Introduction
	Specifications
	History
	Team
	Photo album
	Documentation
	Other Grasshoppers
	Links
	Contact

Last update: 2-1-04

Welcome
On this site you can find a variety of information about the Grasshopper, and the WZ795 in paticular. The Grasshopper is an oldtimer sailplane, built by Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd. from the early 1950s in order ofthe Royal Air Force. The RAF used this sailplane up till the mid 1980s as primary trainer for its pilots.

The Grasshopper is a British development of the German Schulgleiter 38 (SG-38) that was used in very large numbers by the National Sozialistische Fliegerkorps (NSFK) both before and during World War II, for the initial Air Force training of the Hitler Youth. The glider has been re-stressed to comply with the British Civil Airworthiness Requirements. In many respects, it's construction follows normal wooden aircraft practises, and it is, perhaps, one of the finest examples of a wire braced monoplane It can be operated in free flight or from a static stand.

The WZ795
At the closing of 2001, the WZ795 came in the posession of a group of oldtimer-enthousiasts of the Aeroclub Salland en de Drienerlose Zweefvliegclub. Although the plane still has the original RAF colorscheme and markings, it is now registered with the British Gliding Association under BGA-3348, with the designation 'FSK'.

Photo: Luc Dubelaar

From its home base Lemelerveld, where the plane is being overhauled at this moment, flights are made by means of bungeelaunch, autotow or winchtow. Aerotow is allowed with the plane, but in order to do this we must move to other airfields.

This site
The site is put up to carry the pleasure of flying, maintaining and fostering the plane beyond the borders of the airfield. As far as known to us, this is the only internet site devoted to this type of airplane. This is why there is a lot of general info about the Grasshopper, instead of just ours.

In the section specifications, you will find all sorts of general info about the Grasshopper. The life of an RAF airplane is mostly a rather eventful one; the section history covers the course of life of the WZ795. The owners of the WZ795 introduce themselves to you in the section team, and all their fun in flying and maintaining this plane can be found in the photo album section.
In order to boost the informative worth of this site to its maximum, the sections documentation and other Grasshoppers are intended as a library for some documentation- and data digging.