A History of Membership of the Gliding Club of Victoria

Jim Barton

February 12th 2008

Jim’s application for membership of the GCV was accepted by Committee on February, 12th 1948, sixty years ago today. His membership number is 189.

His initial flying training was on Primary gliders with dual instruction in the Merlin. He graduated onto the Utility and then onto the Grunau. His initial training with the Club led Jim to follow a full time flying career. He went on to qualify for his Commercial Pilot’s Licence, and, after a period working as an instructor with the Royal Queensland Aero Club, joined Trans Australia Airlines in 1957. During his career with TAA he flew Douglas DC3, Cessna 180 (on low level mineral survey flying in outback Australia), Vickers Viscount, Fokker Freindship, Douglas DC9, Boeing 727 and A300 Airbus aircraft. He retired from TAA in 1988 after 31 years of service.

Since his initial introduction to gliding, Jim has been a devoted supporter of the sport. He was Treasurer of the GCV from 1950 to 1955 and Club President from 1958 to 1994, a period of 36 years. Jim has been a Club instructor since 1953 and a tug pilot since 1956.

During his period as Treasurer and then President of GCV, the Club experienced rapid growth. Under Jim’s leadership and a succession of strong Committees and sub committees backed up by a band of dedicated enthusiastic members, many significant actions were carried through. Many are listed as follows.

Relocation of the Club to Benalla and the set up of Clubhouse accommodation, a vast improvement on sleeping on the hangar floor.

Maintenance facilities.

Construction of two double drum winches.

Installation of a field telephone circuit.

Introduction of a new era in training with the acquisition of the ES 52 Kookaburra two seater.

The build up of a fleet of gliders to cover the spectrum of soaring flight from basic training to high performance sailplanes. The Club was the major supporter of Edmund Schneider, local sailplane manufacturer. When the initial Kookaburra was purchased, the delivery flight from Adelaide to Benalla via Moorabbin was sponsored by the daily newspaper, the Sun News Pictorial. The ES 52 was towed low, down the main streets of towns on the way and under the wings was painted “The Sun Daily At Down” with a rooster painted under the fuselage.

A Tiger Moth, flown by its owner was hired on occasions to provide aerotow experience.

The Club's first Auster enabled the development of aerotow procedures, then a second Auster was purchased. Aerotow and simultaneous double drum winch launching became the norm. On a notable day, 140 launches took place.

The Club eventually moved up to Pawnees including a two-seater modification, built to train tug pilots.

A flying accident trust was established and functioned for some years.

Full time gliding operation began in 1970, GCV being the first to offer training 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Regular courses were held covering abinitio to cross country. Three full-time instructors in addition to two casual instructors were required. A Staff Manager who also took part in flying training and a full time Maintenance Engineer covered the operation during these busy times. The Club provided the grounding for a number of members who have continued on to attain responsible careers in aviation.

During the years of Jim Barton’s leadership, the membership increased from 100 to 650 and flying hours from approx 500 to 10,000 hours annually, the highest flown by any flying club in Australia at the time.

The Club fleet increased to 20 aircraft, including 3 tugs and a motor glider.

The Club operated 6 IS 28s and the utilization was so great that the approved lives of IS 28s would be reached, so the Club in conjunction with RMIT embarked on a life extension program.

GCV hosted State and National Competitions including two very successful international comps in 1984 and 1986 known as Austraglide which were a prelude to the World Gliding Comps at Benalla in 1987.

The Club purchased a block of land on the corner of the airfield and when the future of the airfield was threatened, the Club acquired a 148 hectare property at Goorambat to ensure that GCV would remain in the area. Eventually Government and Council participated in the reconstruction of the airfield which also involved GCV.

Airfield infrastructure including three hangars, a workshop, underground fuel tanks and pumps, toilets and shower block involved members who spent hundreds of hours on these projects.

Extensive lobbying of State, Commonwealth and Local Government resulted in the erection of the State Gliding Centre. A substantial contribution in money and effort was contributed by GCV.

Jim was honoured by being made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) 1990, one of the first members of the gliding movement to achieve this distinction for services to gliding. Jim is still an active GCV instructor and tug pilot. He is also very active in the establishment of the Australian Gliding Museum, which has had donated to it approximately 40 historic gliders, a large collection of gliding books, magazines, gliding records and other memorabilia, and construction has be begun of a large hangar building at Bacchus Marsh to store its collection.

An amazing 60 year era with the GCV.

Congratulations Jim!