John Richman
John is our "sparks". He has spent hours developing our air-ground and ground-ground radio communication capability. A master of recycling he has built, installed, and calibrated our wind direction and anemometer from ping-pong balls, 35mm film cases and old ammeters. The winch signalling system and launch point clocks are all John's work. John also lives in the south of the Island and was involved in the Islanders Gliding Club days at Jurby. Started his career in "electrickery" with British Rail Signals & Telecoms got bored with that and joined the RAF in 1952 as air wireless engineer. John achieved his first solo "hop" on a primary trainer when a German Gliding Club came to RAF Jever. After demob in 1957 John worked for Pyes at Cambridge, the BBC as a technical operator sound radio, and finally in 1960 joined Granada TV in sound-vision engineering. During this period he learned to fly at Cambridge, gaining a PPL on Tiger Moths and ended up flying Chipmunks, Cessna 150's and Piper Colts at Barton-Manchester John retired in 1990 and moved to the Isle of Man where he became involved in sailing, the Gaiety Theatre, Port Erin Arts Centre and the Islanders Gliding Club at Jurby. He joined the Andreas Flying Club when it formed in 1995 and has been with the Club ever since. |