Dunstable Downs Airfield (London Gliding Club)

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The London Gliding Club was officially inaugurated on February 20th 1930. The club started using nearby Ivinghoe Beacon as a launch site, but it attracted so much public attention that the club were evicted for "spoiling it's peaceful enjoyment by the public".
The club moved to its current home at Dunstable Downs.
Before World War Two, war pilots flying along the hill had instructions relayed to them by flag signals for "too fast" and "too slow". In 1939 Geoffrey Stephenson was the first to glide across the Channel when he flew all the way from Dunstable to France.
During the war, the London Gliding Club was used as a prisoner of war camp. Some evidence of this is still visible as a row of posts near the south-west launch point.
Since the war London Gliding Club has steadily grown.
www.londonglidingclub.co.uk/theclub/history.xml