Between 1st and 9th September 1934 a national glider "derby" meeting was held at Sutton Bank and was arranged by the British Gliding Association. Some fifty pilots had agreed to take part in contests for soaring, distance, altitude, duration and other flying with between three and four thousand spectators travelling to Sutton Bank to watch by the second day. Over the course of the week a number of gliders were damaged in mishaps. At 11.13hrs on 3rd September 1934 he launched in this Willow Wren. At that point it was the fifth to launch by catapult with all appearing to have struggled to get airborne making crosswind westerly take offs into a south westerly wind. The Willow Wren did not rise sufficiently and by the time it crossed the western edge of the cliff it had not climbed enough to rise above a patch of dead air. The pilot turned towards the north to try and pick up an upward air current blowing across and up the steep slope but it continued to loose height below the level of the launch site, having roughly reached what is now known as the A170 road up Sutton Bank the pilot appeared to turn the glider around to head back into the wind but still below the level of the gliding site. At 11.14hrs and soon after making the turn the glider dropped rapidly until a wing tip struck a tree which caused it to swing around and then crash to the ground in trees. Unfortunately the glider sustained extensive damage and the pilot was injured. Witnesses who were on the road climbed up to the glider and a rescue party also made their way from the gliding site. The pilot was found pinned under the wing before being freed, he was carried down to an ambulance on the road taken to Lambert Cottage Hospital, Thirsk with head and back injuries, though thought not too serious. He reportedly is quoted as saying "this is a bad show" when help arrived.
Pilot - Mr Donald MacClement, of Cambridge. Injured.
Donald MacClement worked for the Cambridge School of Agriculture in 1934. By 1944 he was involved with the CATC training plan in Canada and was involved in a gliding meeting in Ottawa on 21st April 1944. He emigrated to Canada and was instrumental in the formation of the Soaring Association of Canada. He died in Canada in July 1998 aged 93 years old.
This Willow Wren has an interesting history and is still in existance. I thank Graham Sharpe for researching the history of it. Manuel Willow Wren BGA.162 was built by W.L. Manuel at Folkestone and appears to have been completed in December 1932. On 17th May 1933 it was bought by the (London or) Dunstable Gliding Club but in July 1933 it was sold to Christopher "Kit" Nicholson and Philip Cooper at Dunstable who renamed it "Yellow Wren". On 6th August 1933 it suffered damage in a flying accident that later saw the damage repaired and rebuilt. Following the crash at Sutton Bank on 3rd September 1934 it was taken for repair by Abbott-Baynes at Farnham for repair. Once complete it was returned to Kit Nicholson and Partners at Dunstable in January 1935. It was then renamed "Green Wren". In August 1935 it was sold to R. Slazenger and the Duke of Grafton but was operated by Cambridge University Gliding Club. It returned to Dunstable in 1937; initially to Dart Aircraft Ltd but was then sold to L.A. and E.M. Read at Dunstable. In June 1940 it was forced to be stored, the location is not known. In 1950 it was returned to Dunstable for hangar storage. In 1954 there is a reference to it being housed at Fairoaks. In 1964 it was sold to N.L. Jones (operating as the Tiger Club) at Rochester. In 1965 was passed to W.L. Manuel at Folkestone for a rebuild and with this complete it was re-flown on 13th August 1965. In or by 1970 it was in store at Rochester. During December 1974 it was sold to C. Willis and M Russell at Hanham. In August 1976 it was registered to M. Russell at Duxford. In March 1993 it was registered to M Beach at Brooklands and in 1998 it passed to the Brooklands Museum Trust. In July 2013 the glider was loaned to the Gliding Heritage Centre at Lasham where it appears to still be.
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