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Asiago 1924 - Great gliding competitions
It was the spring of 1924 when the National Aero League, sponsored by
the newspaper "La Gazzetta dello Sport" announced the first
Italian competition for motorless flight on Mount Sisemol on the Asiago
Plateau.
Despite there being some months for preparing the gliders, for different
reasons, many candidates gave up. Some because of lack of financial resources,
others because they were facing technical difficulties and at the end,
only the group of university students from Pavia proved to be seriously
committed to accepting the challenge, overcoming several difficulties
and headaches.
Nevertheless, when the date fixed for the competition was coming closer,
their machine s were not ready so that, the National Aero League, who
had announced the competition for the month of August, at first postponed
it to September and then, in a second step, moved it to October.
Obviously October, being in the middle of the hot season and winter coming,
produces too temperate a climate, unable to generate strong winds needed
for soaring.
The National Aero League had also invited a few well known German pilots,
Martens, Fuchs, Papenmeyer led by the famous Oscar Ursinus, known as "the
Rhoen Father". These pilots already experienced in motorless flight,
would help the Italian pilots to learn this new flying discipline. Our
pilots were in fact completely lacking in experience, both in building
and flying techniques.
100 years have passed since that historic event and, with the active participation
of the Romeo Sartori airport
in Asiago, we thought of commemorating the Centenary with an international
gathering of vintage gliders. The participation of German representatives
of the Wasserkuppe is expected in memory of their pilots who animated
the international competition of October 1924.