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30/12/03
Time really flies doesn't it !!
I know it must have seemed like I've abandoned this website, but I haven't really ! honest !
I just haven't got round to managing an update..
So, a mega one this time with all details I've been sent over the last 18 months ! Lots..
Thankyou to everyone who's patiently waited for this, hopefully I'll be a bit more on top of it from now on..
Toby

So, the updates...
The family Janssen now own sn # 72, and its moved to the Netherlands, at Volkel miltary airbase, at ZVC-Volkel (www.zvcvolkel.nl) aeroclub. The glider is perfoming well and already being used by Ando Janssen during national rookie glider contest held at Venlo in August 2003. During which Ando (less then 1 year after aquiring RPLG) achieved a good 5th place in the open class clasifying for National championships next year. All this with a 24 year old glider!!

Sn# 121 is now owned by Jan Larsson and Anders Lustig, and they've sent me some nice pictures from a wave camp at Hemavan.

I've had word from Peter Mulhare, who has recently bought a mini nimbus B, Sn# 81 registration ZK-GKR, and flies it out of Whangarei Gliding Club in New Zealand. Added a nice picture for it to.

Christoph Sigwart very kindly sent me a list of all the Swiss Mini-Nimbus, which has added another 8 to the whereabouts list ! All in Switzerland..

Egbert Veldhuizen sent me the sad news that Sn# 30 was written off this year in a flying accident.

Had a couple of nice pictures of Sn#92 from Stephen Ware, which I've added here.

13/03/02
Had some exciting news this week from the owners of the self launching mini based in South Africa. This is now owned by Jörg Grothe and Christoph Sigwart, two Swiss pilots, and they have sent pictures and details of the glider, (powered by a DG400 engine), which I've included here. I've also taken the liberty of adding some pictures of serial number 5, a nice looking mini that is currently for sale in Idaho USA, afraid I don't know whether its been sold or any great details, but it looks a nice ship. 
The pictures are here.
The soaring season is almost upon us here in the UK, the first 100Km thermal flight of the year at my club was done on the 9th March, so hopefully it wont be long till I get airborne again !

26/02/02
Had some updated details of two minis that have so far escaped the 'wherabouts' page. Serial number 115 is still based in Germany at the Daun-Senheld gliding club, and is owned by Klaus-Peter Queetz. 
A Swedish based mini, number 158 ( this must be one of the last, well its the last I have records of ! ), is now owned by Jan Larsson and Anders Lustig.

18/01/02
Yet more problems with FrontPage ! But I think I've sorted it now.. Computers !!!
Added a couple more pictures from Ortwin Kronenberg who owns number 75.
I've also had details of number 49 from Hans Doggenaar, who flies from Soesterberg airbase with the 'Amsterdamse Club voor Zweefvliegen'. This looks like a particularly nice example, especially the picture in the cut crop field !
Lastly, I scanned in an advert for the mini nimbus from a very old copy of Sailplane and Gliding I've had lying around for a long time now. It makes quite interesting reading, and its nice to see that once people looked at our gliders with the same desire they now look at the 'new' breed. You can see the advert here.

10/01/02
Finally managed to scan in an original flight test by Dick Johnson in Soaring magazine from December 1977, it makes very interesting reading, and you can read it here.
I've also got images of the original advert for the Mini at the time, from Sailplane & Gliding, here.
Made a few corrections that I'd missed, and added some nice pictures of Tom Judkins mini, number 120, that I seem to have previously lost ! Also the details of a motorised Mini, number 145 that Pete Wooley supplied me with ages ago ! 

07/01/02
Two updates in two days ! Shocking....
Well, now the webpages are more manageable hopefully I will update as soon as I get some news... 
So, I've added some excellent pictures from Gil Alexander, with details of his mini, number 16, which has an all flying tail. Gil has taken detailed shots of the 'trim tab' mechanism, and a good explanation of how it works. You can see them here.
I've also received details of number 13, an all flying tail, A model, which is currently owned by Fritz-Reinhard Grosche and his son Malte. They fly from Goettingen, Germany.
Ortwin from Germany has sent details and a picture of his mini, number 75, and I've had word of two more minis in Canada from Gerald Ince. Sn 47 and 32. Sadly 32 is a write off. A recent import to the UK is number 92, owned by Stephen Ware and Jeff Roberts. However this has a slight mystery, it appears as a model 'B' on the factory paperwork, and yet has a fixed tailplane, and appears to be will into the 'C' build history. Any ideas anyone ? 
Next we have some pictures of number 48 from its new owner Jim Conger, where it is now based in Williams, California.
David Cahoon's mini, number 84, has now been bought by a syndicate of, Bob Smalley, Roger Lloyd and Steve Corlew, calling themselves the, 'Nimbusciles'. Apparently, Dave has changed to an ASW28 !

More news soon, including details of a 'motorised' mini nimbus, in South Africa, and a copy of the original Dick Johnson flight test from Soaring magazine.

06/01/02
Yes an update !!
A new year, and I've finally sorted my pc problems out !! Well, mostly..

Swapping between various backups over the last few months, ended up with MS Frontpage getting all confused with 'case sensitivities', and my being faced with a total rebuild of the site, or starting from scratch. In the meantime I've left the site as it was, rather than being totally down, but hopefully now, I've got it back in a state that means I can update regularly again.... fingers crossed !!

So, if you sent me anything in the last few months, hopefully it will appear here soon, or even now !


