Fischer flight mechanics

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The fishing flight mechanics (FF) was founded in 1979 by Hanno Fischer in Moenchengladbach as an engineering company for the research and development of ground effect vehicles established. Fischer Flugmechanik has been developing commercial ground-effect vehicles and marketing license rights for series production since the early 1990s .

Advance developments

Hanno Fischer has been building ground effect vehicles at Rhein-Flugzeugbau since the mid-1960s, after the company was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Defense in 1969 to build the test vehicle RFB X.113 for planned ground-effect studies by Alexander Lippisch . Lippisch already had knowledge of the design of ground-effect vehicles from his wooden flying boat Collins X.112 , which was built by Collins in the USA , while Fischer had extensive knowledge of plastic aircraft construction from his work on the LFU 205 . Fischer executed the ground-effect aircraft designed by Lippisch as a plastic flying boat, which flew for the first time on Lake Constance in October 1970 as D-9568 under the direction of Dietmar Schönfelder. Schönfelder also directed the further test program between 1970 and 1972 with flights on Lake Constance and on the Weser. The small X.113 with a short wingspan was no longer suitable for ocean flights.

Fischer and Lippisch therefore suggested to the Federal Ministry of Defense in 1973 to develop another, larger test vehicle , the RFB X.114 . The Federal Ministry of Defense finally commissioned Rhein-Flugzeugbau in 1975 with the construction of a six-seater flying boat for sea reconnaissance, with which the range of 2000 km and a flight time of 20 hours forecast by Lippisch and Fischer was to be demonstrated in practice on the high seas. After Alexander Lippisch died during the development work on February 11, 1976, Hanno Fischer continued work on the new test vehicle alone. As the scientific director for the test program, Volkmar Wilckens took off on April 15, 1977 with the X.114 for its maiden flight. Extensive tests on controllability, stability and maneuverability on the Baltic Sea were carried out on the X.114. During one of the test flights, the X.114 undercut the water surface and was destroyed during the subsequent impact on the water in 1978.

Fischer then submitted drafts for a follow-up test vehicle under the designation RFB 215 and RFB X.117 to the Federal Ministry of Defense . Since the Federal Ministry of Defense was already relying on land and sea-based surveillance systems at the end of the 1970s, there was no longer any interest in a new edition of the X.114. After Rhein-Flugzeugbau was taken over by the MBB Group , work on ground-effect vehicles at RFB was stopped.

Basic research and experimental vehicles

Hanno Fischer received permission from RFB to continue the ground effect research using his earlier patents from the X.113 and X.114 construction on a private basis. To this end, Fischer founded the engineering office Fischer Flugmechanik in 1979, in which he and Klaus Matjasic initially carried out fundamental investigations into the design of ground-effect vehicles. In order to keep the air law complexity out of the drafts, Hanno Fischer decided to design future ground-effect vehicles as boats, which he still calls Wing in Ground (WIG) today. Fischer and Matjasic implemented their ideas in a simple test vehicle called the Fischer Airfish AF-1 , with which the two carried out their first test flights in 1987 on Lake Baldeney near Essen. The AF-1 was fundamentally modified in 1989. She received shorter wings and an improved tail unit, as well as a more powerful engine under the name Fischer Airfish AF-2 . With the AF-2, Fischer was able to demonstrate the maritime law requirements for a boat as well as the performance of the design and its stability. The principle function of a ram-wing boat including the mechanism to prevent free wings was summarized by Fischer in patent DE4010877A1 in April 1990.

For the operation of larger TIG boats, the high energy requirement until the boat lifted out of the water turned out to be a problem. In 1997, Fischer Flugmechanik developed the Hoverwing technology based on hovercrafts, in which an air cushion is built between the catamaran hulls of the boat during the start-up phase. With funding from the Federal Ministry of Research, Fischer Flugmechanik built a hoverwing test vehicle under the name Fischer Hoverwing HW2VT in 1997 in collaboration with the Duisburg Inland Shipbuilding Institute . In the subsequent four-year trial, Fischer Flugmechanik developed the hoverwing technology until 2001, ready for series production for larger TIGs.

Commercial developments

The first WIG designed for commercial marketing and series production was developed by Fischer flight mechanics with the two-seater sport boat variant Fischer Airfish AF-3 , which was created in 1990 and which, after being tested, was the first WIG to receive a shipbuilding approval according to the International Maritime Organization IMO Classification B. From 1997 onwards, the eight-seat taxi boat Fischer Airfish AF-8 was built at Fischer Flugmechanik , for which Germanischer Lloyd granted the world's first approval for a ground-effect vehicle in December 2001 under IMO No. 9274989. The AF-8 was first built in Australia, since 2004 in Singapore and Malaysia.

