WEISS glider 'Joker'

   Weiss continued his interest in gliding, even while the powered aircraft were being built and tested. In 1911 a glider named 'Joker', a nickname for one of his sons, was tested at Amberley. The wing took the same form as used in earlier Weiss machines, but the fuselage was long with the pilot's seat at the front, ahead of the uncovered center portion, which extended to behind the wing. The rear fuselage was covered and tapered to a point at the tail and carried a vertical tail surface. The fuselage was triangular in section with the single bottom longeron serving as a skid.
   In 1912 Weiss presented the glider to the Polytechnic Gliding and Flying Society, who held gliding camps in the summer months at Amberley, where it was flown mainly by B. Graham Wood, who was responsible for the control of the activities. Despite all the effort that Weiss put into the design and building, it would appear that he never carried out the actual testing of either his gliders or powered machines, for he was not a young man and had considerable family responsibilities, but he concentrated much time and effort to model work.