The Gliding Heritage Centre (GHC) is a collection of vintage gliders based at Lasham Airfield, Hampshire, UK.
Origins Christopher Wills, the son of Philip Wills, founded the Vintage Glider Club in 1973. He died on 4 May 2011 but left a bequest of £100,000 to build a hangar to house vintage gliders plus his Steinadler. A group of enthusiasts decided to create a Gliding Heritage Centre which could be visited by members of the public in a building called The Chris Wills Memorial Hangar. It is a registered charity No 1148972.
After raising more money and with much volunteer work, the first hangar was opened on 4 August 2013 during the 41st International Vintage Glider Club rally that was held at Lasham that year. Further fund raising allowed the building of a second hangar to house the ever increasing collection of gliders. Hangar 2 was officially opened on 25 August 2018.
A dedicated workshop was added following a further bequest from Trish Williams. This allows some of the aircraft in the collection to remain airworthy, as well as helping to restore and conserve the rest of the fleet. The workshop is also used for teaching the skills required to restore and repair wooden gliders, as these skills are becoming increasingly scarce. It is planned to add a viewing area in the workshop to allow the public to see work that is being done.
Collection Public tours of the museum are scheduled at 2:00 every Sunday with the starting point in the club-house of Lasham Gliding Society,.
Type Manufacturer DateScud-IAbbott-Baynes (Replica)1931 Scud-IIAbbott-Baynes1935Scud IIIAbbott-Baynes1936Clarke ChanuteTWK Clarke & Co1910EoN BabyElliotts of Newbury1949EoN EtonElliotts of Newbury1951Olympia 2bElliotts of Newbury1958Olympia 460Elliotts of Newbury1960Olympia 463Elliotts of Newbury1965Grunau BabyHersteller Flugzeugbau1952Lo 100Wolf Hirth1953JSH ScorpionJ. Halford1977WeiheJacobs Schweyer1943Kaiser Ka3Kaiser1958DroneKronfeld Ltd1936TG-3aSchweizer1942Spalinger S-21hJ. Lemp1943Willow WrenManuel1932HawkManuel1969 Crested WrenManuel1986Steinadler MG19AOberlerchner1955Colditz CockReplica2000MU13-DScheibe1957Zugvogel 3bScheibe1963 Zugvogel 3bScheibe1964 Bergfalk 55 - IIScheibe1963 KA 6ESchleicher1968 Scott Viking 1Scott Light Aviation1938 Gull-IIISlingsby1939GrasshopperSlingsby1953GrasshopperSlingsby1962T8 TutorSlingsby1946Prefect T30ASlingsby1948Prefect T30B Slingsby1958Skylark 2Slingsby1955Skylark 3bSlingsby1959Skylark 3fSlingsby1961Dart 15Slingsby1964SwallowSlingsby1967Foka 4SZD Poland1963YS 53Yorkshire Sailplanes1974Zlín Z-24Zlin1946
Other gliders in private ownership are also made available to the collection from time to time.
See also List of aerospace museums
References
External links
YouTube video Aviation Journal