Aero L-60
Aero L-60 | |
---|---|
Type: | Multipurpose aircraft |
Design country: | |
Manufacturer: | |
First flight: |
December 24, 1953 |
Production time: |
1956-1959 |
Number of pieces: |
273 |
The Aero L-60 "Brigadýr" is a light multipurpose aircraft from Czechoslovakia . It appeared in the mid-1950s and was exported to several Eastern Bloc countries, as well as Egypt , Argentina (as "El Langostero"), Cuba and others. It functioned mainly as an agricultural aircraft in agriculture and forestry, but could also be used as a school, medical, aerial and travel aircraft. To this day, the L-60 is used as a towing machine for gliders and skydiving skydivers in aero clubs.
development
The first drafts come from Ondřej Nemec and were created in 1951 to develop a successor to the K-65 "Čáp" , the Czechoslovak version of the German Fieseler Storch . The prototype XL-60/01 (registration number 010 ) flew for the first time in 1953, still equipped with an Argus As-10C engine with 240 HP (177 kW) takeoff power. In 1953, Zdenék Rublič took over the development work. The second XL-60 (registration OK-JEA ) with the serial production M-208B engine started for the first time on March 22, 1955. It was equipped and received with a propeller V-411 and a 300 kg container for chemicals the nickname "Brigadýr". The third prototype (registration number V-01 ) was a military version with a 7.92 mm MG 15 and underwing mounts for light bombs.
Series production ran until the end of the 1950s and ended after the 273rd machine. In addition to those mentioned above, the main customers were Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia , Poland , Romania and the Soviet Union .
Use in the GDR
The commercial aviation department of Deutsche Lufthansa in the GDR received 45 L-60s from March 1957 to 1960. They were equipped with a 400 kg chemical container and used for agricultural flights, but also for school assignments (with double controls), connecting flights and towing banners . In 1962, the NVA gave 20 L-60s from their inventory to Agrarflug. In 1963, the aircraft were taken over by the newly established Interflug agricultural flight operations department. They were gradually replaced by the Z-37 Čmelak from 1967 . Of the 65 L-60s used in agricultural flight, 30 were lost in aircraft accidents.
The NVA received in early 1960 20 L-60 military version of K-60 radio compass and HF / VHF radios. Initially flown at the Transport Aviation School in Dessau, the K-60 were formed into two TAG-17 squadrons (Transport Aviation Training Squadron) and stationed in Garz / Heringsdorf . They were used for training and courier flights and were handed over to Lufthansa as early as 1962.
The GST of the GDR procured 13 L-60s in 1960 and used them as a drop-off aircraft for parachutists. For this purpose, the seats and the right-hand hatch were removed from the aircraft. In this function, however, they were replaced relatively quickly by the An-2 , because two serious accidents occurred during the jump in 1966 and 1968 due to the low-mounted horizontal stabilizer and an early opening parachute. Another task was the glider tow .
In 1973/74 the last of the GDR's 78 L-60s were decommissioned.
construction
The L-60 was a strutted shoulder wing in all-metal shell construction, only the rudder of the tail unit was covered with fabric. The trapezoidal wing had fixed slats and slotted landing flaps and was connected with struts to both the fuselage and the rigid main landing gear. In winter, snow runners could be fitted instead of the wheels .
Versions
designation | features |
XL-60 / 01-03 | Three civil and military prototypes with different engines (see text). |
L-60A | Military production version, which was developed from the third prototype (first flight: July 28, 1955). It was equipped with a movable, rearward-firing 7.92 mm MG 15 and external load stations under the wings to carry two 125 kg bombs, as well as camera equipment and searchlights under the left wing. It was used from 1958 to 1968 in the Czechoslovak Army as a courier and liaison aircraft under the designation K-60 . |
L-60B | Agricultural version equipped with a 350 or 400 liter tank for spraying insecticides and pesticides. There were three main and seven sub-versions with different spray devices. The passenger seats were omitted. |
L-60C | Version for sport flying with a crew of up to four. It could be converted into an ambulance in a very short time. By unhooking the right door, the C could be used as a parachute drop plane. |
L-60D | Tow plane for up to two gliders. There was a winch for the 60-meter tow rope in the rear of the cabin. |
L-60E | Version for patient transport with two stretchers placed one above the other and an emergency seat for the medical attendant. |
L-60F | Military liaison aircraft like the L-60C, but without the option of converting it to a medical aircraft. Some F flew as VIP transporters with more comfortable interiors, cabin heating and night flight equipment. |
L-60S | Version with more powerful radial engine Ivchenko AI-14R . From 1960 onwards Bulgaria and Hungary converted their L-60s in this way, later the ČSSR followed suit. |
L-160, L-260, L-360 | Project drafts with different engines, partially modified hulls, cabins, tail units etc. None was realized, in 1958 the final demolition took place. |
Users
Military users
- Egypt : 10
- Bulgaria : from 1969 to 1983
- German Democratic Republic : 20 from 1960 to 1962
- Romania : 1+
- Czechoslovakia : 56
Civil users
- Egypt
- Argentina
- Bulgaria
- Cuba
- German Democratic Republic : a total of 58 from 1957 to a maximum of 1974 with DLH and GST + 20 from NVA stock from 1962
- Germany
- Yugoslavia
- Austria
- Poland
- Romania
- Switzerland
- Sri Lanka
- Soviet Union
- Syria
- Czechoslovakia
- Hungary
- United States
Technical specifications
Parameter | Data |
---|---|
Manufacturer | Aero |
Years of construction | 1955-60s |
Crew / passengers | 1 / 2–3 |
length | 8.80 m |
span | 13.96 m |
height | 2.72 m |
Wing area | 24.30 m² |
profile | NACA 4412 |
Empty mass | 968 kg |
Takeoff mass | 1420 kg |
Wing loading | 58.5 kg / m² |
Power load | 6.40 kg / m² |
drive | an air-cooled 6-cylinder boxer engine Praga Doris M-208B with two-bladed variable pitch propeller V-411 (ø 2.70 m) |
Starting power nominal power travel power |
220 hp (162 kW) at 3000 rpm −1 200 hp (147 kW) at 2900 rpm −1 180 hp (132 kW) at 2800 rpm −1 |
Top speed | 193 km / h |
Cruising speed | 175 km / h |
Landing speed | 75 km / h |
Minimum speed | 52 km / h |
Rate of climb | 4.4 m / s |
Rise time | 4.3 min at 1000 m altitude 17.5 min at 3000 m altitude |
Service ceiling | 4500 m |
Range | 720 km |
Flight duration | 7 h |
Take-off distance up to 15 m | 225 m |
Landing route with flaps | 195 m |
Take-off / landing runway | 90 m / 75 m |
See also
literature
- Heinz AF Schmidt: Airplanes from all over the world . 3rd revised edition. Transpress, Berlin 1970, p. 15 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fliegerrevue : 70 years of the ČSSR aviation industry. Traditions and Achievements . No. 4/1988 (422) . Military publishing house of the GDR, p. 122 .
- ↑ Air sports in the GDR. Part 2 In: Flieger Revue. Extra 11, 2005, p. 13.
- ↑ L-60 Brigadyr, Serial index ( Memento from May 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Bulgaria, World Air Forces - Historical Listings. ( Memento from January 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ A b Detlef Billig, Manfred Meyer: Airplanes of the GDR. Volume I: until 1962. TOM Modellbau, Friedland 2002, ISBN 3-613-02198-6 , pp. 172-173.
- ^ World Air Forces - Historical Listings Rumania (ROM). ( Memento from January 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )