FVA-1
| FVA-1 chats Düvel | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Glider |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
September 1920 |
| Number of pieces: |
1 |
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The FVA-1 Schwatze Düvel (Black Devil) was the first glider of the Aviation Science Association founded in the same year at RWTH Aachen University in 1920 .
development
After Wolfgang Klemperer and Erich Meyer launched the 1st Rhön Competition on March 24, 1920 during his studies at the TH Dresden , through an appeal in the magazine Flugsport , he moved to the Technical University in Aachen in May, where he assistant to Theodore von Kármán was founded and along with this the FVA. When planning his first design, he oriented himself on the patents of Hugo Junkers and designed the aircraft as a cantilever , three - spar low- wing aircraft . The main material used was wood, but also unconventional building materials such as cardboard as part of the planking and bamboo for the fuselage scaffolding. Impregnated black voile was used to cover the wings , which the FVA-1 earned the nickname “Schwatze Düvel” in the local dialect. They have also received at the ends slightly raised ailerons , so that the surfaces slightly side set were what should result in an improvement in stability. The lightweight construction ensured that the weight per unit area of the FVA-1 was only 1.6 kg / m². Also unusual were the pilot's seating position, which protruded far out of the fuselage, and the clad girders with rubber-sprung ash runners that served as landing gear . The construction was carried out in Karl Köhler's workshop by students of the TH Aachen under the technical direction of Klemperer. It happened in a great hurry to be able to take part in the competition in time.
The competition began on July 15, 1920 and was supposed to end on August 31, but the organizers decided to extend the meeting by one week to September 7 due to the bad weather at the end of the month. This was beneficial to the Aachen students, who arrived late at the beginning of September with the FVA-1 on the Wasserkuppe . For this, they carried out starts with a rubber rope for the first time, which was to develop into the common starting method in the following years. The first flight of the Schwatzen Düvel on September 4th was successful, because Klemperer was able to stay in the air for 32 seconds over a distance of 360 m. The second start achieved 220 m in 75 seconds and with the third Klemperer surpassed the course record of 832 m, which had existed since 1912, with 1830 m in 142 seconds by almost exactly one kilometer. The effect of the slope wind , the presence of which was still relatively unknown at the time, could also be observed for the first time when the FVA-1 flying on the western slope in the direction of Sieblos at a height of about 10 m achieved a height gain of several meters for a short time, whereby the wind speed was about 4- Was 5 m / s. After bad weather again forced the flights to be suspended, Klemperer was able to achieve height gains of five to ten meters several times on 7 September in a gusty wind with 15 m / s. In one of the last flights the aircraft overturned on landing and was damaged, but could be repaired and took part in the follow-up competition in 1921.
The Schwatze Düvel turned out to be the best design of the competition, from which Klemperer clearly emerged as the winner, and can be seen as the starting point for the development of performance gliders. As a further development for the 2nd Rhön competition, the Blue Mouse was created the following year , with which Klemperer was able to increase the world record to 5000 m in 13.03 minutes.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | 1 |
| span | 9.5 m |
| length | 6.0 m |
| height | |
| Wing area | 15.0 m² |
| Wing extension | 6.02 |
| Wing loading | 9.1 kg / m² |
| Empty mass | 62 kg |
| Payload | 75 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 137 kg |
| Glide ratio | about 10 |
| slightest sinking | about 1 m / s |
| profile | Gö 442 |
literature
- Günter Brinkmann, Hans Zacher: The evolution of the glider planes. In: German aviation. Volume 19, Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-7637-6104-7 , p. 27ff.
- Hans Jacobs : The development of the performance glider. In: Wolf Hirth (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Segelfliegens. Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1938, p. 88.
- Frank-Dieter Lemke, Rolf Jacob: The Academic Fliegergruppen in Germany until 1945. Part 1. In: Flieger Revue Extra. No. 29, March 2010, ISSN 0941-889X, p. 46
- Martin Simons: Gliders 1920–1945. , 4th edition, Eqip, Bonn 2017, ISBN 3-9806773-6-2 , p. 10ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhard Wissmann: Adventure in wind and clouds. The history of gliding. Transpress, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-344-00275-9 , p. 161