Fournier RF-9

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RF-9
Fournier RF-9 (prototype, WNr. 02)
Type: Touring plane
Design country:

FranceFrance France (RF-9) Germany (ABS RF-9)
GermanyGermany 
Manufacturer:

Fournier Aviation

First flight:

January 20, 1977 (RF-9)
1994 (ABS RF-9)

Commissioning:

1980

Production time:

1980-1981

Number of pieces:

10 + 3 kits

The Fournier RF-9 is a two-seat sports aircraft designed by the French aircraft designer René Fournier in 1976. It was mass-produced from 1980–1981. A further development by ABS Aircraft was reissued in the 1990s.

history

After the French aviation designer René Fournier turned to more elaborate powered aircraft designs such as the Fournier RF-6 and Fournier RF-8 at the end of the 1960s , he returned to his idea of ​​a simple, inexpensive sports aircraft in the mid-1970s. With the Fournier RF-9, Fournier continued the successful development of the two-seater Fournier RF-5 from the 1960s and adapted the design to modern designs, such as B. originated at Grob and Hoffmann in the 1970s.

René Fournier began developing the RF-9 in the summer of 1976 as a supplement to the production facility for the Avions Fournier . A prototype was built in Nitray by the end of 1976. A second prototype and a break cell were in the works. The first flight of the RF-9, WNr. 02, F-WARF was completed by Bernard Chauvreau on January 20, 1977 in Nitray. Due to the insolvency of Avions Fournier in spring 1977, work on the second prototype and the break cell came to a standstill. In early 1978, Fournier Aviation , founded as a rescue company by Rene Caillet , acquired the rights to the RF-9 development. René Fournier then continued the development work on the RF-9 as a consultant for Fournier Aviation. The second prototype flew for the first time in April 1979. The test cell and the first prototype had previously been handed over to the French approval authorities for approval tests. Type Certificate No. 167 was issued on December 20, 1979 for the RF-9.

construction

The RF-9 was designed in the typical Fournier wood construction. In contrast to his earlier designs of the "Avion Planeur", the RF-9 received a wider fuselage, in which two seats arranged side by side could be accommodated. To increase the weather resistance, the entire wooden structure was provided with a polyester cover. Fournier took over the folding mechanism of the wing from the RF-5, with which the span on the parking space could be reduced from 17 meters to 10 meters. The 68 hp Limbach L1700E was used in the prototype . In the later series aircraft, the Limbach L2000 was intended to provide better climbing performance. Fournier abandoned the principle of the central wheel in the RF-9. She received a foldable double landing gear under the surfaces. Fournier did without the flaps tested in the prototype on the series machines. The series machines were equipped with Schrempp-Hirth brake flaps on the upper side of the surface.

Marketing and further development

An overview of all built RF-9 can be found at

RF-9 series production at Fournier Aviation (1979–1981)

The production of the first series machines started in the summer of 1979 at Fournier Aviation in Nitray. The assemblies for the fuselage and wings were prefabricated by Francis Sire at Siravia and final assembly at Fournier Aviation in Nitray. The production was designed for one aircraft per month. The first customer aircraft were delivered in October 1980. At a unit price of 200,000 FF, the RF-9 was not significantly cheaper than comparable designs in composite construction. The weak motorization of the RF-9 also proved to be a disadvantage. In France only seven RF-9s could be sold by the end of 1981. Series production of the RF-9 at Fournier Aviation was discontinued at the end of 1981 after ten units had been built. The existing assemblies for three further RF-9s were later assembled by private individuals themselves.

After the RF-9 production was discontinued, Rene asked Caillet Fournier to develop a composite RF-9 variant, which René Fournier implemented as the Fournier RF-10 .

RF-9 further development at ABS Aircraft (1992–1994)

At the beginning of the 1990s, a successor company to the former Sportavia-Pützer GmbH on the Dahlemer Binz saw a modernization of the RF-9 design. In a collaboration between Albert Blum's ABS Aircraft GmbH and Gomolzig Flugzeug- und Maschinenbau , which acquired one of the RF-9 series machines in the early 1980s, the wooden wing spar of the RF-9 was replaced by a carbon spar. Instead of the Limbach engine, a Rotax 912 A3 engine was used in the revised RF-9 . In the spring of 1993, the prototype of the revised ABS RF-9 , WNr. 9021, which made its maiden flight in 1994 as D-KHGO. ABS Aircraft GmbH left the development of the ABS RF-9 after being sold to the IVG Group in 1994. Gomolzig pursued the type approval of the ABS RF-9, which the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt with the device identification sheet 824 on November 28, 1997 for the single item WNr. 9021 granted.

The start of series production of the ABS RF-9 did not take place, although in addition to the prototype in 1993, two further kits were manufactured at ABS Aircraft. The two kits were sold in 2008 to the Polish aircraft company Polavia in Deblin, where one of the two kits was assembled. The second kit was also completed later in self-construction.

Technical specifications

Parameter RF-9 ABS RF-9
Crew / passengers 1/1
length 7.86 m 8.06 m
span 17.00 m 17.30 m
height 1.93 m
Wing area 18.00 m² 18.70 m²
Empty mass 520 kg 500 kg
Takeoff mass 750 kg
Cruising speed 185 km / h 180 km / h
Top speed 220 km / h
Service ceiling 6000 m 6500 m
Range 745 km 900 km
Engine a Limbach L1700E
68  PS (approx. 50  kW )		 a Rotax 912 A3
80 PS (approx. 60 kW)

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Fournier RF-9  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ René Fournier: Mon reve et mes combats , Edition Sier, Jan. 2005, ISBN 978-2-9519-4580-7 .
  2. ^ Paul Zöller: Fournier Airplanes , 2017, ISBN 978-3-7460-4864-2 .
  3. ↑ a b Pierre Schmitt: Aviator model. Retrieved January 6, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Jane's All the World Aircraft, 1980/81 edition