Oxford University Gliding Club
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The Oxford University Gliding Club (OUGC) is the gliding club of Oxford University, flying from Bicester Airfield.
The club was founded as part of the Oxford University and City Gliding Club in 1936, and the illustrious German pilot Robert Kronfeld was its first chief flying instructor (CFI).
By the early 1980s it had moved to Bicester Airfield and had just one glider, a Schleicher Ka 7 from the German manufacturer Alexander Schleicher, obtained thanks to the generousity of a local dentist, Peter Pratelli. This wood and fabric glider was soon supplemented by a Grob G103a Twin II glass fibre two-seater, EGN, again via a loan from Pratelli, and the Ka 7 eventually moved on to another club.
In early January 1986 the club acquired FEF, a then ten-year-old GROB Astir CS (and thus promptly became the first "all glass" club in the UK and probably the world). EGN, the Twin II, was sold to Enstone Eagles Gliding Club, and departed the airfield on 27 October 1990. It was replaced with the lower performance but easier to fly ASK 21, GAM. Like all the club's gliders, it was paid for by using the membership fees collected from student members to pay off any loans received.
OUGC currently owns one ASK 21 two-seat glider, GAM, one single-seat Ka8 glider, HYX, and one GROB Astir CS, FEF, although members can also use gliders belonging to the Windrushers Gliding Club.
