Bacchus Marsh Gliding Club Hse
Club in Moorabool

He was elected secretary and chief flying instructor and played a leading role in gliding for many years, being the first in Australia to loop a glider and be aerotowed. Thompson was one of the founding members who retained a long association with the club. It grew to have more than 100 members but lapsed after five years or so. The meeting elected Percy Pratt as Honorary Life Member of the club. Buildings on a government airfield at Small River were refurbished for club use, while a winch was built in a rented workshop in Geelong. The Department of Interior canceled the club’s access to the Little River airfield late in that year. The club suffered a setback in January 1960 when the Falcon was damaged and written off, as it was not until the final of the year that a used Kookaburra was obtained to replace it. The advantages of the location were clear and the purchase of land for a hangar was soon being investigated. Eventually, land on the airfield was leased and a hangar (the North Hangar) was built as a joint venture for shared use with mfg and Beaufort Gliding Club, who were also in the process of making Bacchus Marsh their home. Growth in membership and activity enabled upgrading and expansion of the fleet. The clubs at Bacchus Marsh enjoyed the use of a public airfield maintained at government expense but this was not to last, as a policy of transfer to local ownership was introduced. In response, the gliding clubs joined with the flying school to successfully negotiate a long term lease with the Moorabool Shire Council when it became the owner of the airfield, in 1993. The club continues to share in the responsibility of the operation and maintenance of the airfield, which is done at no cost to the Shire. The club today is healthy placed to meet the needs of its 100 flying members, with a fleet of four single seat and three two seat gliders, and two tow planes. The success of the club is testimony to the elective effort and financial encourage of former and donate members.