Rhön buzzard

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Rhön buzzard
Rhön buzzard in Argentina
Rhön buzzard with airbrakes built by the FMA in Argentina
Type: Glider
Design country:

Nazi stateNazi state German Empire

Manufacturer:

Alexander Schleicher glider construction + self-made

First flight:

1933

Production time:

1933-1942

Number of pieces:

220+

The Rhön buzzard is a single-seat glider designed by Hans Jacobs . The series production took place at Alexander Schleicher Segelflugzeugbau in Poppenhausen.

history

The Rhön buzzard was a commissioned work by Alexander Schleicher, which the engineer Hans Jacobs, actually employed by the Rhön-Rossitten-Gesellschaft , constructed in home work. With the Rhön buzzard, an easy-to-manufacture training sailor was supposed to close the gap in the market between school gliders and performance gliders , such as the Rhön eagle constructed by Jacobs the year before .

Series production began at the end of 1933 by Schleicher in Poppenhausen and later under license from the Trommer aircraft construction company in Markranstädt near Leipzig. Numerous aviation groups and some engineering schools built single copies or small series on their own, so that the total number of completed aircraft is difficult to determine. The Rhön buzzard, for example, also built by the Austrian Aero Club in 15 copies, has also been flown as a popular aircraft type abroad, including in England, Romania, Finland, Lithuania, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Argentina.

In the year of its maiden flight, a Rhön buzzard with pilot Erich Wiegmeyer took part in the Rhön competition and took 12th place. In the years that followed, the model was a popular practice, aerobatic and competition aircraft .

construction

Like its predecessor Rhönadler, the Rhön buzzard was developed as a cantilever high- wing aircraft with two-part wings and a torsion nose. In the construction of the wings in rib construction with 30 cm rib spacing, the Gö 535 profile was used, at the end of the wing the Gö 409. The wing originally had no airbrakes , these were later retrofitted in different versions.

The open driver's seat is housed in a fuselage with an oval cross-section. With the tail unit designed in a cross configuration, both the elevator and rudder are provided with damping surfaces, as well as a grinding spur to ensure sufficient ground clearance during take-off and landing. A runner served as a landing aid.

The Rhön buzzard was suitable for aerobatics and has a gliding index of 60.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
crew 1
length 5.90 m
span 14.30 m
Wing area 14.10 m²
Wing loading 17.4 kg / m²
Glide ratio 19.8 at 67.3 km / h
Slightest sinking 0.88 m / s at 57.7 km / h
Empty mass 150 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 245 kg
Minimum speed 50 km / h
Top speed 130 km / h

Preserved copies

Less than a dozen Rhön buzzards have survived to this day in different states, whether they are airworthy or as a static exhibit. A Rhön buzzard built in 1937 was declared a movable technical monument by the Hessian State Office for Monument Preservation in 2011 . It is owned by the Rhönflug Oldtimer-Segelflugclub Wasserkuppe eV and is flown again by the club after a major overhaul. On the occasion of the centenary of the Rhön gliding competitions in 2020, the aircraft will receive the historical registration D- Rhönvater .

Trivia

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.

Web links

Commons : Rhönbussard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Julia Ricker: First flying memorial in Hesse. In: monumente-online.de. February 2013, accessed January 22, 2019 .
  2. ^ Rhön buzzard of the OSC Wasserkuppe. In: osc-wasserkuppe.de. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .