by Vivienne Bryner

I was first introduced to gliders as a baby, never far from them as a child and teenager but have had some long times away from them since - just another one of the many people who make up the world’s gliding family.

I’ll never be a legendary glider pilot and I don’t aspire to be. But I’ve had some of the best times of my life on and around gliding fields and I thought I’d share a part of that - the Benalla part, with you.

In flight

Some time before the Worlds were held at Benalla in ’87 my father gave me a poster. There were no posters of bands or muscly hunks on my teenage bedroom walls. But there was this one poster on the back of my door. It was there for years, visible as I woke every morning. It was mostly blue with a view from outer space of the moon, and a slogan which read:

“We can’t promise you the moon, but you’ll certainly have a ball at Benalla.”

And I certainly have done – I ‘had a ball’ at the Worlds in ’87, and again during my time there in ’08/ ’09.

Benalla 2008 for me:

• A special flight in the Duo seeing Benalla from the air the first time
• flying cross-country in the Duo with Mitch
• late nights and early mornings outside the clubhouse - loved getting to know you all
• being there the day Jutta went solo
• watching various ‘low gos” (as Phil’s daughter Courtney calls beat ups)
• retrieves - one only a few paddocks away from the field - to collect someone who shall remain nameless
• more flights in the Duo, including a land-out on the airstrip at Wangaratta (he who shall further remain nameless having gotten bored with my flying close to the airfield and suggesting we should go further afield on a spring day)
• the aero-tow back (thanks Jeremy)
• cleaning gliders in failing light (what happens when you crew for a pilot who is a ‘kilometre freak’)
• check flights – flying an IS-28 for the first time, learning the new (to me) phrase ‘boxing the wake’, mastering low tow
• heading up into the skies above Benalla by myself
• cross-country paddock selection in the Motor Falke with Bob - learned about the dangers of an Aussie thing unknown to this uninitiated Kiwi – the oft-invisible SWER lines.

The highlight was finally gaining my Silver C. (It only took me 23 years from when I first gained my 5 hours in a K8 in Auckland, NZ to completing the badge!?)

It was my first solo cross-country flight in over 20 years - an ‘all in one’ silver height gain and distance flight with a sit around above the airfield at the end to make sure I really truly ‘nailed’ the duration again also - 5 hrs 59 mins is making sure, right?

The first part of the flight was easy with lots of small cus and something like a 4000ft cloud base. Towards Yarrawonga the clouds died out, but I had plenty of height to make the airfield. Once there I had to work hard for quite a while so as not to have to land but eventually regained enough height to consider making it a return trip. Soon discovered the compass wasn’t working, I didn’t know enough about the logger (new technology to me) to set up a return to Benalla, and that I didn’t find navigating off the map in flat land at all easy. Made a note to myself to be better prepared in future. Headed off in what I thought was the right general direction, counting on seeing the lake, the town, or some other identifiable feature in the distance sometime. Flew a rather large dogleg, but eventually, via Dookie, reunited with Benalla, having flown a total distance of 194km. It was 31 December - a great way to end the year!

Being around for the Australian Multi-Class Nationals at Benalla in January this year – such fun; took me back to happy teenage days at Waharoa at various NZ Nationals.

I think those men and women who confidently head out in the heat and dust day after day to race around the sky are amazing. Don’t at all mind running wings and cleaning gliders for you – always have - just love being part of it. The ultimate treat though, was getting to accompany Dion Weston in his ASH25 on one of the competition days. My longest flight in a glider – 7.5 hours. Yes, I know, it’s sad but true, I was ‘ill’ the whole way round the 500km task (sorry Dion) – but I still loved it, absolutely relished the experience! Flying over the dusty-brown barrenness – one of those memories that will never fade.

It was through that flight with Dion that I gained the courage to truly ‘break the umbilical cord’ myself.

The next day, with the ever so much appreciated support of Bruce Cooper and Max Kirschner, and Eugene Blunt’s help getting me set-up and comfortable in IKE the Astir CS77, I’d started to think of as ‘mine’, I headed off on my first cross country attempt of 2009. My first 300km attempt ever. My goal - Benalla-Rand-Finley-Benalla - 319km. My first experience of ‘the blue’.

In retrospect I suppose it was good there were no clouds – nothing to entice me off course except some rocks or a darker field. But while flying in the blue helped me stay pretty much dead on track my average speed didn’t look any the healthier for it! Determined to get round I took every darn climb. A sigh of relief each 10km I could mentally tick off. Didn’t see another glider the whole day. Made a promise to myself along the way to investigate other arrangements in the plumbing department as they might help prevent distractions in future; in the Aussie heat I needed all of the 3litres of water and 2 Up& Gos I took with me. The highest point of the day was 9700ft, 80km out, at 7pm. Over cautious final glide saw me back at the airfield at 3000ft, and yes, I know 71% of my thermals were right hand - See You exposes all one’s bad habits! I have far more to learn about gliding than I already know.

But wow! Gold Distance and Diamond Goal on my second solo cross country flight in 20 years.

I vividly remember retrieving Dad as an 8 year old on one of his 300km attempts out of Auckland. Wish he’d had the chance to fly from such a great site. And sure wish he was alive to tell about this!

The summer and its heat pressed on.

Ran over a snake with the tractor towing IKE out one morning.

More memories as the Nationals continued;

• running wings in the severe heat and moments of respite filling up with water out of Pete’s van
• Charles’s weather briefings
• trying to get cool enough to sleep at night in the ballonists’s hut,
• learning the merit in draping a wet towel over ones shoulders while waiting for launch,
• visits to Brown Brother’s up the road,
• looking forward to the wonderful evening meals in the clubhouse,
• the evenings filled with tales and flight analysis,
• nearly landing out on the Warbies; scraping away for an hour and a half, using a series of tiny thermals kicked off by a few rocks on base leg of the approach to my selected paddock and drifting back until one finally was strong enough to get me high enough to scurry back to the airfield.

Vivienne flying by Michael Sommer

And then the next big treat – some of the wonderfully high Benalla cloud bases, and the chance to easily successfully ‘knock-off’ my Gold height gain too.

Photo taken with my camera, reproduced with the permission of the photographer - Michael Sommer – without whose encouragement I’d not have dreamed of attempting all I achieved this last gliding season.

Another day, later to become known as Black Saturday, it was 45ºC and very windy and only a few gliders launched. The sky was eerily hazy with dust, and I slept rather a lot of the way around a 600km flight in the Duo. Got woken up to put the gear down. Though we smelled the smoke overnight we had no idea of the scale of the tragedy which had happened not so far away.

Summer turned to autumn. I’d obviously been at least partially forgiven for sleeping on the aforementioned flight, and one of my last flights of the season at Benalla was again in the Duo GCV– south to the mountains. This is me, that day.

Have I said enough to convey that I think Benalla’s a great place, the Gliding Club of Victoria’s a great club, with great people, and great gliding? To all who shared my time there - thanks for your part of the wonderful memories - I hope to be back for more!

(And a special thanks too, by the way, to whoever designed the poster.)