Today, while sitting around at work, I read Peter Garrison's article in the July edition of Flying magazine. He stated that following the treaty that ended WWII (forgive me, I can't spell it, and I don't have the magazine handy right now), Germany was prohibited from building any powered aircraft, leaving only gliders as an option. He didn't elaborate on this any more, as the article was more about some scientist (who's name I also can't spell) that came from across the pond. That little sentence got me thinking. Is soaring more popular in Europe than in the US (seems to me it is). And if so, could this (the treaty and ban) be the reason why?Just something to stir up discussion.

Well, I'm not sure about the popularity difference, but the ban on building powered aircraft didn't last very long - up until some time in the mid/late fifties, when the allies agreed to allow West Germany to maintain armed forces (the cold war was just getting, well, colder, I suppose, would be the word). However, the school I went to in Germany had a soaring club, which was slightly out of the ordinary, but not that unusual; whilst during my year at a US High School, I found numerous sports clubs and - even more amazing - a car repairs class, which was part of the curriculum, but no soaring.So yes, maybe it's a bit more popular in Europe, but then again, I haven't found many soaring clubs at British schools or universities, although there were a lot of aviation programmes sponsored by the RAF.Cheers,Gosta.

Maybe the difference in cost of powered flight between US and Europe has something to do with it????