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IGC
P.O.Box 143
Monticello, Il 61856
IGC
A History, 1919-Present
By: Todd Burch
(Note: The following information is the result of
ongoing research involving club archival and other local sources. The
information is believed to be accurate at time of posting, however
information is not guaranteed to be correct).
1919-1929
In 1919, a few aeronautical engineering
students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign got together and
formed the Illini Flying Club (IFC). Although not officially the Illini
Glider Club, this club fostered the idea of an aviation-related club at the
University. Although details from this era are sketchy at best, this appears
to be the "grandfather club" of the Illini Glider Club.
1930-1939
On January 9, 1930, the now
University-affiliated IFC held a meeting to discuss options to raise money
to buy a glider. The club appealed to several companies for donations,
including the Great Lakes Aeronautical Corporation. Finding no corporate
help, the club turned to former University graduates for donations. The
Great Lakes Aeronautical Corporation volunteered to mail letters to alumni
asking for donations, and the club eventually raised the necessary funds.
The University Council of Administration granted the club permission to buy a glider on September 30, 1930. Plans for organization of a glider club, which had been put on hold pending this decision, were initiated. To save money, the glider would be purchased in partially-constructed form, to be finished by club members. Soon thereafter James A. White (the supervising architect of the University) granted the club rights to store a glider in the rafters of the Armory Building. White also gave permission for the glider to be flown on the University parade grounds (the military drill field) north of the stadium, where the Intramural Physical Education Building now sits.
With storage space and a place to fly at their disposal, the IFC bought a Mead Glider, G10720. The glider was completed in early February of 1931 at a total cost of $300. Just two weeks later, a Mead test pilot made several test flights at nearby Five Points Airport (now called Frasca Airport) in Urbana, IL.
That Sunday, on February 22, 1931, excitement was high at the
University when a huge crowd lined all sides of the military drill field to
watch the first public exhibition flights. Only a little over 30 years had
passed since Otto Lilienthal sparked the dawn of aviation. In front of a
many onlookers, four flights were made by R.F. Blaine, R.E. Sailors, and
Speed Westphall (Mead test pilot). The glider, towed into the wind by a
senior club member's car, started from the northwest corner of the field and
landed near the southeast corner--each flight lasted about a minute. It had
been only 21 months since Austrian pilot Robert Kronfeld had performed the
first thermalling in history.
The public exhibition flights sparked aviation excitement on campus. The club began to draw steady crowds on flying days. Just five days after the flight, a student wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Illini, the school newspaper:
"Perhaps there is a great need for inexpensive and public pilot training, although we could hardly expect the University to adopt this in an official way."
Ironically, sentiments would change about a decade later, when the University established its Institute of Aviation.
Regular flights continued until May of 1931, when a graduating senior left, taking his car (the club's only tow car) with him. Flights then became more sporadic, due to the lack of a regularly available tow car. In October of 1932, club president Phil Grover wrote a letter to Ford Motor Company president Edsel Ford, requesting the donation of a Model-A to the club for towing purposes. Ford respectfully declined the request, citing financial hardships due to the Great Depression.
Looking through the club logbook for the early thirties, a very interesting thing was discovered: In a meeting on February 10, 1933, a merger was agreed upon between the "Illini Glider Club" and the IFC, providing that the new name of the club be the "Illini Flying Club". This suggests that an "Illini Glider Club" existed well before that date. It is very feasible (and, it appears, probable) that the current Illini Glider Club has direct roots to an Illini Glider Club dating back to the 1930s or before, which would mean that the club has existed for over 70 years. However, records of such a club have not been found, and such claims cannot be substantiated.
When the club obtained sufficient funds to pay for hangar rental in 1933, it moved to Five Points Airport in Urbana. Records for the next 15 years are not available.
1940-1949
By 1948, it appears that the Illini Flying Club had disbanded, perhaps
due to the creation of the University's Institute of Aviation. In the Fall
of 1948, a senior in aeronautical engineering, Howard Burnett, wrote to
Schweizer aircraft corporation requesting information about various gliders.
He also wrote to the Soaring Society of America requesting information and
advice about starting a club, and began gathering members. With twelve
interested students and two faculty members (one of which was Dr. L. Bryan,
director of the Institute of Aviation), the "University of Illinois Glider
Club" was founded in March of 1949. It became the second officially
organized glider club in Illinois.
After forming the club, members attempted to raise money through fundraisers. When this plan failed, members advanced dues for several years and bought a glider out of their own pockets. Many members could not make such a financial investment and quit the club, but in July the few who remained were finally able to purchase a Laister-Kauffman LK-10A, N47221, for $500 . After extensive repairs, a test flight was planned for August. After takeoff, the test pilot, fully qualified (but not a member of the club), lost control and totaled it. It is not clear whether the accident was due to mechanical problems or pilot error; fortunately, there were no major injuries.
1950-1959
The next year, the club purchased an SGU-1-19A (N40278), again with
advanced dues. It was built by Champaign High School shop students under the
direction of Herman Linder. Hangar and workshop space at University Airport
(now Willard) was donated to the club, so operations were moved there. It
was at this time that the club secured a 1935 Ford for a tow car.
Soon after the 1-19A purchase, another LK-10A, a WWII surplus glider,
was purchased. In 1954, a Waco primary training glider (N887V), which was
manufactured in 1930, was donated to the club by Art Carnahan, manager of
the nearby Bloomington Airport. At the completion of its rebuild by Herman
Linder's shop students in 1955, it was believed to be the oldest airworthy
glider in the United States.
