Sports aid - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1981 - 90 Pfennig

With the issue of special stamps with surcharges in favor of the »Stiftung Deutsche Sporthilfe«, the tasks of the foundation in the social and in the field of competitive sports are supported. There are over 38,000 glider pilots in the Federal Republic of Germany. With almost 50% share, they form the strongest sports section of the German Aero Club e.V., in addition to the parachutists, balloonists, hang glider pilots, motorcyclists and model aviators, which collectively brings together around 80,000 members in 1,200 clubs. While 26,500 glider pilots already have the "official air license", this pass is still being sought by more than 10,000 flight students, mostly between the ages of 14 and 21 years. As sports equipment are available for these gliders over 6,000 gliders, which are mostly club property and shared. In addition to the particularly powerful "super orchids", as on the stamp image, there are many robust exercise gliders and for training the Schuldoppelsitzer. The grandfather of gliding is Otto Lilienthal, who flew a proud 400 meters in 1891. Later, the Rhön became the focal point of the gliding development, and as early as 1920 there was the first gliding competition on Wasserkuppe. From here, the sport of motorless flying began a triumphal march through the whole world. Today, 58 nations with 130,000 active gliders belong to the International Gliding Commission of the World Air Federation FAI. Of all these, the best 100 pilots from North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe will meet in Paderborn-Haxterberg from 24 May to 7 June 1981 for the 17th World Gliding Championships, an event for the Federal President Professor Karl Carstens has taken the patronage. By the way: The gliding sport finds also strong interest with the female sex. Over 10% of all glider pilots are women with a particularly high proportion in the adolescent age groups. (Text: Stiftung Deutsche Sporthilfe, Frankfurt am Main)