Heinrich Voepel

Voepel school glider, 1934

Heinrich Voepel was an aircraft manufacturer.

To Alexander Lippisch employees at Lippisch-Delta project were Heinrich Voepel and Canadians Beverly Shenstone, which shortly before published formula of Glauert brought into the team. With the help of Glauert's formula it was possible for the first time to calculate profile moments. In contrast to the “ storks ” , the wing of the Delta I got a pressure point-resistant profile . Voepel had learned how to design inherently stable profiles. Like Lippisch with the Storch IX, Voepel also built a simple school glider with an open seat in 1934 , the body of which came from a pupil's school glider. Voepel laid out the wing without arrow, the flight stability should be achieved by the wing profile itself. This is how the first and only German board only wing was created . Control was via external ailerons and internal elevators . Small brake rudders were mounted on the wing tips for rudder control. At the Whitsun meeting of model pilots in 1935 on the Wasserkuppe , celebrities such as Heini Dittmar , Fritz Stamer , Rudi Opitz and Wolfgang Späte flew the glider. Voepel later, like Robert Kronfeld, emigrated to England, where he worked for the Royal Air Force Establishment in Farnborough and was able to use his knowledge in the British flying wing program.

(see also GAL.56 )

literature

• Rudolf Storck among others: Flying Wings. The historical development of the world's tailless and flying wing aircraft. Bernard and Graefe, Bonn 2003, ISBN 3-7637-6242-6 .