On April 5, 1955, club memberTom Page completed
six successful test flights of the LK-10A after its four-year rebuild, and
it was entered into club service. At this time, the club owned and operated
three gliders. In December, the club was issued a not-for-profit charter by
the State of Illinois.
In May of 1956, Champaign High School students completed construction of yet another glider, N28804. At the time, this glider was believed to be the only molded fiberglass glider in the country.
Around 1956, the club began to be referred to as the "Illini Glider Club" (IGC). It is not clear as to how or why the name was changed. It was at this time that the club members began to compete in soaring competitions. Incidentally, one of the members around this time was Rudy Frasca, who has since become an "aviation legend" and started a successful simulator company, Frasca International, Inc.
1960-1969
By 1964, the IGC was prospering; over 200
members had earned their glider pilot certificates, and membership was in
the fifties. At the time, the IGC was one of only about three University-offiliated
glider clubs in existence in the country (the others being Ohio State
University and MIT).
The first publicized "cross-country" flight came in March of 1964, when Carl Hilker, an instructor at the Institute of Aviation, flew 38 miles from University Airport to Vermillion County Airport in Danville, IL, in 1 hour and 25 minutes. That same year, member Wil Schuemann made a flight all the way to Cave-In-Rock, about 200 miles away.
By 1965, the club had 87 members on its
roster, with seven sailplanes and two towplanes (although some of the
gliders were privately owned). One of the members at this time was Steven
Nagel, an aeronautical and astronautical engineering student who later
became a NASA astronaut and served on four spaceflight missions.
(Interestingly, three years later Nagel was given the "Velvet C" award for
"best accidental glider flight" when the engine of the towplane he was
flying quit at 1,000 ft. while towing two gliders.)
The summer of 1966 brought a drought to central Illinois, meaning dry land, sunny weather, and intense thermals. This year was perhaps the best year for central Illinois soaring, up to that date and since. IGC members racked up record after record in a series of incredible flights. In April, Stewart A. Stoddart, only a freshman in engineering, obtained two Illinois State Records for altitude gained and absolute altitude. Just two months later, while using oxygen, Tom Page snatched both of these records away from him when he reached an altitude of 19,000 ft. after a gain of 17,400 ft. in a flight of over 3 hours in a Schweizer 1-26. That same weekend, club member Wil Schuemann earned the state distance record by flying to Naperville, IL, and back in 6 hours for a flight of 216 miles. Just a week later, Page snatched this record from Schuemann with an 8 hour flight of 221 miles (landing in Bryan, Ohio). Not to be outdone, only one week after that Schuemann flew 319 miles to West Frankfort, IL, and back in an 8 hour flight in an H-301 Libelle. This earned him the state distance record, snatching it back from Page. Then, as if there had not been enough amazing flights, club member William Rogers had a 311 mile, 7 hour flight, landing out in Paragould, Arkansas.
Over the Christmas break of 1966, several club members traveled to Colorado to ride the wave over Pikes Peak using Tom Page's oxygen-equipped 1-26. During this trip Stew Stoddart received his Gold badge with an altitude leg to 28,000 ft. while Page reached 25,000 ft.
The soaring talent of young Stoddart and Tom Page manifested itself quite quickly. In 1967, they placed first at the Midwest Soaring Contest held in Joliet, IL.
1970-1979
In 1973-4, IGC member Jim Kellett (who later
became a CFI and chair of the Vintage Sailplane Association) was taking
instruction from Tom Page. During that time, a cross-country flight in the
club's 1-26 forced him to land out "in the teeth of an obviously nasty
storm" (as Kellett puts it). Despite the 1-26's rather demanding disassembly
characteristics, Kellett managed to remove one wing, weight it down to the
ground, orient the plane into the wind, and sit in it (essentially becoming
a human paperweight) while the storm howled around him. Kellett's retrieve
crew could not quite believe that he had disassembled a 1-26 by himself :).
1980-1989
By the early 1980s, the club had moved to Monticello Airport, about 20 miles west of its former home at the University of Illinois-Willard Airport. Operations were forced to move due to the increased frequency of power traffic at Willard. In 1982, a tornado destroyed four club-owned aircraft; ironically, another tornado rumbled through in the mid 1990s and destroyed one of the airport's hangars. (On Wednesday, October 24, 2001, another tornado rumbled through Monticello. Although it caused a great deal of damage to the northern part of Monticello, the airport was spared).
During this period, Kevin Ford, a successful 1-26 competition pilot and author of the popular soaring forecast internet site, was a member of the club. Although circumstances caused him to leave the club, he returned to it in 2001.
1990-1999
A 2-33 was loaned to the club in the late 90s
by the Collegiate Soaring Association, and around this time the club
purchased a PZL-Swidnik PW5 World Class Glider.
2000-
Sidenotes
Tom Page was a director for the Soaring
Society of America, author of soaring publications, and an avid diplomat
for the soaring community.
Perhaps the club's best-known member was Jack Lambie, a popular aviation
author. He had been part of MacCready's
"Gossamer Condor" team, flew motorgliders in the Andes, bicycled around
the world, and wrote several popular handbooks on composite aircraft
homebuilding. He was also a popular storyteller at SSA conventions and
banquets.
A notable club member
Interestingly, Rudy Frasca now owns
Frasca International, Inc., and Frasca Airport (formerly Five Points
Airport), which is the airport where the Illini Flying Club flew its first
Mead glider back in 1931.
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