Abstract
THE melancholy accident on July 30 that deprived England of a soaring pilot of international reputation has also caused a serious loss to meteorology. Mr. G. E. Collins only began gliding in 1932, and with extreme rapidity acquired very great technical skill. But above all he had insight and imagination: he was always trying to increase, and to apply, our knowledge of air-currents. He was in close touch with some of the finest German pilots, and like them made use of cumulus clouds and ‘fronts' to gain height that could be converted into horizontal travel. He learned from Wolf Hirth the method of soaring in a spiral in a ‘thermal’ (an up-current without a cloud to mark it) by the use of a variometer, steering in the direction in which the uplift was greatest; but he soon discovered a method of soaring in thermals without a variometer, using his body sensations and steering towards the wing which was the more strongly lifted. To-day probably a dozen British pilots can climb in thermals, but they owe much to Collins's peculiar gifts.
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W., G. Mr. G. E. Collins. Nature 136, 250 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136250a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136250a0