Tail Marking on Gliders

Thanks to Danny J from Shawbury for your question that you sent in on Messenger.

In addition to their G-XXXX registration that you can see on the underside of the wing or on the fuselage, gliders also display a British Gliding Association (BGA) number.  That number, small in size and not visible when the glider is in the air, is usually shown on the fin.

Many gliders also show a large trigraph or competition number on the fin and these competition numbers are also issued by the BGA. These consist of three-digit numbers but could be any three alpha-numeric characters and we use the trigraph when calling the glider by radio. The competition number or the trigraph is usually the most visible and best remembered marking on a British glider and you will probably see these markings when the glider is turning or soaring in a thermal.  The prefix R is reserved for RAF gliders, N for Navy and A for Army. So, by way of example, gliders that are regularly seen over the local area will be R22 and R35, both RAF owned K21 2-seat gliders used for training.

Finally, if you know the G-XXXX registration then you can find out more details about the glider by entering the registration in G-INFO at https://www.caa.co.uk/aircraft-register/g-info/search-g-info/