[j ferguson]

I think we ought to keep these stories here where we know each other.

In 1976 +/- I was living in Chicago and learned of a sailplane operation at West Bend WI, a bit northwest of Milwaukee. A friend and I flew up in the 120 and met Gunther Voltz who ran a very informal weekend gliding club where you got air-tows, and could fly a 1-34, 1-26's and whatever the Schweitzer lower performance 2 seater was. He had a Schleicher 2 seater - wood and fabric and very nice. Did I want a ride? I sat in front and he drove and talked me through what was going on as we were towed aloft by a Decathalon. we zeroed the altimeter at field elevation. Lift in that area usually gave up at 3,000 ft above ground. He showed me some maneuvers, exercised the spoilers, and explained the instruments peculiar to gliders and then said that this was going to be an especially educational demonstration since it looked like we couldn't make it back to the field.

He asked me to suggest a place to put it down. The area west of West Bend where we were is full of swamps but there were some nice grass fields. I suggested one. "No good. Think and suggest another." I thought and suggested another. "Also no good, We need to be near a road so trailer to retrieve plane can get at us, also a phone, and maybe dessert."
We landed in a short grass area (lawn) immediately adjacent to a road, and rolled up to a picnic table where a farm family was just finishing dinner. They had a phone and we had dessert.

He told me on car ride back that he wasn't always this sharp, but in his youth he'd been a factory pilot for Messerschmitt whose job was to ferry planes that "needed work" but were flyable back to repair depots. He gradually picked up the idea that there was often a choice in where to put it, and some were better than others.

I hope he's still alive, if so, he may be soaring at Black Forest in Colorado.