From furniture to Falcons

Frederick Slingsby was an RAF pilot in the First World War. In 1920 he bought a share of a woodworking and furniture factory in Queen Street, Scarborough. In 1930 he helped found the Scarborough Gliding Club, and after repairing its gliders his workshop built its first aircraft, a German-designed Falke, which flew in 1931. A local landowner tempted him 30 miles inland to Kirkbymoorside in 1934, and in July 1939 a new factory opened at Welburn as Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd. From the early 1930s to about 1970, Slingsby built more than half of all British club gliders.

The Barge and the Sky

The war brought the Hengist troop glider, 14 of which were delivered but never used in action, and huge numbers of training gliders for the Air Training Corps. The T.21, nicknamed the Barge for its boat-like hull, changed how Britain learned to glide: with the T.31 it meant that by the early 1950s almost all first lessons were in two-seaters rather than solo. About 226 T.21Bs were built. The T.34 Sky dominated the 1952 World Gliding Championships, finishing first, third and fourth, and the Skylark family became the post-war best seller.

Firefly, fire and composites

In November 1968 a disastrous fire hit the works; the company went into liquidation in July 1969 and was taken over by Vickers. Its last original glider, the T.65 Vega, ended production in 1982. Slingsby’s final aircraft was the T67 Firefly, a composite rebuild of René Fournier’s RF-6. More than 250 were built; the US Air Force bought 113 as the T-3A, but after three fatal accidents that killed three cadets and three instructors it grounded the fleet in 1997. The RAF flew 22 as basic trainers from 1995 to 2010. The firm now makes composite structures for ships, submarines and aircraft.

Заводы

• Queen Street works · Scarborough — Furniture factory where the first glider was built
• Kirkbymoorside works · Kirkbymoorside and Welburn, North Yorkshire — Welburn factory opened July 1939; company airfield

Люди

• Frederick Nicholas Slingsby · founder — First World War pilot and co-founder of the Scarborough Gliding Club
• John (Jack) Frost · designer — Designed the Hengist glider

Рекорды и первые достижения

• T.34 Sky placed first, third and fourth at the 1952 World Gliding Championships