Swedens glidingavitation history began in Germany. This is the story of how the two world wars led to the developement of an aviation sport that through the years was to earn international respect and of how Ålleberg, near Falköping became the Swedish center for gliding aviation.

The Great War ended in 1918 and meant the beginning for the developement of gliding aviation. The Versielles Treaty of 1919 was hard for the germans and one of the consequenses was that it practically ended engine driven flights. The choice for the Germans was easy, if they couldn't fly with engines they would have to do without. The same year, 1919, the magazine Flugsport published an article on the subject, calling enthusiasts to develop gliders. They had already made one attempt to do so in 1913 but the Great War ended those trials. The centre for the new sport was to become Wasserkuppe, one of the mountains at Röhn, northeast of Frankfurt am Main.

The main reason for flying from a mountain was the use of hangvind (german for ridge lift), i.e. the wind that climbs with a slope. Using this wind a glider can maintain height or even climb. Take of was usually done using rubber ropes or winch, more of this below.

The Great War ended in 1918 and meant the beginning for the developement of gliding aviation. The Versielles Treaty of 1919 was hard for the germans and one of the consequenses was that it practically ended engine driven flights. The choice for the Germans was easy, if they couldn't fly with engines they would have to do without. The same year, 1919, the magazine Flugsport published an article on the subject, calling enthusiasts to develop gliders. They had already made one attempt to do so in 1913 but the Great War ended those trials. The centre for the new sport was to become Wasserkuppe, one of the mountains at Röhn, northeast of Frankfurt am Main.

The main reason for flying from a mountain was the use of hangvind (german for ridge lift), i.e. the wind that climbs with a slope. Using this wind a glider can maintain height or even climb. Take of was usually done using rubber ropes or winch, more of this below.

Hangvind

Wasserkuppe soon became Europe's gliding centre and in 1923, three Swedes went there to qualify as gliderpilots and one of them, Douglas Hamilton, was to become recognised as "the father" of Swedish glidingaviation. He returned to Sweden with the german engineer Willy Pelzner to start a gliding school at Hammars Backar outside Ystad. The School was run as a boarding school. During the next ten years several glider pilots were trained there. There is still aviation activity at Hammars Backar today being used by Hang- and Paragliders.

In the early thirties several local clubs for glidingaviation begins around the country and with these a need for a central flying school develops. The idea is that this school should be run by KSAK, Kungliga Svenska Aero Klubben that is Swedish for Royal Swedish Aero Club. In the late thirties KSAK: s interest in gliding was slight to say the least and it would need another world war to change its views.

 

KSAK, by the way, is one of the three oldest civil aviation organisations in the world, founded as the SAS (not to be mistaken for the Scandinavian Airlines System), Swedish Aeronautical Society, in 1900, preceded only by its French and German counterparts.

In 1933 democracy in Germany was phased out and the country turned nazi and so did Wasserkuppe. Hitlerjugend was to run gliding aviation in Germany and not without a purpose. The Nazis realised quickly that gliderpilots were excellent human material to make future Luftwaffe pilots of. The blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 proved that they were right. One must always remember and hold the nazis responsible for this horrific war but one can't read its history and feel but a certain respect for the common german soldier who was well trained and did, from a military point of, a good job in spite of his leaders. This of course includes the Luftwaffe and its personnel. They proved the value of a flexible air force in co-operation with naval- and ground forces later so successfully adapted by the allies. The Luftwaffe trained its personnel well but one must remember that many of them had had a good pre airforce training as glider pilots. It is on the other hand interesting, when one studies WWII history, to compare german policy in the building of the Luftwaffe with that of the RAF with their Auxiliary Air Force and Volunteer Reserve.

Weather the Polish campaign were the reason for a new view of glidingaviation here in Sweden will forever be an open question but it is quite clear that German training policy made an impression on our air staff. One of its officers, col. Bengt Nordenskiöld (commanded RswAF 1942-54) already knew that a competent national gliding organisation was not only desirable but necessary as well. He put his thoughts in writing in one of our morning papers, the Svenska Dagbladet, for the first time on March 6, 1940, where he and lt.col. Birger Schyberg stated the need for a central gliding school.

One must remember that so far, local gliding clubs did most of its flying in rather simple gliders and more advanced sailplanes were rare. They did their training the german way, gaining A- and B-diplomas in gliders with the C-diploma, that qualified them as gliderpilots, being difficult due to the lack of suitable aircraft. A central flying school would give them this possibility as well as give the training a common standard, which had varied with the equipment in the local clubs.

