gliding. Repeated attempts to glide by fitting wings ended in failure. But Sir George Cayley in 1852 at Brompton Hall, North Riding, sent his coachman a distance of 500 yards and in 1891 Otto Liliethal successfully launched himself in a hang-glider. As a sport, gliding developed after the First World War and at an international meeting in Sussex in 1922 a flight of 3 hours 21 minutes was achieved. Thermal soaring enabled long flights to be made and by 1939 the world records were 465 miles and 22,500 feet in height. Considerable use was made of gliders during the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Hang-gliding, the pioneer of the sport, made a come-back in the 1970s.

J. A. Cannon

gliding Leisure activity involving flight in a glider. The unpowered glider is launched off the ground by a sling mechanism or towed by a small aircraft and then released. Once airborne, gliders descend relative to the surrounding air. If this air is a rising updraft, a glider may gain altitude for a while, thus prolonging its flight. See also hang gliding