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Ian Davis

Posted: 16 Jan 2021, 09:44
by Ian Davis
I'm 75 years old and was brought up by my Grandparents. Gramps was a designer with Vickers Supermarine so there was no doubt that I was going to catch the aircraft bug.

I served a student apprenticeship as a precision engineer,ending up in the design office just like Gramps.

I was too busy getting educated and finding a career in the intervening years and was very fortunate to have spent 30 working with Philips. Success came my way and I was able to retire at 52.

I returned to modeling at about the age of 30. At a club meeting I was presented with the remnants of a ΒΌ scale model of the RFD2 in three black sacks by Len Larkin. I rebuilt it and I still have.

Len was a great friend of Cliff Charlesworth who arranged a display of Aerotowing at Lasham during the International Glider Rally and this was where the scene was set for my long term interest in scale gliders. Who would risk a first Aerotow in front of hundreds of people?

While I built a number of models from plans I have always been interested in building gliders that nobody else has. This led to my fleet of German gliders mostly from the 30's including the Blohm & Voss BV40, the DFS Miese, the Jatcht J71 Seaplane glider and the Dresden DB10.
I'm currently working on drawings for the Stuttgart FS16. I also have the 1/3 Wiehe built by Vince Cockett.

In the last 10 to 15 years my gliding activity has been very much linked to John Greenfield and the Ghost Squadron. From Middle Wallop to Bellevue to Cheddar and Binham. Every event has been a joy.