Arado LI

Arado LI
Type:	Sports and touring aircraft
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	Arado
First flight:	1929
Commissioning:	-
Production time:	1929
Number of pieces:	1

The Arado LI is a German sport and touring aircraft produced by Arado Flugzeugwerke . It was designed for the European tour of 1929 and remained a one-off.

development

In order to take part in the European sightseeing flight advertised by the French Aero Club for the first time in January 1929, the MAC (Mecklenburg Aero Club) commissioned Arado to manufacture a small, two-seater sports aircraft. The implementation of a design by the graduate engineer Hermann Hofmann was specified as a condition for implementation. Hofmann, who had already designed aircraft for Akaflieg Darmstadt and GMG , was therefore given sole responsibility for the calculation and construction of the L I model. When planning the project, he did without aerobatics and geared it to the highest possible cruising speed, taking into account the requirements of the competition. The position of the stick hanging under the wing was unusual. In the summer of 1929 the L I with the work number 56 was completed, baptized with the name Ostseebad Warnemünde and registered with the license plate D–1707. The test flights, in which he achieved speeds of up to 150 km / h, were carried out by Hofmann himself. They gave good flight characteristics and, thanks to the high wing set, excellent visibility. A slight instability around the transverse axis was criticized.

At the beginning of August, the L I started to take part in the competition in the direction of Paris. It was made by Dr. Eggers controlled by the MAC; Hofmann flew as a companion. This combination was also intended for the sightseeing flight. The flight took place in bad weather, but went without incident. The technical acceptance in Paris did not result in any complaints. On August 5, 1929, the competition began with a measurement flight on fuel consumption, which ended for the L I with an emergency landing due to engine overheating 30 km south of Orly airport . For unknown reasons, after changing the carburetor nozzle, Dr. Eggers back on the ground, while Hofmann then flew on alone. When he got to the airport, the pilot began flying fictional characters for no reason, even though the plane wasn't designed for that. From the supine position, it went into a tailspin , which overloaded the structure of the wing and caused it to break apart in the middle. Hofmann fell to the ground unbraked from about 400 m with the L I and was immediately dead.

construction

L I is a strutted high-wing aircraft in wood construction .

hull

The slim, spindle-shaped hull made entirely of wood is planked with sheet metal in the engine area and otherwise with plywood. The open crew cabins are separated from each other in front of and behind the wing.

Structure

The structure consists of a continuous, one-piece wing in trapezoidal shape with two spars. It is connected to the fuselage by a canopy made of N-struts.

Tail unit

The tail unit in normal wood construction is self-supporting and not balanced.

landing gear

The landing gear consists of the rigid main landing gear connected to the fuselage by three struts each, one of which is sprung, and a grinding spur at the stern.

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
crew	1
Passengers	1
span	10.00 m
length	6.00 m
height	2.30 m
Wing area	14.50 m²
Empty mass	270 kg
Takeoff mass	maximum 500 kg
drive	an air-cooled nine-cylinder - four stroke - radial engine with a rigid two-bladed wooden propeller
Type	Salmson AD 9
Take-off power Combat and climb power Rated power Continuous power	45 HP (33 kW) 40 HP (approx. 30 kW) on the ground 40 HP (approx. 30 kW) on the ground 36 HP (26 kW)
Top speed	140–150 km / h near the ground

literature

• Volker Koos: Arado Flugzeugwerke 1925–1945 . Heel, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 978-3-89880-728-9 , pp. 33/34 .
• Jörg Armin Kranzhoff: Arado. History of an aircraft factory . Aviatic, Oberhaching 1995, ISBN 3-925505-27-X , p. 38 ff .
• Peter All-Fernandez (ed.): Aircraft from A to Z . tape 3 . Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1987, ISBN 3-7637-5904-2 , p. 112 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Volker Koos: Aviation between the Baltic Sea and Breitling . Warnemünde sea and land airfield 1914–1945. Transpress, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-344-00480-8 , pp. 129 ff .