 

THE CENTRAL GLIDING SCHOOL AT ÅLLEBERG

With the AF interest KSAK began to take action and ordered an expedition to find a suitable location for the new school. They concentrated on a combination of two things, the use of hangvind and that of thermal (the use of thermal for gliders had been discovered in the early 1930:s in Germany). The school had also to be easy accessible which meant the southern half of Sweden. The team had their eyes on the Plateau Mountains in central Västergötland, east of Gothenburg and especially Mösseberg and Ålleberg outside Falköping. They considered these two mountains to have the requested hangvind. The expedition under the command of captain C O Hugosson decided to make the first test flights from Ålleberg in July 1940.

 

Ålleberg, situated some five kilometres east of Falköping, is perhaps the most characteristic of the plateau mountains in Västergötland. Formed under the pressure of the inland ice during the Great Ice Age it slopes gently from the south to its top which forms a plateau that stretches a few kilometres to the steep cliffs that makes its northern end. This gives the plateau mountains a typical flat top that makes you think of Ålleberg with its airfield as an aircraftcarrier.

At this time Ålleberg still had the scars from a forest fire at the beginning of the century that destroyed most of its forests. With its fauna consisting mainly of meadows and a few bushes, the lack of trees created a powerful hangvind when blowing from the west, and it usually does in this part of Sweden.

Situated near Falköping made it easy to go to since the town in these days was an important marshalling yard, going by train being the easiest way to travel in the early 40:s.

The first flight, in a DFS Olympia, lasted for more than four hours and convinced the team that they had found the right place.

To finance the new school the so-called Ållebergsfonden, a foundation, was created. Led by Hrh Prince Gustav Adolf they managed to raise the substantial sum (at least in these days) of 250 000 Swedish Crowns which far exceeded the 100 000 that was hoped for. The school was inaugurated in June 1941 and flight training began immediately.

The first years there were no other buildings than a hangar still used today and housing Swedens only museum for gliding aviation, and a small café. There were also the launching facilities for take off using rubber ropes on the western slope and retraction gear as well.

In 1941 the pupils were billeted at Mössebergs Kurort (health resort) in Falköping and at Saleby manor on the eastern side of Ålleberg. The billets of 1943 were rather odd and consisted of a tent camp, lent by the army, at the southern part of the mountain. In 1944 barracks were built as a permanent billet.

 

TAKE OFF BY RUBBER ROPE, WINCH OR AERO TOW

At Ålleberg three different methods have been used for take off by sailplanes.

Take off by rubber rope was done from a specially designed launch pad, situated on the western slope of the mountin, the so-called västhanget. The glider was winched aboard the launch pad and connected to the centre section of the rope as well as to the pad, like a stone in a slingshot. Then, on the pilot's order, up to 20 students began to stretch the two ends of the rope. The pilot's last order released the glider, which was thrown away over the slope and began to fly immedieatly. Most of the times the plane landed in a field beneath the mountin. A good pilot supported by hangvind could fly for hours and land on the airfield itself.

 

Take of by rubberrope

Landing beneath the mountin meant that the students had to vinsch the glider uphill in a track of wood. Since no gliders had any supporting wheels beneth their wings the students had to climb up along the slope on stairs, holding in one of the gliders vingtips. Gliding aviaiation in those days often meant hours an hours of hard labor with flights that often meassured in seconds.

The last take off using this method was done in the early 50:s; the rubber rope is preserved in the glider museum. The structures on which the launch pad and stairs were built are left untouched on Ålleberg and plans are to reconstruct these launching fascilitis.

 

VINSCH

Vinsch launching was the most common method at Ållberg during the war. Together with the beforementioned rubberropes it was the only to launch a glider since every motor driven aircraft, suitable for aerotow, was used by the military for the duration.

The principles for vinsching are simple. From a rotating, enginedriven cylinder a wire of steel was pulled out along the airfield. To the loose end of the wire a glider was connected. On command from the pilot to vinschdriver the wire was wind up on the cylinder which gave the glider a forward movement. It quickly reached its take off speed, took off and climbed in a vide arc over the vinsch. Almost on top of the vinsch the pilot disconnected and began his search for lift.

