Gliding from Germany to Benalla

Abstract:

In the 1920s and 1930, Germans began to take up gliding in large numbers, because the post-WW1 terms of Treaty of Versailles severely restricted Germany’s use of powered aircraft. Gliders were a way around the rules. They also came from a proud tradition of non-powered flight, inspired by the aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal. But the Treaty restrictions changed the very nature of gliding, both within Germany and throughout the world. This chapter notes those changes by tracing their transnational influence to a tiny, rural aerodrome in Southeast Australia, called The Benalla Aerodrome. This site hosts the Southern Hemisphere’s largest and oldest gliding club, The Gliding Club of Victoria. It was established in 1929 and is still going strong today, but without a worldwide gliding community supporting its activities it would not exist. But not all transnational influences are supportive. By just focusing on the Germanic influences this chapter shows how they fall unevenly across the aerodrome site, and as a result both support and challenge the gliding activity that goes on there.

This is a preview of a chapter in a forthcoming edited volume:

Gallacher, L (Eds Edelman, M. & Herrschner, I.), (Publ. late 2026), Transnational Mobility and Nationhood, Springer