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  Stories of Jever Service and Civilian Gliding Club which Operated from the Airfield.

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                                                         The "Olympia-Meise" makes a turn in the air

                                              THAT WAS A CRACKER!

      Story of 2 Sqn's Roy Rimington's "Record Breaking Flight" as
        reported in the local press - and what really happened.


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Translation of the above article from the local Jever Newspaper "Jeversches Wochenblatt 12 Sep 1958 by Christa Rimington

  Flt. Lt. Rimington set up a new Record for Jever in his glider.

- Upjever.   Last Sunday the local gliding record which had been set a short while ago by the German gliderpilot Kurt Czwalinna was broken by the English glider pilot Flt. Lt. Rimington.  Last Sunday afternoon Flt. Lt. Rimington , a jet-pilot at RAF Jever started in the two seater Kranich II.  Also on board was the German trainee glider pilot Gunther Blauel, who accidentally 'aided and abetted' in the record flight of Flt. Lt. Rimington.

The two pilots released the glider from the winch at 300m.  Very soon the English glider-pilot felt enormous updraughts when he placed himself underneath an approaching cumulonimbus.  In gentle curves he pulled higher and higher and achieved a total height of 1,300m - a climb of 1,000m above start level.

The two glider pilots stayed aloft in their 'Kranich II' for exactly half an hour.  This broke the record of Kurt Czwalinna which he had set a few weeks ago, also staying aloft for half an hour but only achieving a total height of 800 m.

After the two record breakers Rimington and Bläul landed on the airfield and all their comrades ran up to surround them and to congratulate them.  Bläul - all of 16 years old - pronounced 'Chaps that was a cracker!  I won't forget this as long as I live.'  While the two record-breakers congratulated each other the rest of the pilots carried them on their shoulders once around the aircraft.  Gunther Bläul is a member of LSV Friesland and only started during last September with his first 'groundhops'.  He achieved his 'gliding honours' purely accidentally.  Flt. Lt. Rimington is a Jet pilot and gliding is his 'Hobby'.  During today's open day he will give an aerobatics display in his 'Swift'.

                                                                    That was a cracker

                                           Roy Rimington reports what really happened

This article was written by Kurt Czwalinna who prided himself as a budding journalist and freelanced for the local newspaper.

This article was dressed up out of all proportion and bears very little resemblance to what happened.  I took this youngster up for his first lesson in our two seater sailplane.

I caught a good thermal and decided to stay with it.  Unfortunately after about twenty minutes the young lad started to feel sick so I had to abandon the thermal and take him back.  I gave him an extra long lesson on 'effect of controls' which took his mind off his sickness before we landed.

There was no question of records and certainly no jubilation since we wanted to get on with the flying programme.  We only had the one dual seated aircraft and there were others to fly.

Roy Rimington

There has been an extraordinary development to this story.  I recently received the following E-mail on the 29Jan06 which I think is self-explanatory:

"My name is Matthias Bläul and I'm an air traffic control officer from the well known airbase Jever.  With the disbandment of the JaBoG 38 in late May 2005 I was posted to the nearby fighter wing at Wittmundhafen, just 7 miles west of ETNJ.  I'm very close to the history of the airbase because of my father.  That's the reason I am contacting you.  I found a report from the German newspaper "Jeversches Wochenblatt" dated 12.9.1958 {Reproduced above.].  There is a report of a glider flight.  I had never read that report before, but I have heard about that story nearly a hundred times.  My father told me.  He is that 16 year old boy who made the flight with Roy Rimington.  He never forgot it.  He was from that day so fascinated by all flying that he decided to enter the newly formed "Bundeswehr".  He took a chance and achieved his license as an air traffic controller, initially in the northern area at Eggebeck and Leck, but he was always working on a move to Jever airbase, which he achieved in 1962.

Finally he made it.  So for him the circle was closed.  He reached that part of his life he wanted to have when he was so impressed after the flight with Roy Rimington, who was actually during that time his flying instructor.  There was a kind of friendship in that time.  He also told me all the time about a member of the glider club whose name was Pete Hunwick.  So when I left Jever airbase in May 5, by the way I'm holding my tower rating at Jever as long as I can, I thought it must be possible to get in contact with one of these two guys, or get any information I can forward to my father.  If there is any chance to get an email address or home address for them it would be great.  The circle would then again be closed.

