Cherokee II under construction in Auckland
By H.C Christie

Some two years ago when the writer was a reasonable new member of the Auckland Gliding Club, I approached one of the club’s senior instructors and enquired as to the possibilities of building a high performance sailplane in New Zealand. The instructor concerned received this enquiry with a mixture of horror and amazement and in a very father-like manner informed the enquirer that it would be best to put such thoughts from one’s mind and concentrate on learning to fly tried and proven machines, which the Auckland and other gliding clubs have available for their members. Temporarily at least, I put the idea to the back of my mind and gave the whole of my efforts to getting to solo stage, however the idea of building a machine persisted and after many enquiries and transmitting my enthusiasm to another club member, namely John Williams, we settled on Stan Hall’s Cherokee II, as the most likely design suitable to New Zealand conditions and requirements. The plans were eventually purchased at a cost of 35 dollars and submitted to CAA for approval.

Eventually permission to commence construction was received early March 1959.

By this time the syndicate had obtained another member namely Trevor Taylor, who had a short time previously caught the building bug from us.

At the time of writing 09/12/59, the glider is 75% completed, as you will see by the photographs in this issue. Since the photograph was taken however, the cockpit combing and flying control cables to the fuselage have been installed and construction of wings has commenced.

I personally, and my two syndicate colleagues have had so much fun so far, building this machine, that we feel that information regarding its capabilities and performance should be passed on to others. The writer feels that Cherokee II sailplanes have a bright future in New Zealand and already three are under construction. The writer is of the opinion that it will not be very long before this figure increases to at least five.

For those with technical turn in mind, the following information will probably be of interest.

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

Besides being a pleasant machine to fly, the Cherokee II, has proved itself in the hands of numerous pilots in America, an excellent performer and recently the designers Stan Hall reported from America as follows. “Ken Lewandowski and his Cherokee II, recently made longest distance flight in recent Wetaskiwin Alberta soaring contest, and at the recent Canadian Nationals Ross Grady and Jim Reid, both flying Cherokee II’s , were placed second and third respectively.” “Furthermore it took Canada’s number 1 soaring pilot Charlie Yeates in a 1-23 to beat them and the rest weren’t flying Grunau Babies either.”

The writer feels that such performance speaks for itself and should be enough to dispel any doubts in the minds of readers as to the capabilities of this machine in the right hands. Anyone purchasing plans from Mr. Stanley A. Hall, 1530 Belleville Way, Sunnyvale, California, may be assured of every possible assistance in the construction of their machine.

Also it may be of interest to the reader to know that the following flight speeds are as follows.

To the best of my knowledge there are approximately 180 Cherokee II’s under construction in various parts of the world, and the writer sincerely hopes as a result of this article appearing in Gliding Kiwi, that a few more will be commenced in New Zealand, and I feel that this aircraft is the answer to many smaller clubs who cannot afford to import aircraft from overseas, either in …(unreadable, ed.) or kit set form.

THE “THING”

Here’s an ode to the boys with the glider-

The fantastic “thing” with nothing inside her.

She was put together with swear words and glue,

A few dozen flagons of strong beer too.

The “Thing” as she’s called is hidden from sight

Of the prying public – she looks such a fright’

A prehistoric Monster to be let loose at will,

Enough to give Frankenstein a blood curling chill’

But when the day comes to let the “thing" fly,

John Trevor and Henry (although they might try)

will never be able to reach the sky-

for the matter of weight will affect her badly

and when John gets in she’ll disintegrate sadly.

If only he’d been strong enough to diet

Then of course he’d have been able to fly it’

But its too late now for the GROG had GOT him,

And poor old “Cherokee” will just go ROTTEN……..

Beverly Secker

Read the story about the rescue of this historic glider from its fate as firewood