In 2004 John Pangakis (the son of George Pangakis) found in his father's archive a roll of a 35mm photo film in clips.
It was in "black and white" and was shot by G. Pangakis in 1940.
As he was doing the shooting, he is not pictured in any of the photos. Nor do we recognize today any of the people pictured.
The photos saw the gliding activity in Thessaloniki (Macedonia). The exact place is the hill over the Asvestohori village.
In those days a film was not an inexpensive commodity. You never shot a whole roll of film in just one occasion.
As can be judged by the clothing (and the sky) it has been shot in several occasions.
We arranged the pictures in a rational sequence.
The glider has been loaded on a small cart and it is drawn uphill.
It's a long way up.
That is as far as the cart can go. Note the bungee coil loaded on the cart.
The bush is dry and prickly but it is not as impenetrable as it looks. Goat herds eat their way through and leave many narrow paths.
The glider is carried up the hill with bare hands. It is not an easy thing to do.
The glider is a Vrona 2 (pronounced VronaBis). Note the frontal protection bar that was not a standard equipment of the glider.
Almost there.. some more meters to go.
Once on top, some rest and some talking on what to do next .
First the tail tie-down has to be deeply driven into the ground .
The bungee is being spread on the ground. This picture is not in Macedonia. It was found with the other film clips, but it is in Athens.
The cliffs on the background are on the feet of Mount Parnis. They are used today as a practice wall by the climbing clubs.
The take-off area is today the fancy Thrakomakedones suburb of Athens. The glider is a Zoeglin.
Back to Thessaloniki. The bungee is hooked to the glider. Note the younster holding the axe used to cut loose the tail tie-down rope.
Almost ready to go.
And.. down we go for one more flight. Who's next?
In 28/10/1940 the WW2 reached Greece and gliding was over.
After the war, the VronaBis of the "Thessaloniki's Aeroclub" was found and repaired.
It flew again for a while in 1946 as the "Old lady Vrona" (griaVrona).