International Vintage Sailplane Meet Registration

IVSM 2024 will be held from July 6 to 13 with in-person registration starting on Friday, July 5, starting at 1 PM.  

Online registration opens November 1, 2023!

IVSM 2024

2024 marks the 29th anniversary of the first IVSM, originally organized in 1995 by Jan Scott and Paul A. Schweizer.  In 2024 we also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Vintage Sailplane Association. Prior IVSM gatherings have been highly successful, hosting a variety of international participants and sailplanes at our historic soaring location. We are poised for another successful gathering in 2024 with the support of the VSA, the NSM and the flight operations efforts of the Harris Hill Soaring Corporation (HHSC).

The poster for IVSM 2024 features the Minimoa. This beautiful glider will be on the hill for the meet and we look forward to seeing it and watching it fly. Ted Williams, a local artist famous for his aviation art, has created this fantastic poster. Ted also created our 2021 IVSM artwork. In 2020, Ted presented to the museum his painting, Zani in the Clouds, which is on display next to the Zanonia sailplane at the NSM.

Book your rooms soon. 

IVSM 2024-SCHEDULE

Friday, July 5

Registration Opens 1 pm - Conference room of the National Soaring Museum - there will be check flights for those pilots who haven't flown off Harris Hill during the last 12 months.

Saturday, July 6

• Pilot's Meeting 9:00 am - Safety Meeting
• Sailplane of the Day - Minimoa
• Lunch available $ outdoors at the National Soaring Museum - TBA
• Opening Ceremony 5pm - This is the official opening of IVSM 2024. Outdoors. The ringing of the ceremonial cowbell and welcoming speeches. A Reception will follow at the NSM main floor - beverages & appetizers - participants on their own for dinner.

Sunday, July 7

• Morning Meeting 9:30 am 
• Sailplane of the Day - Franklin Utility
• Speaker of the Day 10 am - Ed Erickson & Elise Eaton 
• Lunch available $ outdoors at the National Soaring Museum 
• International Evening 6pm - This fun gathering of all participants asked to bring and share the tastes of their country or US state. The best way to meet everyone is to share a social evening together. Please bring your local treats. Harris Hill Youth Camp
• Simine Short will make a mini presentation and introduce her book "Flight not Improbable. Octave Chanute and the Worldwide Race toward Flight." Her book discusses the worldwide efforts to develop flight, thus is an appropriate introduction for International Night. Simine and Traff will be available to sign the book if anyone is interested.

Monday, July 8

• Morning Meeting 9:30 am 
• Sailplane of the Day - Bowlus Baby Albatross
• Speaker of the Day 10 am 
• Lunch available $ outdoors at the National Soaring Museum 
• Supper will be a Brat & Burger cook-out at the Flight Center- $20 suggested donation to benefit HHSC Juniors

Tuesday, July 9

• Morning Meeting 9:30 am 
• Sailplane of the Day - TBA
• Speaker of the Day 10 am - Burt Compton, "The Historic First American Internationals; Marfa, Texas 1970"
• Lunch available $ outdoors at the National Soaring Museum 
• Participants on their own for dinner.

Wednesday, July 10 - VSA Day, celebrating 50 Years - Marking the first half centuryof the Vintage Sailplane Association and its birth at Harris Hill, along with visions for the next half century preserving pioneering gliders and honoring their designers and pilots

• Morning Meeting 9:30 am 
• Sailplane of the Day - TBA
• Speaker of the Day 10 am - Jim Short, Geoff Steele and Neal Pfeiffer
• Lunch available $ outdoors at the National Soaring Museum - 
• Dinner-Low Country Boil 6:30pm - $25 - A delicious dinner hosted by Mary and Jim Stoia to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the VSA. The shrimp and vegetable meal can't be missed. Volunteers are requested to give a helping hand. Harris Hill Youth Camp. Tickets available at registration.

Thursday, July 11

• Morning Meeting 9:30 am 
• Sailplanes of the Day - Schweizer 1-19, 2-22E, 2-33B
• Speaker of the Day 10 am at NSM - Kyle Schweizer: "Schweizer Training Glider Development"
• Lunch available $ outdoors at the National Soaring Museum 
• K&L Soaring Tour and Dinner 6:30pm - Continuing a Schweizer family tradition, K&L Soaring will host a tour of their manufacturing and repair facilities of Schweizer sailplanes. Please join the gathering in nearby Cayuta, NY, for an informal dinner.

Friday, July 12

• Morning Meeting 9:30 am 
• Sailplane of the Day - Pratt-Read
• Speaker of the Day 10 am - James "Ridge" Moreland: "Background and Restoration of a Pratt-Read Sailplane"
• Lunch available $ outdoors at the National Soaring Museum 
• Awards Dinner 6:30pm - $45 - A dinner and awards ceremony at the NSM giving recognition to many of the beautifully restored sailplanes at IVSM.  Sailplane Silent Auction results will be announced.  Tickets available at registration.

Saturday, July 13

• Morning Meeting 9:30 am 
• Sailplane of the Day - TBA
• Speaker of the Day 10 am - Colin & Brodie Henderson: "World War II Glider Training (including the EASC) and Post-War Military Glider Programs"
• Lunch available $ outdoors at the National Soaring Museum 

NOTE: On an appropriate morning, weather permitting, there are plans for a winch launch of a vintage sailplane.