09/07/01
Been a busy two months here in the UK. The soaring season has finally got underway, so I've been doing a lot of flying, despite the typical 'English' weather. I also have a new computer, thus the slow update, lots to add tho'.
Serial number 103 has changed hands and is now owned by Mike Vance, and I've had word of a UK 'mini',  number 106, a carbon sparred C model owned by Alex Jenkins.
We also have a new mini from South Africa, serial number 90, which has the carbon wings from number 141, belonging to Peter Wooley. Peter also mentions a self launcher conversion on one mini in that region, more on that in a while I hope.
Finally, some nice pictures of Tom Judkins mini, number 120. All under the usual 'owners' pages.

31/05/01
David Cahoon sent me some very nice pictures of his recently rebuilt mini, Sn 84. Previously, I managed to get a lot of detail from David on how the work was going to be carried out, and lots of 'before' pictures. Looks like he's made a great job of it, you can see the results here.
I've also updated the links to reflect list members home club websites, so if you want to send me a link to your club, send me the details here.

23/04/01
More updates, at last...
A very bad year so far for us in England, as was as the usually wet weather, we are also unable to fly cross country due the the foot and mouth disease outbreak, still plenty of time for working on gliders.
Added details of a number of mini's including a few here in my home country, and one of a mini that holds a number of long distance flight records in Belgium.
Firstly serial numbers 96 and 136, both carbon sparred gliders that are based here in England, and actually about 25 miles from where I live ! I drive past their airfield on the way to my own club, and never knew they were there !
Serial number 54 resides in Belgium at the Royal Verviers Aviation club, and in 1999 completed triangles of 604 and 759Km on successive days in July that year ! That glider currently holds the Verviers club record for a closed triangle flight. Not bad for a 20 year old glider !
I've also received details of another Mini based in New Zealand, no serial number sadly, but a nice picture anyway. 
Finally details of serial number 114, which appears to have been repaired at some time using parts from number 105 ! This glider is based in Germany, and was rebuilt in 1978, so when it was fairly new sadly...I wonder whether 114 ever got built or maybe just the wings or fuselage were used for the repair.

Thanks to everyone who sent me details, and pictures, of course I can always do with more, especially the pictures..

07/02/01
Back for a new year, out of hibernation ! Been busy once again.. This time its been gliding related tho !!
I treated my glider to a brand new Cobra trailer for Christmas, so was over in Germany in December to collect it. Happily I managed to fit in a trip to Poppenhausen to see the Schleicher factory, ( although it was closed ), and a day at the Wasserkuppe, which was fantastic despite being unflyable. The museum there was worth the visit alone.
Much action on the mailing list has forced me into updating the website ;)
That promised redesign is coming, honest !! In between working on my glider for the forthcoming season..

Added serial numbers 120 owned by Tom Judkins of the USA, no 23 owned by Fritz, Michael & Peter Preuß of Germany, sn 49 owned by Hans Doggenaar of Holland, sn 60 owned by Ivo Heffels  with 2 others, and an additional 20 USA registered minis details of which were kindly sent to me by Gil Alexander.

Alfred has sent me some details of a mini 'mini' meet that he attended last summer. Looks good fun, maybe we can get a bigger one this year !! I've posted the details here...


28/10/00
Added 2 more gliders to the 'where are they now', nos 81 and 126. That brings our number to 22, or nearly a fifth of all the minis ever built !
Got round to adding the details of an adjustable seatback for the Mini, pictures and all !

08/10/00
Phew, long long time between updates. Not that I've not been doing anything, just no time to update !
Oh, and a broken computer for a month or two !
Well, I've added or updated details for Serial numbers 30, 63, and 121.
No more progress on the winglet front unfortunately..
And the biggest news for me, well, I've sold my glider and bought a Discus....
Well, the chance was there, and if you don't take it..
I'll still be keeping these pages up tho', and hopefully do a proper update when I manage to retrieve my emails..
Things to come include fitting an adjustable 'discus style' seatback, ( with lots of pictures ), and more owners details..

25/04/00
Just added 4 new owners details to the 'where are they now' page, that brings our total to 19 now, so welcome the owners of Sn 63, 73, and 74. There's a particularly nice air to air shot of Jan Schets 'mini' here, along with a little write up.
So far this year, the season has been quite moderate in the UK. I've managed 12 hours and a total of 200Km, not the best year, but certainly not the worst. It is however very wet and muddy at the moment, so the glider has been in for its annual inspection. Unfortunately we had to have the wings shimmed to take away some play, and the tailplane refitted, still its always nice to know your glider is in a fit condition.
Interestingly, I got talking to the owner of a Mosquito here in the UK who has had winglets fitted, (pictures elsewhere on this site). It turns out that the guy, (Simon France), is someone I met years ago when I used to compete in the Junior Nationals in my SHK-1, and he flew a Nimbus 2. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good write up of the modification, and maybe even organise some comparison flights with him. Watch this space for that !

13/03/00
Hmm, been a bit quiet, I've actually been having to do some work ! 
Added Thomas Lange and Rob Lyon to the 'where are they now' page. Nice picture of Rob too !
I've acquired a digital camera so hopefully I'll have a few pictures of Peter Burgoyne's Mini soon too.

14/02/00
Added 2 more sets of details, including our first 'B' model, pictures to follow I hope.
Yesterday was the first reasonably soarable day of the millennium from my club in England, and to celebrate I flew my Mini for 3 hours, alongside Peter Burgoyne's carbon mini.. A great day.

01/02/00
Got some excellent information from David Cahoon concerning his rebuild of Mini #84. Apparently its previous owner had a coming together with a fence in a field landing, and David is putting the pieces back together. You can read how here.
Peter Ellwanger also sent me details of his Mini #72 which is based in Germany. I've added it to the register of gliders, so now all I need is some pictures..

30/01/00
Well, I've added many new pages, including extensive details of my Nimbus, #123, and of Al Groth's modifications to #103. I've finally got round to adding the entire owners manual on line..