Sailplanes & Gliders Soaring in the Austrian Alps (1954)

Synopsis

This 1954 black and white film about sailplanes (gliders) is an RKO-Pathe Screenliner Production distributed by RKO Radio Pictures Inc., produced by Burton Benjamin, and recorded with an RCA Sound System. It opens with seagulls gliding on the wind, followed by a glider doing the same in Austria (:31-:42). Two men and two women walk by two children sitting in a field with cows. One woman is dressed in traditional Austrian dress with a white peasant blouse underneath. They point at a wind sock. The farmer licks his finger and holds it up in the air to check the wind direction. One of the men holds up an anemometer (:54- 1:20 ). A glider is rolled out of a hangar. Gliders are shown in a line; the closest is OE-0221 ( 1:22 - 1:43 ). Men and women sit on outdoor benches receiving instructions on how gliding works. The instructor points to a chalkboard diagram of how wind currents behave. A glider passes overhead (:44- 2:09 ). A woman steps into the two-seat training glider for instructions. The stick is used to move the wings and raising and lowing the bow. The air brakes are also shown ( 2:10 - 2:40 ). The instructor climbs in. A wire rope cable wound up by a winch is hooked to the plane. A woman makes a phone call to the winch operator to begin the process once the flag signal from the flagman is given. The winch motor is started and the plane is pulled and lifts off. It drops the cable and is airborne ( 2:41 - 3:40 ). Views are shown of the sailplane in flight. It banks and…

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Details

Running time

8 minutes

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage