martin, who was born in the Uk but lives in Australia, holding dual nationality, has been part of the gliding scene for more than 50 years, has flown some one hundred different types of sailplanes, including twenty featured in the book, and has that rare gift of being able to write with simplicity. He isn’t new to authorship or journalism with some good titles and articles to his name, but this is the finest of books and he and the publisher have given us permission to print some extracts over the next few months so that readers will get a taste of the content. As well as the text, Martin has developed a very distinctive and clear way of illustrating the sailplanes - see the drawing of the Pekzner hang glider. More than 120 glider types are included in this book and Martin is now working on Volume 2 to cover twenty years from 1945 to 1965. We start with the Preface and the Introduction as both give a taste of what is to come in the following months.

PREFACE My first experience of sailplanes was on July 15 1939 when, as a child of nine years, I visited the British National Gliding Competitions, held at Camphill in Derbyshire. The indulgent father of my friend Brian possessed a small car. He took us boys out for the day to this bare, exposed stretch of upland some 24 kilometres south-west of Sheffield where we lived. I had always been fascinated by the idea of flying, as many were. I had seen occasional biplanes passing over our suburb and all the kids in the school yard had once watched a sky writer advertising washing powder. Gliding was a mystery to all of us. I thought it must be something like sledging which, when there was snow, we did in the streets near home. We could pay a halfpenny, or sometimes a full penny, in the sweet shop for little aeroplanes made of card. These flew well when catapulted into the air with the rubber band (supplied), but they always came down quickly. Today, it seemed, we were to see big gliders, carrying grown men, being thrown off the top of a hill with big rubber bands. Within minutes of arriving at the flying field, I was enraptured. There began an obsession which has continued for the rest of my life. Not catapults and mere toboggan rides down to the valley floor, but steep, swift ascents like kites pulled up on wires, wings spread against the sky, then long, floating, graceful flight, flute like sounds, smooth turns and gentle landings. Best distance for the day was a mere 20km Long afterward I learned that this summer day had been poor for soaring. Only three pilots were able to scratch away from the site in weak th