Confessions of a Glider Groupie – my Glider Collection

Part 3 – Planeur fruitwoodii elegans

This beautiful sailplane is La Dame de Vol.  I discovered her in France, mounted on one of the ugliest stands I have ever seen.  Needless to say, as soon as she arrived at The Little House I unscrewed her from the stand, drilled a hook into the ceiling of the Nostalgia Studio, and gently slid her into a harness of thin but strong string. 

All my suspended gliders are held in harness, rather than permanently affixed to strings, so they can slip out and have a little soar around the room when they feel like it and I am not watching. 

My elegant lady is towards the back of the room, behind the mobile, partly so she can keep an eye on the Tiny Visitors and partly because she doesn’t want to be too close to Segler quercus robustus, the Bruiser of the Sky, who hovers near the window and rather fancies her (the feeling is definitely not mutual).

As to the exact race and species of my fair lady, I have no clear idea.  I rather suspect she was crafted in the seventies of the last century, of a fruitwood, possibly pear.  The shape seems to suggest that she was made in the likeness of an early German glider – her wings are slightly curved, like a seagul’s.

Despite her corner location, La Dame de Vol manages to sway gently in the breeze when the window is open, and even the odd thermal created by the radiator sometimes causes her to move a little.

View from my bed, head on pillow!