Kassel Professor(?) at Stoupe Brow, Ravenscar.
On the weekend of 23rd/24th August 1930 the Scarborough Gliding Club arranged a meeting at Ravenscar. Following a mishap at Scarborough some
weeks previously the pilot of that mishap, Herr Magersuppe, was keen to prove the new sport to his critics. Flying had taken place at Stoupe Brow
for a few weeks to prove it was a suitable place to be using. Flying on the Saturday of the meet was limited because of fog, test flights were
carried out but no demonstrations given. Sunday came with more favourable conditions, and in front of 2000 people, flights in the morning took
place. The flights in the afternoon saw two mishaps, in this incident, the pilot was catapult-launched but could not get lift.
The machine came down but struck a rock hidden in the heather damaging the undercarriage and this damage prevented the machine from being used
any further on that day. Repairs where carried out and soaring took place on the Monday. Following this damage, the Scarborough clubs "Zogling"
was then used and a number of flights took place before it too was damaged late in the afternoon. Further flights would later be carried out
at the same location in the weeks after this mishap and the glider would later fly from here to Scarborough.
Pilot - Herr Carli Magersuppe. Uninjured.
Exactly a year after the mishap recorded at the top of this page Herr Magersuppe was in the papers again, on 24th August 1931
the Airspeed Tern flew fom Stoupe Brow, Ravenscar to Scarborough to gain the first British distance record of 8.3 miles. Flown by
Herr Magersuppe the glider flew a total of 16 miles but only the straight line distance counted towards the record. Before returning
to Germany he gained the Royal Aero Club Aviator's certificate (certificate number 9800) while flying with the Derby and
District Aero Club.
The pilot of the Kassel Professer was one of a number of a talented German pilots of his day, as a result of restrictions on
German aviation imposed by the post-WWI Treaty of Versailles a number of German pilots concentrated their efforts on gliding and
became world leaders in the field. Herr Carli (or Karl) Magersuppe was one these men, aged around 21 he had arrived in England
in 1930 and gave gliding demonstrations at English flying clubs. Initially he was employed by the Scarborough Gliding Club but he
later took a job with Airspeed for very little money. He completed the flight trials on the AS.1 Tern glider in 1931 and demonstrated
it at meetings and contests around the country. The Tern established new records for height and distance but made little money for
Airspeed. After working for Airspeed he briefly returned to instruct at the Scarborough Gliding Club and piloted the Bradford Gliding
Club's new Dickinson-type glider on it's maiden flight but the work then simply dried up for him. Herr Magersuppe then got into debt
and was eventually deported to Germany. His subsequent fate in the Second World War is not clear.
A Halifax would later crash at Stoupe Brow in 1944 with the loss of all aircrew on board, this is detailed on the
1944 North Yorkshire Moors section to this website.