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Birmingham Guild
Birmingham Guild Ltd Yorkshire Sailplanes Swales Sailplanes
The original Gypsy was the brainchild of Air Commodore
Lawrence Patrick Moore, CBE, A.F.R.Ae.S. (born 27 Aug 1906, died 15 January1976 in Hereford) and designed by Sailplane Designs
Ltd (Moore, J. Gibson and K. Emslie) in 1965. It was offered to every glider and aircraft manufacturer in Britain and rejected.
Eventually a prototype was built by the Birmingham Guild Ltd, a company specialising in metal components
for the aircraft industry, and made its first flight from Pendeford airfield near Wolverhampton on 7 April 1970, piloted by
Derek Piggott. The original wing design used a foam core to stabilise a thin skin, but when Birmingham Guild took up the design
they wanted metal, and the BG-100/12 prototype first flew with 12m wings using 0.3mm dural skin.
A 13.46 m span
BG-100/13.5 was first flown on 30 May 1971. A rebuild of the sole BG-100/12, it had new wings and an increased span tailplane
of higher aspect ratio. The first pre-production Gypsy, the BG-135, originally designated Gypsy 12/15, flew in March 1972.
It differed from the earlier versions chiefly in its wing construction, having the foam-stabilised thin skin of the BG-100s
replaced by an aluminium alloy skinned D-box leading edge, based on the main spar, and with fabric covering between main and
rear spars. Following some minor modifications, production of batch of seven was prepared. Birmingham Guild anticipated a
follow-on batch of 20 aircraft and planned minimum production of 25 per year.
However, the sailplanes flying qualities
were not well received and in 1973 Yorkshire Sailplanes bought the rights to the BG-135. Renamed the YS-55
Consort, production began in September 1973, the company at first completing four of the original Birmingham Guild aircraft.
Some changes were carried out to the original design, notably in the fuselage profile, and the flying controls operated by
rods instead of cables.
In 1975 Yorkshire Sailplanes was declared bankrupt and the jigs and materials were acquired
by Bryan Swales of Swales Sailplanes, of Long Street, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, who developed an improved
version called SD-3. However, little of the original design by now remained. The wingspan was increased to 15m, and the detail
parts redesigned for production in a small workshop. The prototype SD3-15 was built for Swales by Gerry Kemp and Jim Beck.
The original V-tailed SD3-15 (later designated SD3-15V) first flew in July 1975 and the SD3-15T, a T-tailed version, flew
in December 1976. Production ceased in 1979. .
Company References - Sailplane and Gliding,
April-May, 1976
- Flight 14 Dec 1972
- Flight 9 Aug 1973
- Flight 21 Aug 1975
- Flight
12 Mar 1977
Project Data 
Project No | Type No | Name | Alternative
Name(s) | Year | Spec | Status | Qty | Description | References |
| Birmingham Guild Ltd | | | BG-100/12 |
Gypsy |
| 1970 | |
Proto |
1 |
1S
sailplane | 2,7,9 | | | BG-100/13.5 | Gypsy |
(See
note 1) | 1971 | | Proto |
(1) |
1S
sailplane | (1) | | | BG-135 | Gypsy | Gypsy
12/15 | 1972 | | Prdn |
4 |
1S
sailplane | 1,6,7,9 | | Yorkshire Sailplanes |
| |
YS-55 |
Consort |
|
1973 |
| Prdn | 10 | 1S sailplane |
1,5,7 |
| Swales Sailplanes |
| | SD3-15V | |
| 1975 | |
Prdn |
2 |
1S
sailplane | 1,4,8,9 | | | SD3-15T | | | 1976 | |
Prdn |
4 |
1S
sailplane | 1,3,8,9 | Project References - Gliders and Sailplanes
of the World, Michael Hardy, (Ian Allen, 1982)
- British Gliders and Sailplanes 1922-1970, Norman Ellison
(Adam and Charles Black, 1970)
- Flight 12 Mar 1977
- Flight 21 Aug 1975
- Flight
9 Aug 1973
- Flight 14 Dec 1972
- British Gliders, P.H. Butler (Merseyside Aviation Society,
2nd Ed. 1975)
- Jane's World Sailplanes and Motor Gliders, Andrew Coates (Jane's Publishing Company, 1980)
- https://www.j2mcl-planeurs.net/
Production Summary
Select the  button to go to the appropriate listings page.
Note: In the Production Summary, conversions are only listed where
they result in a change from one Type to another. Changes to sub-type or Mark Number are not shown in the summary. For details
of these, see the individual listings.
Type No | Name | Qty | | BG-100/12 | Birmingham Guild
Gypsy | 1 | | BG-135 | Birmingham Guild Gypsy | 4 | | YS-55 | Yorkshire Sailplanes
Consort | 10 |
| SD3 | Swales
SD3-15 | 6 |
|
Total Production 21
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