Castle Hill, Scarborough
CASTLE HILL: Gliding site
NOTES: This is an unusual listing for this 'Guide', in as much as a certain amount of guesswork is involved. In 2023 Mr Graham Frost, a great friend of this 'Guide', had discovered a mention of a gliding site being established at "Castle Hill" Scarborough in 1930. But with no information about where it was located. It recorded that Robert Kronfeld and Carl Magersuppe had set themselves up at CASTLE HILL on the 11th July 1930 to give gliding demonstrations, ostensibly to establish a gliding club. High winds dictated that they should have cancelled the event, but they went ahead, crashing both of their sailplanes.
So, where did this take place? I could find no mention of a "Castle Hill" being situated in Scarborough, therefore a bit of deduction was required. Like, may it have been where the castle was situated, on a hill, at the north-east end of Scarborough? Seems reasonable? Experience has taught me, since stating this project over a quarter of a century ago, not to rush at jumping to assertions, let alone conclusions. Okay, joking over, it is bleeding obvious where it is.
THE LOCATION
The first two pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©. The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
ANY ADVICE?
It now appears that far from being a failure on the day, the publicity engendered a lot of local interest in forming a gliding club. Indeed, Carl Magersuppe became the instructor at a salary of £10 a week, and, the club prospered, by the end of the 1930s having around forty active flying members and many social members too.
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
Having made this listing, I decided to contact Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide' to ask if he could find anything more to add. As befits his flying career in the RAF, being a navigator on Vulcans, Comets and Nimrods, Mike does not do things by halves. Even so, knowing this, I was still amazed at, (by return of post so to speak), just how much he had found within hours.
The excerpt is from an article about Fred N Slingsby featured on the Jack Russell Stales web-site.
The short article One was published in the Yorkshire Evening Post on the 8th July, three days before the event. Article One was published in The Scotsman on the 12th July.
Article Two, in two parts, was published in the Sheffield Independent on the 12th July.
The photo One of Carl Magersuppe is from shuttercock. Article Three was published in the Daily Herald, also on the 12th July. Photo Two appeared in the Leeds Mercury, here again on the 12th July.
The short article was published in the Hull Daily Mail on the 10th September 1937!
IN CONCLUSION
It does appear that this venue, to celebrate the opening of a new Gliding Club, was only used once, on the 11th July 1930. As the synoptic chart shows, on that day, with strong northerly winds blowing, the event really should have been cancelled. But, with a crowd of around 4,000 gathered, the immense pressure to please them, (as often happens), causes pilots to take severe risks. (Still does). Both Kronfeld and Magersuppe were very experienced by this time, but clearly over-confident regarding their abilities to cope on this previously untried launching site in such highly unfavourable conditions.
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