Learning To Fly A Glider, 1930s - Film 5181

London Gliding Club flies gliders. 1930's
Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire. Modernist building designed by architect Kit Nicholson. Man is smoking on the roof and is joined by another man. A wind sock lies limp. Lads sleeping in bunk beds in a dormitory are woken up. Chaps wait in the clubhouse for wind to change. One of the lads opens a window and shouts to a man in another part of the building. He asks for a weather forecast. A man twiddles with some dials. The men laze around reading newspapers. A glider is wheeled out of a hangar. The tiny machine is towed away from the building by a jeep. A young man gets into the craft. The controls are explained to him. He straps himself in. The glider is launched by some men running with ropes, but the pilot doesn't get airborne. A young woman trains on the same small open air glider and manages a very short distance before landing again. The young tries again and straps himself in. Six men run pulling on ropes and launch him into the air. The instructor has a concerned look on his face as he smokes his pipe. The pilot momentarily looks terrified as he pulls on his joystick control. He lands with a great thud (out of camera shot). The watching group run towards him. His glider is sitting in some small bushes as he unstraps and gets out.
A different type of glider is shown, one with a full body around it. It is referred to as a sail plane. The pilot's head just sticks out the top. A rope is wound onto the wheel of a jeep. This larger machine is launched high into the air with the rope trailing underneath. Two men watch from the rooftop of the nearby building or club house. Instructor, still with his pipe, sits at the base of a glider with his group of trainees. A glider to towed along the grass to the top of a hill. Again, people pull ropes as they run downhill and launch the glider. This is repeated. Gliders in the air. Back to the instructor sitting on the grass with his students. Various shots of gliders in the air, one lands safely. Aerial views of the Dunstable Downs. Instructor instructing again.
More aerial views and gliders in the air. Two of the trainees stand beside a car in a field. One sits on the side step eating an apple. A pilot climbs into the cockpit of a sail plane, with a parachute attached to his back. He is launched into the air using the rope technique. Glider in flight. Aerial view of the club house. Views over patchwork fields. Altimeter in the cockpit. View of pilot from outside the plane. Aerial view of gliders on the ground. Fall / rise gauge. Lots of clouds.
In the club house bar young people drink and smoke and discuss gliding. A model of a glider is on the bar. A map is opened on a table. Pipe smoking man is doing paperwork in a lounge chair when he is joined by another man.
Clouds and a glider comes into land (very dark footage at the end).