Rhön Eagle (1932)
| Rhön eagle | |
|---|---|
.jpg) A replica of a Rhön eagle exhibited in the German Gliding Museum on the Wasserkuppe |
|
| Type: | Glider |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: |
Alexander Schleicher glider construction + self-made |
| First flight: |
1932 |
| Production time: |
1932-1940 |
| Number of pieces: |
65+ |
.svg){kind=small}
The Rhönadler is a single-seat glider designed by Hans Jacobs in 1932. It was the first performance glider to be built in series by Alexander Schleicher Segelflugzeugbau in Poppenhausen and was one of the most frequently flown competition aircraft of the 1930s.
The Rhönadler performance glider from 1932 should not be confused with the two-seater of the same name built by Alexander Lippisch in 1929 . The Schleicher K 7 training aircraft, built from 1957 onwards , also bore the nickname Rhönadler.
history
In addition to his work for the Rhön-Rossitten-Gesellschaft , Hans Jacobs designed training aircraft for the Alexander Schleicher Flugzeugbau company since 1929. The spread of glider flying at home and abroad created a steadily growing market for training and performance gliders in the early 1930s. Alexander Schleicher commissioned Jacobs to design a performance glider with good-natured flight characteristics, which was also suitable for series production. The experience gained during the construction of the high-performance sailor Fafnir was incorporated into the construction of the first prototype of the aircraft, later called the Rhönadler.
Despite little success in the 1932 Rhön competition , Jacobs' design won a design award and aroused the interest of numerous pilots. In the following years, the Rhön eagle developed into a popular competition aircraft. The Schleicher company sold both finished machines and blueprints, so that numerous self-made examples were created by air groups.
The amphibious glider DFS Seeadler was developed from the Rhön eagle.
The British aircraft manufacturer Slingsby built the Slingsby Type 13 Petrel performance glider based on the Rhön eagle .
construction
The prototype of the Rhönadler was a cantilevered shoulder- wing wing with a two-part trapezoidal wing using the wing profiles Gö 652, Gö 533 and Clark Y. The plywood-lined fuselage showed clear parallels to the Fafnir designed in 1930 and the cross tail was equipped with a pendulum rudder . The closed panel of the driver's seat was already after a short time by a hood with Zellon glass windows replaced, which was also used for the subsequent series aircraft.
The design was constantly revised, so that the first series aircraft were built under the designation Rhönadler 32 with modified vertical stabilizers and a wingspan reduced by 60 cm to 17.40 m. The Rhönadler 35 was a further modified version with an enlarged rudder fin and a completely glazed canopy.
successes
Until the late 1930s, the Rhön eagle was one of the most flown performance gliders in competitions. Ludwig Hofmann won the Rhön competition in 1934 on a Rhön eagle. In the following year, the pilot Ernst Steinhoff, together with three other pilots (who, however, flew different aircraft types) made a 504 km target flight from the Wasserkuppe to Brno in Czechoslovakia . This world record was awarded to the pilot involved, Rudolf Oeltzschner , who died the following day.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | 1 |
| length | 7.20 m |
| span | 17.40 m |
| Wing area | 18.00 m² |
| Wing loading | 13.60 kg / m² |
| Glide ratio | 20th |
| Empty mass | 170 kg |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 250 kg |
| Minimum speed | 50 km / h |
| Top speed | 130 km / h |
Preserved copies
Although some specimens initially survived the war unscathed, no original Rhön eagle has survived today. The aircraft exhibited in the German Glider Museum on the Wasserkuppe is a replica made from 1983 to 1986 based on original drawings.
See also
literature
- Dietmar Geistmann: The gliders and motor gliders in Germany. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2007.
- Peter Ocker: Hans Jacobs - pioneering life in aircraft construction. Self-published, Heidenheim 2012.
- Martin Simons: Segelflugzeuge - 1920 to 1945. Eqip Werbung & Verlag GmbH, Bonn, 2001 (2nd edition 2005), ISBN 3-9806773-6-2 .
