Brief History
The first man-carrying glider in history was built by an Englishman, Sir George Cayley, and flown by his coachman across a small valley on his estate at Brompton, near Scarborough, in 1853.  Another British aviation pioneer, Percy Pilcher, a marine engineer made many successful gliding flights near Glasgow and later at Eynsford, Kent, from 1895 to 1899.

But these were simple gliding flights on a descending course.  The present popularity of gliding had its origin in the discovery that gliders can stay airborne for long periods, cover long distances and reach great heights, solely by exploiting air currents.  This is called "soaring", and gliders which can soar are sometimes called "sailplanes".  The first long soaring flights of up to 3 hours duration were made in Germany at a competition held in August, 1922, by a group of pilots who developed gliding because of the restrictions on aviation imposed by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.

But all these flights were achieved in up-currents produced by a wind blowing up the face of a hill, so that the gliders were confirmed to the neighbourhood of the hill.  Perhaps because of this, interest in gliding in Britain died out and was only aroused seven years later when, in 1929, some remarkable distance and altitude flights were made in Germany, where gliding had continued to develop.  In particular Robert Kronfeld, an Austrian who later settled in England, climbed 8,320 feet and covered 93 miles in July, 1929.

Facilities and Equipment Required
In contrast to the early days of gliding, all instruction of pupils is now carried out on two seater sailplanes with dual controls, on which pupils have to put in several hours of flying before going solo.  It is therefore important that every gliding club should have competent instructors, and Instructors Training Courses are run by the National Coach on behalf of the BGA.  Many clubs also hold training courses and holiday courses for non-members throughout the summer.

Only a minority of gliding clubs are now situated on hills; the majority operate from flat sites and rely on thermals for most of their soaring.  Launching by catapult (the most common method before 1935), has been replaced by the use of a cable, either towed by a car or wound in by a winch giving launches to 1,000 ft or more, or by towing behind a light aeroplane, usually to 2,000 ft.