The vinsch in Falbygden Aeroclub

The method was simple and cheap its main disadvantages beeing that the glider alwas had to begin its flight over the airfield without the flexibility of an aerotow. When the war ended so did vinschlaunching the main reason beeing large surplus stocks of light aircrafts avaliable from the military. The glider clubs seized this opportunity and aerotow became the most common launch method for the next decades.

Fifty years later a new threat against aerotow is developed and instead of war this time its tax, which makes aerotow a far too expensive method. Togheter with the high operating costs for a towplane vinsching was again an interesting alternative. Falbygdens Aeroclub, a few kilometres nort of Ålleberg, became the first postwar club to sell its towplane and use its new vinsch and have consequently cut their costs with som 50 %.

 

Launching by car

This method was used mainly for training and the glider was simply towed by a car, climbed disconnected, flew a few seconds and landed.

 

Aerotow

As I've already mentioned aerotow became the most commen launch method after the war. It was ideal for Ålleberg which no longer had to rely on hangvind. Today Ålleberg uses a Piper Supercub and a Piper Pawnee as towplanes; vinsch training is done on nearby Falbygdens Aeroclub.

Aerotow

 

Lifts

Two types of lift have been mentioned earlier, hangvind and thermal. I have written aboat hangvind already, now I will try to make a brief explanation of thermal. Let's begin with stating a few facts: 1 the sun heatens up the atmosphere, 2 varm air is lighter than cold, 3 dark aereas in the terrain warm up the air faster than light aereas, 4 wet surfaces has a cooling effect, 5 temperature decreases with increasing height, 6 the horisontal movement in the air is called wind.

To fly in thermal i virtually the same as to fly on solarenergi. Thermal is about air that heatens up by the sun and with the higher temperature the density of the air decreases, it becomes lighter than the cooler air around it. Due to terrain conditions, the air is not warmed to a constant temperature, but differs with the terrain. The forest for insance gives away more heat than the neighboring wheatfield and a difference in temperature is a fact. When a package of air, differing in temperature, reaches a relesing point, the warmer air leaves groundlevel and begins to climb. A thermalbubble is born. A relesing point can be almost anything, a hindrance in the terrain like a rigde or even a moving car messing the alreade unstable air. A glider pilot learns by experiance where to find thermal.

    Authors view of thermal flying an Std Cirrus,   variometer to the      right showing a climbing speed of 2.5 m/s

The easiest way to find thermal is to look for newly born cumulusclouds, which are made of warm air (thermal) condensating. On days without cumulus the pilot has to rely on the terrain.

Water ie. lakes and seas cannot generate this warm air why few glidingclubs is to be found near the coast.

 

Training with dualcontrol

The first twin seat glider were built already in the 1930:s and the first of them were used in the early years of Ållebergs history. It was however with the Bergfalke in the mid 50:s that Sweden got its standard flighttraining for gliders with dualcontrol.

Scheibes legendary Bergfalke is the type that more than any other has made Swedish gliding aviation to what it is today. It is therefore not surprising that the Bergfalke that we use is constructed on a Swedish specification.

The first Bergfalke came to Sweden in 1956, the first variant known as II/55. The next variant, the III was built from 1963 and the last, the IV came in 1972, production ending in 1976. Today, more than 20 years later, Bergfalke is still the most common of the glidingtrainers in Sweden. One IV, SE-TLL, is still in use at Ålleberg. Falbygdens aeroclub has one IV, SE-TLT, on strength and one II/55, SE-SUT, undergoing restoration to flying condition as well as modification to vinschlaunching capability, to be flown as a veteran.

A total of 166 Bergfalke has flown in Sweden, many being bought with economical support from the Swedish Air Force. With the Bergfalke, the standard of training were increased considerably, before her the training differed mainly due to wich aircraft one had been trained on.

A Gliderpilots view of the Bergfalke

We, who have been trained on a flown the Bergfalke for the sheer joy of it, think of her with affection.

Her by the way, one always refers to aircrafts as females and I haven't yet heard an acceptable explanation to it. My most personal explanation (if it's an acceptable one I doubt though) is, and now may all female Bergfalke pilots forgive me, is that a women and an aircraft has got much of the same handling caracteristics. If one is gentle to her, not demanding more than she can give, she follows you nicely and does exactly what you want. Be mean to her and you can be happy to survive! This could be a description of my wife and I have no doubt that training in the Bergfalke has given me a happy marrige.

