242:. The gliders acted as over-sea radar targets and then glided back to land in the field. However, on one flight on returning over the sea to the field it became evident to Wills that his angle of glide would not get back over the cliff. Because from flights over Dunstable Downs he was well aware of so-called "ridge lift" where air rises over an up-slope, on arriving below the cliff top he was able to use the rising air due to the off-shore wind over the cliff to gain enough height to land safely back in the field. Meanwhile, people rushed to the spot last seen on the radar, to peer anxiously down over the cliff edge to look for a crashed glider, while Wills looked down from above.
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In 1940, the RAF was concerned that radar (the UK "Chain Home" system) might not detect troop-carrying gliders made of wood that the
Germans could use in an invasion of England. To check this, Wills and some other UK glider pilots were towed out to sea in wooden gliders from a field near the Radar
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He married
Katherine 'Kitty' Fisher in 1931, they had three sons and a daughter. His sons Chris and Justin Wills became famous glider pilots. He also had a son named Stephen. Chris became Chairman of the European Historic Glider Group for which he was awarded an International FAI award. Justin
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Philip was
Chairman of the British Gliding Association for 19 years, a current record. During his period in office, his connections and reputation with government bodies allowed British gliding to regulate itself without much intervention from government agencies. He also successfully fought to
230:, Cornwall. In June 1938, he broke the British National Distance Gain of Height gliding record at 10,180 feet over Dunstable Downs, earning him the world's third Gold C Badge. On 1 July 1939, he again broke the height record at 14,170 feet
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Philip Wills was from a wealthy family in the shipping and export business. There is a story that when he became an executive, he installed internal windows in offices in case staff were reading books or falling asleep in working hours.
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by Eric
Collins, who already had the Silver C five-hour qualification. Philip then did his "five hours" and received International Silver C Badge No. 45 shortly after.
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flying a
Slingsby Sky sailplane, and was a member of the British Gliding Team until 1958. In 1954 he became the second person to cross the English Channel in a
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After Philip's death, the Philip Wills
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Professor; these were the
British National Gain-of-Height gliding record of 3,800 feet, and a Distance record with a flight of 56 miles from
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emigrated to New
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On 30 April 1938 he broke the
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In 1954 Philip's services to world gliding were recognised by the award of the
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Portrait of Philip Wills, Chairman of the British Gliding Association (BGA)
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After the war he was chairman of the BGA for 19 years, and in 1952 he was
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Lewis, Peter. 1970. British Racing and Record-Breaking Aircraft. Putnam.
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In 1949 he became managing director of Fowlie, Reid & Wills Limited.
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in the world gliding championships in Spain. In 1964 he was awarded the
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181:. On 20 January 1929 he was injured when his Moth (G-EBPS) crashed at
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to Latchington, Essex. He was just beaten to the first British
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station at Worth Matravers on the coast south of Bournemouth
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At the age of 21 he was able to buy his first aircraft, a
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Later in World War II he was second in command of the
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in the UK, aided by BGA Airspace Committee Chairman
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44:adding citations to reliable sources
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31:needs additional citations for
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271:In 1952 in Spain, he became
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417:Wills, Philip. 1953, 1977.
286:'s first crossing in 1938.
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159:Lilienthal Gliding Medal
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179:de Havilland DH.60 Moth
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380:Jackson, A.J. (1974).
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437:Wills, Philip. 1961.
432:The Beauty of Gliding
430:Wills, Philip. 1960.
303:Otto Lilienthal Medal
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921:Bob Henderson (2012)
725:George B. Moffat Jr.
127:Philip Aubrey Wills
40:improve this article
194:London Gliding Club
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672:Hans-Werner Grosse
439:Where No Birds Fly
384:. London: Putnam.
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898:Roland Stuck
880:Ian Strachan
849:2001–present
833:Hana Zejdova
773:Juhani Horma
767:Dick Johnson
666:Eric Nessler
576:Philip Wills
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523:Tadeusz Góra
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38:Please help
33:verification
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779:Ingo Renner
169:Early years
971:Categories
955:Eric Mozer
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696:August Hug
648:Anne Burns
630:Heinz Huth
624:Paul Bikle
600:Wolf Hirth
464:Genealogy
374:References
273:Open Class
228:St Austell
152:Open Class
66:newspapers
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551:1951–1975
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292:airspace
257:Post-war
220:Minimoa
161:of the
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422:ISBN
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386:ISBN
59:news
226:to
198:DFS
145:CBE
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42:by
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