April 1931 was the B.A.C. IV with longer, tapered wings. One was sold to Mr C M C Turner of the Channel Gliding Club. For an intended channel crossing. it was towed to 10,000 ft by Sqn Ldr Probyn in his Westland Widgeon G-EBRQ on 18 June 1931, but this was not high enough for the planned flight. B.A.C. V The B.A.C. V was simply a B.A.C. III equipped with a pair of wheels for auto-towing. One was built for the Border Gliding Club, while the Preston & District club converted their B.A.C. III for towing off the beach at Middleton Sands, Heysham. However this aircraft crashed there fatally on 15 May 1932. B.A.C. VI When the B.A.C. IV was fitted with wheels, it was known as the B.A.C. VI. One was soared by Wolf Hirth at Balsdean on 1 April 1931 for 2hrs 13min. The Taunton & West Somerset Gliding Club was presented with a B.A.C. VI by their president, Lt. Col. Hamilton Gault, M.P., which was first demonstrated for the club by Mr Lowe-Wylde on 9 July 1931. B.A.C. VII On 12 April 1931 the first two-seat B.A.C. VII flew, still using the 40 ft 10in span wings of the B.A.C. IV and VI, but with a new fuselage and an aircraft-type twin-wheel undercarriage for aero- or auto-towing. A B.A.C. VII sponsored by novelist Barbara Cartland was intended to compete for the Daily Mail cross-channel competition prize, but in trials, flown by Edward Mole and towed by DH.60 Moth G-AAPA of National Flying Services, the combination was unable to get above 6,000 ft, insufficient height for a crossing, so instead a towed flight was made from Maidstone to Reading on 20 June 1931. (Robert Kronfeld made a successful channel crossing the same day.) The RAF Pageant held at Hendon on 25 June 1932 included a display by three B.A.C. VII gliders. At the British Gliding Association meeting at Huish/Pewsey Hill, G E Collins – the BGA instructor, made the first thermal-soaring flights in the UK, with a cross-country flight of 6 miles in a B.A.C. VII on 3 July 1933. Some B.A.C. VIIs were sold as kits, including one built in Palestine, and a replica was built by Michael Maufe in the 1980s, using the wings from a Drone. B.A.C. VIII The B.A.C. VIII was a two-seat flying boat glider using B.A.C. VII wings and tail. Nicknamed the