Maybe if you are interested I can send you some pictures of the airbase from the ground and from the air taken over the last 5 years.  I can also offer to act for you as a contact person between your club and the airforce here in Jever or to some persons you want me contact.  I can forward information about events etc.  For your information, I am still a member of the Jever Officers Mess and I had my wedding there.

PS : Now here is my full adress:
Matthias Bläul
Kastanienring 12
26452 Sande
Tel : 00-49-4422-998767
On duty : Wittmundhafen AB
Approach : 00-49-4462-917-3255
This address is valid until 1Mar06.

From March 2006:
Matthias Bläul
Horandstr. 21
26441 Jever

Address of my father:
Günter Bläul
Kastanienring 12
26452 Sande
Tel : 00-49-4422-2031"

Needless to say I have taken up Matthias on his kind offers!  I have put him in touch with Roy Rimington.  I hesitate to put him in touch with Pete Hunwick as that might be injurious to his health!




                                     The Final Days are being Used

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                      Translation of the above article from the local Jever Newspaper
                   "Jeversches Wochenblatt 12 Sep 1958 by Christa Rimington.


                                                       The final days are being used.

                             The glider pilots now have four aircraft at their disposal.

-Jever.   The German and English glider pilots hope to remain active until the end of October, when the long winter break starts, only punctuated by social get togethers.

These are exciting weeks as they have recently taken two new aircraft into operation.

Many man-hours have been spent by the German and English glider pilots in one of the large hangars on the airfield to make these two birds airworthy.  Although there were the occasional communication hiccups the common love for gliding and side by side work practice soon forged a close community which is of great advantage for the gliding sport.

About 4 weeks' ago the 'Olympia-Meise', which belongs to the RAF pilots, was finished.  A high performance aircraft which was developed for the 1940 Olympics.

The Meise with its slight gull-wings is a beautiful aircraft.  It is suitable for aerobatics, although it has not been certified for this.  Flt. Lt. Rimington demonstrated this when he flew some beautiful aerobatic manoeuvres above the airfield at Upjever.  Mr. Rimington is in charge of the English Gliding Club.

After another 4 weeks of intensive work the second glider belonging to the RAF pilots was also taken into operation.  It is the beautiful two-seater 'Kranich II'.  It could only fly once as the winch broke during the start.  We can therefore not report about the flying characteristics of the 'Kranich', as rain stopped 'play' during the last few days.

By combining the German and English clubs the glider pilots now have 4 aircraft at their disposal: the Olympia Meise, the Kranich II, the SG 38 and a Grunau Baby in which Kurt Czwalinna managed to stay aloft for half an hour recently.  It is hoped that next spring with the re-construction of another two gliders the flying activity can be increased even more.

                                                    The final days are being used.

This was another of Czwalinna's freelance articles.

The Meise was the first of the aircraft we restored from the parts brought up from Wunsdorf, I believe.  We were fortunate to have a pre-war Luftwaffe glider carpenter and fitter, Alfred, (See below) working in the cookhouse as a cleaner who helped us to restore them.

Unfortunately this chap was searched at the gate one day and was found to have a couple of eggs from the cookhouse in his pocket and was immediately sacked and banned from entering the airbase.  I pleaded with the OC Admin on the grounds that he was a poor refugee who was sending his child to the local grammar school but to no avail.  I then stated that the gliding club would have to wind up without the support of a qualified technician and this changed the whole attitude.  The carpenter was reinstated in a different department with a job he preferred and was forever grateful to the gliding club.

The Meise was not a gull-winged aircraft as reported.  This was the Kranich which was our second restoration.  We also had the parts for a Minimoa which was a gull-winged single-seater and a flying wing aircraft which was flown head first in the prone position.   These two were never completed in my time.

Roy Rimington



                                                    Further Memories by Merv Hodson

Roy Rimmington sent Merv solo during his time at Jever and Merv continued his gliding for many years.  Merv remembers Alfred the German who was employed on glider maintenance.  (See above)  He was reputedly employed by Messerschmitt, his skill was first class.  Merv remembers that all members of the Glidiing Club agreed to make a contribution to his expenses, but he can't remember how much this was.   Merv also remembers, whilst collecting a winch from RAF Oldenburg, coming across a HORTEN IV flying wing sailplane.  They left it behind, if only they had known.  Mind you Merv reckons it would have been someone's demise if they had brought it back!

Merv Hodson

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