Hall Cherokee II

With the start of the summer gliding season emerging, our K-13 GFX found itself, with winter cobwebs dusted off, on the Piako club’s winch at Matamata Aerodrome in late September.

Meanwhile we can reminisce on what is a classic piece of New Zealand aviation history quietly in retirement in hangar 3 at Classic Flyers at Tauranga Airport.

Back in the late 1950s, three gentlemen in Auckland; Henry Christie, John Williams and Trevor Taylor informed Civil Aviation (C.A.A.) they had acquired a set of plans for a Hall Cherokee II and were going to build one. The response was something like “no you won’t – it hasn’t been done here before and you are not going to start”. Unfazed, the three builder’s persevered with CA.A. who relented providing certain minor adjustments were made, including the position of the tow hook.

The Cherokee was the brainchild of Stanley A Hall, an electronics engineer employed by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in America. He had been gliding since the 1930s.

Construction began in March 1959 in Northcote, Auckland. There were sceptics who looked on with interest. Beverly Secker of Takapuna had the following, published in the March 1960 Gliding Kiwi.

THE THING

Here’s an ode to the boys with the glider

the fantastic “thing” with nothing inside her.

She was put together with swear words and glue,

a few dozen flagons of strong beer too.

The “Thing” as she’s called is hidden from sight

of the prying public – she looks such a fright’

A prehistoric Monster to be let loose at will,

Enough to give Frankenstein a blood curling chill’

But when the day comes to let the “Thing” fly,

John, Trevor and Henry (although they might try)

Will never be able to reach the sky –

For the matter of weight will affect her badly

and when John gets in she’ll disintegrate sadly.

If only he’d been strong enough to diet

Then of course he’d been able to fly it’

But it’s too late now for the GROG has GOT him

and poor old “Cherokee” will just go ROTTEN……..

Registration ZK-GBT was issued on 7 October 1960. The big day finally arrived on 25 November 1961 when the Cherokee had its maiden flight at Ardmore. The test pilot was Neil B Grant, C.F.I. of the Auckland Gliding Club. Auckland club members Ken Bartlett and Roger Barker took ownership in June 1970 with Ken having sole ownership from December 1972. Later it was sold to Pat Driessen. It was eventually withdrawn from use in 1992 and despite all the criticism by C.A.A. and gliding folk in general, it led an uneventful flying career.

After years in storage and as a potential “guy” on a bon fire, Vintage Kiwi president Roger Brown rescued it and handed it to Classic Flyers in 2005 where it has remained displayed ever since.

What must be recognised is that all the subsequent builders (from plans only) of New Zealand amateur aircraft have Messrs Christie, Williams and Taylor to thank for their determination to convince the powers that be, that in the right hands, building aircraft, from plans in New Zealand, was a possibility.

Construction of a second Cherokee, ZK-GCL, was commenced in Hawke’s Bay but was never completed.

Peter Layne (privileged to fly GBT on 2 January 1971).

https://vintagekiwi.gliding.co.nz/

Switching from OLC to WeGlide for the Buckland Soaring Award and Air New Zealand XC Trophies

Following the retirement of Online Contest (OLC), Gliding New Zealand is updating the way our awards, the Buckland Soaring Award and the Air New Zealand XC Trophies, are calculated.

For more information on OLC’s retirement, see:

• WeGlide Magazine – https://magazine.weglide.org/thank-you-online-contest-olc/
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• Online Contest Official News – https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/segelflugszene/singlenews.html?news=3789

To ensure a smooth transition and continuity for our pilots, both awards will now use WeGlide as their scoring platform.

The main difference is that WeGlide Free Contest uses the 5 best flights, instead of 6.
​Also it gives extra points for either the best triangle or the Out & Return that fits within the flight, which can be up to 5 turnpoints.

Buckland Soaring Award

The award will continue to recognise the highest scoring New Zealand resident in the North Island and South Island divisions separately, but it will now be calculated according to the WeGlide Free Contest rules.

On this page – https://gliding.co.nz/buckland-soaring-award/ the wording will be updated as follows:

Old wording:

“The Buckland Soaring Award is awarded to the highest scoring New Zealand resident in the New Zealand division of the Online Contest (OLC) for the previous season. OLC handicaps and scoring is used.”

New wording:

"The Buckland Soaring Award is awarded to the highest scoring New Zealand resident in the New Zealand divisions (North Island and South Island separately) of WeGlide, according to the WeGlide Free Contest rules as per https://docs.weglide.org/contests/international/free.html

Air New Zealand XC Trophies

Similarly, scoring for the Air New Zealand XC Trophies will now follow WeGlide rules.

On this page – https://gliding.co.nz/air-new-zealand-xc-trophies/ the wording will be updated as follows:

Old wording:

"OLC handicaps and scoring are used."

New wording:

"The WeGlide Free Contest rules are used, as per https://docs.weglide.org/contests/international/free.html "

Everything else will remain the same.

We’ll trial this for the upcoming season, given there’s not much time to decide, and you are all more than welcome to provide feedback, to awards@gliding.co.nz, which will help us decide whether or not we need bespoke customisations from WeGlide for the following sessions.

We encourage all pilots to familiarize themselves with WeGlide and the Free Contest rules (https://docs.weglide.org/contests/international/free.html) to continue participating in these awards with dedication and having fun.
​WeGlide being the most user friendly gliding platform currently available should make this transition as smooth as it can be.

Bruno Tagliapietra

GNZ Awards officer
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