Vintage glider meetings in Italy:

The interest for the history of gliding in Italy is not so popular as in many other countries in the world. Maybe there are several individuals who could have some interest, but they are not communicating each other, as they are not belonging to any club or organisation. For this reason it’s difficult to organise any vintage meeting as it happens in many European countries.

Despite this situation, we succeeded in 1994 to organise in Pavullo the 1st International Vintage Meeting, commemorating Luigi Federico Teichfuss, pioneer of the motorless flight in Italy. It was a successful meeting which was repeated in 1996, 1998, 2006 and also in 2008. In this last one, we had the attendance of German, Swiss, French and Italian pilots, plus visitors from Sweden, Finland and USA.

The 6th International Vintage Glider Meeting dedicated to Luigi Teichfuss took place in Pavullo, from 14th until 22nd June 2013.

Vintage glider meetings in Europe:

The Vintage Glider Club (VGC) was founded in 1973, in England by Chris Wills. The first meeting took place in Husband Bosworth with the participation of a small number of sailplanes flown by their owners. Today, the VGC has become a world wide organisation with more than 1000 members and more than 400 sailplanes restored and in flying conditions.

Each year, between July and August, the VGC is organizing a Rally of about ten days in one of European countries belonging to the organization which has become global.

In 2011 the 39th VGC Rally took place in Austria at Spitzerberg, not far from Vienna.
In 2012 it was Pociunai, Lithuania to host the 40th Rally and the 41st VGC Rally was held at Lasham UK, from 3rd to the 10th August 2013.
From the 2nd to the 12th August 2014, the 42nd VGC Rally took place at Arnborg in Denmark. once again a great success with the participation of about an hundred vintage sailplanes.

In 2015 the 43rd VGC Rally took place at Terlet in the Nederland from 26th July to 6th
The 44th VGC Rally was helded at Räyskälä in Finland, from july 25th to august 4th 2016.

In the year 2017 from 31st July to 10th August the 45th VGC Rally took place at Dunaujvaros in Hungary.

In the 2018 from 30 July to 8th August 46th VGC Rally took place at Stendal in Germany.

The 47th VGC Rally was helded at Norfolk in England from 27th July to the 3rd August 2019.

The 49th VGC Rally took place at Celje in Slovenia from the 1st to the 13th August 2022.

The 50th VGC Rally will take place at Aston Down in England from the 29th July to the 6th August 2023

www.vintagegliderclub.org

Vintage glider meetings in United States:

Just after the foundation of VGC in England, a similar organization fixing the similar policy and objectives of VGC, was created in the USA under the name of “Vintage Sailplane Association”.

At first the VSA organized National and Regional Vintage Meetings such as the Western Regatta, or the Eastern Regatta etc, but starting from 1995 they organized the 1st International Sailplane Meet in Elmira, NY State. The meeting was very successful and gathered people from many parts of the world.

The experience was repeated five years later with the IVSM2000, even more successful than the previous one and again in 2005 as IVSM2005.
Again in Elmira from 28th June to 4th July 2009 was organized the VSA named IVSM-2009.

The Last edition , named IVSM-2012 was organized always in Elmira from 30th June to 7th July 2012

The next edition is planned always in Elmira from the 9th to 16th July 2016.

The next edition, the 7th IVSM 2020, is programmed from the 4th to 11th July 2020 in Elmira - Nyw York.

(VSA) vintage sail plan

soaring museum

World Vintage Glider meetings:

Passion for Vintage gliders knows no boundaries. Even in the remotest parts of the world Vintage Glider Meeting are organized. You cannot always participate to all because of distance, but last January 2010, not treating the 21-hour flight, I flew to Australia to attend the rally in Bordertown, halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide. The trip was worth it.