Fieseler Fi 97
| Fieseler Fi 97 | |
|---|---|
 Fieseler Fi 97 at the Kassel-Waldau airfield |
|
| Type: | Sports and touring aircraft |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
April 1934 |
| Commissioning: |
1934 |
| Production time: |
1934 |
| Number of pieces: |
5 |
.svg){kind=small}
The four-seat Fieseler Fi 97 sports aircraft was built by Fieseler Flugzeugbau GmbH in Kassel in 1933/34 . It was one of three models that the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) had commissioned at the end of 1933, especially for participation in the 1934 European tour (Challenge de Tourisme International) with five or six pieces each. The competitors were Klemm with the Kl 36 and the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke with the Bf 108 . Particular emphasis was placed on high cruising speed, with the shortest possible take-off and landing distances. The curb weight was limited to 560 kg.
History of origin
The beginnings of the project go back to autumn 1932. In the budget of the Reich Ministry of Transport , an item for the further development of the aircraft from the 1932 competition was planned for the same in 1934. The RLM, which emerged six months later, continued this intention, but now with considerably greater resources. But why Fieseler's company, as he describes in his book, received the order two to three months later than the two rival companies, has not yet been clarified. In any case, his company had practically only seven months to design, build the five aircraft, test them and certify them. The rather small company, which was still struggling with difficulties at the time, accepted the challenge and at the same time great opportunity. Led by the technical director Erich Bachem , with Kurt Arnolt as chief designer and Dr. Ing.Kurt Hohenemser as aerodynamicist, succeeded, albeit with difficulty, in completing the aircraft on time. As required by the RLM, two different engines were installed and tested, and two different wing shapes with highly effective lift aids were developed and examined. As far as can be seen from pictures, however, the same wing design was ultimately used on all five aircraft. After exerting all efforts, they were ready to fly in on time. Gerhard Fieseler made the first flight with the first completed aircraft himself, as did many of the subsequent test flights after the changes that were repeatedly required. In the end, however, the pilots who were designated as competition pilots had very little time to familiarize themselves. The higher their performance afterwards are to be assessed. They then transferred their planes to the starting point in Warsaw . After a previous stopover in Poznan, where all the German participants gathered, they arrived there together.
The planes and their pilots
| Competition number |
Mark | engine | Pilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17th | D-IVIF | HM 8 U | Wolf Hirth |
| 18th | D-IBYR | As 17 A | Walter Bayer |
| 19th | D-IPUS | As 17 A | Hans Seidemann |
| 21st | D-IZUH | HM 8 U | Gerhard Hubrich |
| 22nd | D-IDAH | HM 8 U | Dr. Georg Pasewaldt |
The competition
Warsaw was the venue because after the invitation to tender, the country from which the winner of the last comparison came had to host the competition. On August 28, 1934, the participants had to land by 12 noon. The three German groups were there, although all five of the Fi 97 were only there, while each of the two competitors was missing an aircraft. On the same day, the technical tests began, such as checking the compliance with the weight and equipment, assessing the comfort and arrangement of the seats, duration of the folding of the surfaces and the rearmament, as well as many other things, all of which were noticeable with point additions or deductions. Then the maximum and minimum speed were determined and the length of the take-off and landing routes when approaching and departing via a rope that was stretched across at a height of 8 m and marked with pennants. Of the German aircraft, the Fi 97 performed best in this test.
The subsequent cross-country flight led a total of around 9500 km over Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, Yugoslavia, Austria and Czechoslovakia back to Warsaw, where the flight ended on September 14th. As the best German, Seidemann landed with his Fi 97 in third place behind two Poles. All four other Fieseler aircraft were also in good shape in 9th (Dr. Pasewaldt), 12 (Bayer), 13 (Hirth) and 16 (Hubrich) Target.
The three German aircraft manufacturers taking part in the competition were to face each other again as competitors a year later in the tender for a liaison aircraft for the Air Force.
technical description
The four-seater low-wing aircraft with a closed cabin (hood slidable to the rear) had a fuselage consisting of a welded tubular steel frame of rectangular cross-section, which was brought into a round shape with molded strips and covered with fabric. The engine area and the front section were covered with easily removable light metal sheets.
The three-part structure consisted of a central piece made of welded steel tubes bolted to the fuselage, to which the heavily swept outer wings, made entirely of wood, were attached with a clear V-position. The force-fit connection resulted from two fitting bolts that could be inserted from above, after which the wings could be rotated and placed laterally on the fuselage to the rear. Apparently mechanically operated Handley-Page - Lachmann - slats were attached to the leading edge in the aileron area as buoyancy aids , while at the trailing edge over the entire span, which Fieseler referred to as rolling wings , extended backwards and downwards, landing flaps of great depth in Fowlerart the wing surface and the Profile curvature enlarged. They were guided in rails that can be clearly seen in the pictures.
All construction methods were represented at the tail unit. The fin, as part of the fuselage structure, was constructed like this from welded steel tubes. The horizontal stabilizer formed a fin made entirely of wood, braced against the fuselage and vertical stabilizer and adjustable in flight, together with an elevator made as a light metal frame. The rudder was constructed in the same way. All had fabric covers. The ailerons could only be deflected upwards due to the landing flap arranged below, so that their effect was only weak.
The landing gear with oil-dampened long-stroke spring struts was kept particularly stable in order to be able to absorb the expected very hard landings with high sinking speed. There was also a swiveling abrasive spur.
Two engines, which were also newly designed for this competition, were installed as a drive. Two of the aircraft had the hanging, air-cooled 6-cylinder Argus As 17 A with 225 hp, the other three had the also air-cooled 8-cylinder Hirth HM 8 U with 250 hp. Despite the short trial period, none of them showed any major malfunction in any of the five Fi 97s.
Technical specifications
| Manufacturer: | Fieseler |
| Type: | Fi 97 |
| Design: | Low-wing aircraft |
| Design type: | self-supporting |
| Usage: | Sport, travel |
| Engine: | Argus As 17 A, 225 PS or Hirth HM 8 U, 250 PS |
| Crew: | 1 pilot, 3 passengers |
Further technical details
|
|
|
literature
- Gerhard Fieseler: My path in the sky. The builder of the Fieseler Storch and the V 1 tells his life. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-570-01192-5 (autobiography).
- Aviation. Issue 18, 1934, p. 385 ff.
- Günter Frost: Internationaler Rundflug 1934. In: Jet & Prop. Heft 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, 2005, and 2, 2006, ISSN 0942-461X .
- Bruno Lange: Die deutsche Luftfahrt, type manual of the German aviation technology , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, ISBN 3-7637-5284-6
- Günter Brinkmann, Kyrill von Gersdorff, Werner Schwipps: The German aviation, sport and travel aircraft - guidelines for a diverse development , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, ISBN 3-7637-6110-1
- Heinz J. Nowarra : The German Air Armor 1933-1945, Volume 2. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1993, ISBN 3-7637-5466-0 .