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 Growing up in the 1950's aviation was a highly visible and romantic thing, most little boys were fascinated with flight and Dick was no exception.
This romance with aviation led to obtaining a degree in aeronautical engineering and accepting his first job as a wind tunnel test engineer for the Sverdrup Corporation. It was not until 1967 that he was able to experience the joy of soaring and obtain a glider pilot license. In 1968 Dick says he ordered and took delivery of his first sailplane, a K6E and shortly thereafter entered competitive soaring.
His first time to represent the USA as a team member was in the open class in Finland 1975. Subsequently he represented the USA in the next three internationals with the last being in Hobbs, NM in 1983. At this point in his life he had to drop out of soaring to focus on his career and did not reenter soaring until 1999 when he retired from Sverdrup. It was not until 2006 that he was able to again make the USA team flying in Sweden and again in 2012 in Uvalde. It has been a long dry spell since an open class USA team member has been on the podium at a WGC. Dick says his team mate Ron Tabery and he are committed to breaking that spell in Poland with a goal of one or both of them being on the podium when all the dust settles. Ron and I were able to fly as a team in Uvalde with some success doing some things good and others not so good. We practiced together for a week this fall with the sole intent of improving our team flying skills. Our practice continued to uncover our strengths and weaknesses in team flying and we hope to build on these experiences this spring when we will again get together for additional team practice before going to Poland. Dick will be flying the Concordia sailplane, which was designed and built in the USA. It would be personally very rewarding to place well in the championship in an American built sailplane, something that has not been accomplished for decades.
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 Ron Tabery's first glider ride at age eight was with Neil Armstrong, but he had to wait until age 14 to solo in a SGS 1-26. His principle instructor was his father, George Tabery, who is remembered for having demonstrated the concept of water ballast in 1947. Ron entered competition soaring in 1979, winning eight consecutive contest days flying an ASW-12 in a regional championship - a feat he has not since repeated. His more than 5,000 soaring hours include competition and record flying. Tabery is eight time US National Champion, ten time winner of the Larissa Stroukoff Memorial award, and has won the Hatcher "Top Gun" Trophy four times.
Internationally, Ron has competed in seven World Championships and a Hitachi Master's. His performance at the world level includes two 5th place finishes - in St. Auban, France and Leszno, Poland - and six top 10 placements. As a life-long advocate for competition soaring, Ron introduced and developed several contest sites including Uvalde, Brady, and most recently Fredericksburg, where he serves as competition director. Tabery is a life member of the SSA, a 30-year member of Fault Line Flyers in Austin, participates in the OLC, and holds most of the Texas Open Class speed and distance records. Based in Austin and Houston, Ron is a chemical engineer and enjoys soaring whenever Central and South Texas weather permits.
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