After completing the hoverwing development, Fischer Flugmechanik presented numerous designs for larger TIG ferry boats from 2001 onwards. A prototype for the twenty- seater Fischer Hoverwing HW20 ferry boat has been under construction since 2010, and testing is scheduled for the end of 2017. A prototype of the Fischer Hoverwing HW50 has been developed at Wingship Technologies in South Korea since February 2011 under the name Wingship WSH500 . It has been in testing and approval since 2011. The draft of the eighty- seat Fischer Hoverwing HW80 is also available for a prototype. Fischer Flugmechanik is trying to get a German licensee for this boat.

Marketing and Licensing

As an engineering office, Fischer Flugmechanik limits itself to the design of ground-effect vehicles and their development up to series production. For the completed developments, Fischer Flugmechanik issues licenses for series production to interested production companies. For the construction of prototypes or model boats, which is often required by licensees, Fischer and Matjasic later founded Airfoil Development GmbH (AFD), which received a free license for prototype construction from Fischer Flugmechanik . AFD took over the construction of the prototypes for the Airfish AF-8, the HW2VT and the Hoverwing HW20.

Fischer Flugmechanik signed an initial license agreement in 1990 with Rhein-Flugzeugbau, who wanted to take over the series production of the Airfish AF-3 sports boat. Due to the economic insolvency of RFB, only the AF-3 prototype was created at RFB, which was produced for the American marketing company Flarecraft Corporation . Later, Flarecraft produced 5-6 unlicensed replicas of the Airfish AF-3 under the designation Flarecraft L-325 , which, however, did not convince due to design deviations.

The rights to series production of the Airfish AF-8 were acquired in 1997 by the Australian Flightship Ground Effect Pty. The prototype was created between 1999 and 2001 at AFD in Germany and was handed over to Australia in December 2001 after testing was completed. The series production of four boats under the designation Flightship FS-8 began in 2003 at the shipyard in Cairns . Due to the insolvency of Flightship Pty. In 2004 none of the four boats was completed. Wigetworks Ltd. acquired the AF-8 prototype in 2004 . in Singapore. Together with Fischer Flugmechanik, the prototype was restored and improved until 2010, as well as a new approval. Since 2010, two prototypes have been manufactured in the production yard at Composite Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM).

The first larger TIG boat with Hoverwing technology was the Hoverwing HW50 in 2009, for which Wingship Technologies in South Korea acquired the production rights. A fifty-seat prototype was created in 2011 under the name Wingship WSH500 , for which at least one order has been placed by the Korean Navy.

The production rights for the twenty- seat Fischer Hoverwing HW20 were taken over by the Indonesian company PT AGEC Techno in Jakarta in 2008. The required prototype construction was initially carried out in 2013 at Aeroststruktur in Gundelfingen. Airfoil Development GmbH later took over the construction responsibility. Completion is expected towards the end of 2017.

Other developments

In addition to TIG development, Hanno Fischer also works on aeronautical developments at Fischer Flugmechanik. Among other things, Fischer Flugmechanik developed the FF Whisperfan , which was later also installed in the prototype of the RW-3 for testing purposes .

Patents

In addition to numerous patents for the X.113 and X.114 at Rhein-Flugzeugbau, Hanno Fischer had already summarized the findings from ten years of basic research at Fischer Flugmechanik in a patent for a paddle boat (patent no. DE4010877) at Rhein-Flugzeugbau in April 1990. In the years that followed, Fischer and Matjasic at Fischer Flugmechanik continued to refine this patent.

  • Ram-wing boat , DE4010877A1 of 4 April 1990, DE19637544 of 14 September 1996 DE59701418 of 12 September 1997
  • Airfoil and Ground Effect Vehicle , DE19857749A1 dated December 15, 1998

drafts

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Otto Fischer, Rhein Flugzeugbau GmbH: Patent DE4010877A1 - Staufluegelboot . In: Google Books . April 4, 1990 ( google.com [accessed May 20, 2017]).
  2. ↑ Hanno Fischer, Klaus Matjasic: Bodeneffekt vehicle Ground effect vehicle . DE19637544 A1, March 19, 1998 ( google.com [accessed on May 20, 2017]).
  3. ↑ Analytics for US Patent No. 6230835, Ground effect vehicle. Retrieved May 20, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Klaus Matjasic: hydrofoil profile and ground effect vehicle Airfoil and ground effect vehicle . DE19857749 A1, June 21, 2000 ( google.com [accessed on May 20, 2017]).