Gliders

The sand dunes in Tottori Prefecture is one of the lesser known, outside Japan, locations of exceptional natural beauty (photo from Wikipedia).

The strong winds offer excellent glider flying conditions and from 1940 the Tottori Glider Club started using the place for training. From the Winter of 1942 members of various glider clubs like the "Osaka Koku Seishonen" (Osaka Air Youth) and the "Aozora Club" (Blue-Sky Club) also started enjoying gliding in the area.

Below are some photos from a vintage publication showing one of these gliding excursions in the sand dunes.

In the photos above and below notice the employment of ox to bring the glider at the top of the dunes.

All the gliders in the photos are "Secondary" and the one in the photo above is ready to be released. The tail marking consisting of an eagle with the Japanese flag in the middle is probably the one used by the Tottori Glider Club.

The glider has just been released and is soaring in the cold winter sky of Tottori.

Japanese gliders is unfortunately a vastly overlooked subject so stay tuned for more postings.