In 1933 the first gliding school in Nida was founded, of which Gregor Heidrich-Radvenis was the first head. He spent the summer of this and the following years on the Curonian Spit. The people from the gliders camp dragged the self-constructed gliders up the dunes. From there the gliders were tow-started with the help of ropes and could glide down the dunes. Today one of the dunes is named after them: the glider's dune.

At the foot of the dunes a hangar was built, where the gliders were kept. There were also workshops and a camp for the pilots and the crew. Unfortunately the school did not exist very long: soon after the occupation of the Memelland the Germans destroyed the camp, because they had built an own camp a few kilometres south on the Curonian Spit.

During our stay in Lithuania we had the opportunity to visit the old hangar in Nida. You have to take the last gateway from Nida in the south, then turn left into the forest shortly after the hill top. On a oneway forest path you go into the forest and keep right at the next crossing, an inconspicuous sign post helps to find the way. In the forest the entrance of former hangar was rebuilt out of steel so that one can imagine the original dimensions.

A few years ago (I think it was 1998) a monument for the most famous pilots was built at the old gliding school. Today the whole place is situated in the deep forest. But in 1933, when the gliders built the planes here, there was not a single tree, the trees were planted later.