 

                                               Bergfalke IV, SE-TLT in Falbygdens Aeroclub

 

I learnt to fly in Falbygdens Flygklubb and got my initial training on SE-TLT. The contiuition course was made on SE-SUT. We flew from Redberga in those days (1980), a simple airfield with its 600metres grasstrip, two hangars and clubhouse.

Theese two types were in some respects very different to eachother. The II/55 was rediculusly easy to fly and very forgiving to an unexperiansed pilot. The main opinion was that if anything happened in the air one only had to take hands and feet off stick and rudder, close ones eyes and wait.

The speedbrakes was slightly underestimated why one had to fly her all the way down when landing. The most common misstake for a new pilot was to fly in the landingpattern at too high a speed, just to be sure that he reached the field. Than he'll find himself half a metre above the ground in an aircraft that was most reluctant to stop flying. In some cases the aircraft landed first after leaving the airfield behind.

She was forgiving in low speed and could be flown with full elevator without stalling. Spinning was virtually impossible.

Her little sister, the IV, was a little bit tougher. Effective speedbrakes made her drop like a rock. A smooth landing after a landingpattern with full speedbrakes demanded a much more precise flying than in the II/55. This meant that one had to judge the touch down point carefully. The usual pattern meant to pull out half the brakes after turning to final, careful to have enough height to avoid the powerlines just north of the field. Seconds before touch down full brakes were applied and she usually landed directly. In that way the landings became easier than in II/55.

She warned before the stall and if one didn't notice she stalled right away. She spun one rev if one made a mistake and even two if provoced a little extra, on the other hand she was easy to get out of spin. She was an ideal trainer that taught the pupil respect even if she always forgave a misstake. The result was safe but alert pilots.

The Bergfalke could be consedered modern as late as in the 1970:s and one could belive that should be phased out of service by now but they still fly. When one of the younger pilots told me that he had flown SE-TLT for 90 hours in summer -97, he needn't tell me that he had fun.

 

Ålleberg today

Ålleberg became a concept in Swedish gliding aviation and still is today although several changes in policy have been made. The school remained a central flying school what regards elementary training up to 1966. The reason for disbanding it was that generations of glider pilots had created their own clubs and also trained their own instructors. After 1966 elementary training was done excluxivly at the local clubs and Ålleberg became a central education centre for instructors, advanced training like instrument flying and aerobatics. Mecanics were also trained there.

Something that is remembered affectionally by the older generation is the air display days that were held regularly up to the early 60:s, with the end of those Ålleberg ceased to have a public attraction. What my generation remembers from Ålleberg from the late 60:s and onwards is unfortunatly the prohibition signs and it is perhaps only a logical developement.

Gliderpilots is (I'am sticking my neck out now) for some reason somewhat isolationists and the only thing they want to do is to fly without interference from any outsiders and haven't really got the time for trivialitys like public relations. Recent history has proved how dangerous such an attitude can be and in some cases clubs has found it difficult to deal with public and local politicians and consequently have seen their whole existance as clubs threatened. A good relation with both public and local authoritys serves two purposes. It makes recruiting of future pupils easier and it makes it easier for politicians to make descisions thar are positive for the club.

An exellent example on how to deal with theese things can be found on Falköping Airfield with its Falbygdens Aeroclub who succesfully survives with the airfield situated just a few hundred metres from the nearest residental area and within walking distance from the cite centre. It is notable that the airfield was built som ten years after the nearest residental areas.

                                                        Slingsby T21 from Ålleberg Museum

There was never a real threat against Ålleberg but it was anywas considered locally as a rather "dead" place. In the 1980:s much have been done to change that. The magnificent fauna has been made avaliable to the public with paths all over the mountin. Recently an extensive lumbering has been made to recreate the moors and meadows that have made the fauna on Ålleberg unique.

A restaurant is operational and the baracks avliable as a complement to other hotels in the district. A camping has been built as well. Ålleberg also houses the only glidermuseum in nortern europé.

Nowadays Ålleberg is also a centre for hanggliders and paragliders wich therefore offers a complex spectrum of aviation. Neither has the legends of Ållebergs Ryttare (cavalry) from the Battle at Falköping been forgotten. All this makes Ålleberg well worh a visit.

What will happen to Ålleberg and its flying school in the future is impossible to say but it has survived several changes already and a qualified guess is that it will continue to do so.

Jan Erikson