Rhein-Flugzeugbau fanliner

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Rhein-Flugzeugbau fanliner
RFB Fanliner D-EJFL LEB 07.06.75 edited-3.jpg
Type: Touring plane
Design country:

Germany Federal RepublicFederal Republic of Germany BR Germany

Manufacturer:

Rhein-Flugzeugbau GmbH

First flight:

October 8, 1973

Commissioning:

only prototypes

Number of pieces:

2

The Rhein-Flugzeugbau Fanliner was a two-seater touring aircraft made by the manufacturer Rhein-Flugzeugbau in Mönchengladbach . A special feature is the drive by a ducted propeller and the design of the second prototype by Luigi Colani in a design that still looks futuristic today. Colani bought this copy and flew the machine himself.

history

The Fanliner is based on developments from the Rheinflug RW-3 . After these previous developments since 1960, for which Hanno Fischer was primarily responsible, this was the first design that was designed exclusively for drive with a ducted propeller. The first flight of the first prototype D-EJFL took place on October 8, 1973, the ducted propeller turned out to be unexpectedly loud and the fuel consumption turned out to be very high. In the second prototype Fl-1 (D-EBFL) the front fuselage and the cockpit were redesigned by Luigi Colani and the wingspan of the wings was also increased. The first flight of this machine, which was also equipped with a more powerful engine, took place on September 4, 1976.

construction

The fanliner was an all-metal construction designed as a middle decker . In order to limit development costs, the wings and parts of the T-tail unit were bought in by Grumman American Aviation , which sold these parts of the Yankee and Traveler types through the RFB sister company Sportavia-Pützer in Germany. The front part of the GRP fuselage came from Helmut Wilden's VoWi-8 .

It was driven by a liquid-cooled twin-disc rotary engine KKM 871 from NSU-Audi with 160 hp or a thrust of 285 kp. The drive group with engine and ducted propeller was installed behind the main spar and the cabin.

The fixed nose wheel landing gear was provided with aerodynamic panels. In the first prototype, three-, five- and seven-blade propeller designs were tested; the drive consisted of an NSU Ro 135 engine.

marketing

After the American Aircraft Corporation was taken over by the Grumman Corporation , Grumman intended to enter the high-end touring aircraft segment in 1973. In 1973, Grumman and Rhein-Flugzeugbau agreed to set up two production lines for the RFB Fanliner. The American production line at Grumman was to produce fanliner hulls and drives from Germany and American components from the AA-5 Traveler series for the American market, while in Mönchengladbach the AA-5 from America served the European market with its own hulls and components and assemblies should be. At the Aerosalon 1975 in Le Bourget, both companies presented the Fanliner as a joint product, which was to go into series production from 1977. Grumman calculated 200 units in the USA and 1000 units worldwide. The cooperation between Grumman and RFB ended in early 1977 when Grumman completely withdrew from the General Aviation division. American Jet Industries, which took over the touring aircraft division from Grumman, had no interest in continuing the fanliner cooperation, as the aircraft had meanwhile become 30% more expensive to manufacture than originally estimated. This made it seem that the aircraft was no longer marketable in the American market.

The Fanliner suffered another setback in 1977 when the NSU Ro 80 production and the Wankel engine were discontinued . Initially, there was no longer a suitable motor available for series production. After the order for the RFB Fantrainer was placed by the German Armed Forces , Fanliner development was largely discontinued in 1977 in favor of the Fantrainer.

The Canadian Bill Rice was interested in setting up a series production of the four-seater fan liner in Canada in 1984. Hanno Fischer then developed a four-seater touring aircraft variant for Rice under the name RFB Fanstar based on the now completed Fan Trainer. Since the MBB parent company had no interest in the civil fanliner development, no agreement was reached.

Technical specifications

Parameter 1. Prototype 2. prototype
Crew / passengers 2 side by side 2 side by side
length 6.10 m 6.59 m
span 7.45 9.61 m
height 2.03 2.27 m
Wing area 9.30 m² 13 m²
Empty mass 520 kg 545 kg
Takeoff mass 750 kg 850 kg
Cruising speed 97 kn / 180 km / h 133 kn / 246 km / h
Top speed - 135 kn / 250 km / h
Range 660 km 1000 km (without reserve)
Engines a rotary engine NSU Ro-135
with 84 kW		 a twin-disc rotary engine
NSU-Audi KKM-871 with 110 kW

Whereabouts

The two fanliners stayed in Mönchengladbach until the RFB went bankrupt. Luigi Colani acquired the second prototype from the bankruptcy estate. Occasionally, the aircraft can be seen publicly as part of Colani exhibitions. Colani's ideas for setting up a fan liner production in China from 2005 were not implemented. The whereabouts of the first prototype is unknown.

See also

literature

  • Dieter Schmitt: Test - RFB Fanliner. Flight Revue January 1978, p. 41ff.
  • Rolf Wurster: 50 years of German powered aircraft. Books on Demand, ISBN 3-8311-1854-X .
  • Paul Zöller: Rhein-Flugzeugbau GmbH and Fischer Flugmechanik . 1st edition, 2016, BoD-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7431-1823-2
  • Ben Kocivar: Wankel Fanliner , Popular Science, pp. 87ff, March 1977
  • Eric Weiner: Fanstar , Flying Magazine, pp. 53-54, Aug. 1987
  • Peter Garrison: Fanliner Fantasy , Flying Magazine, pp. 42-51, March 1977
  • Mark Lambert: Fanliner: Tomorrows two seater? , Flight International, pp. 508-511, February 26, 1977

Web links

Commons : RFB / Grumman American Fanliner  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Zöller: Rhein-Flugzeugbau GmbH and Fischer Flugmechanik , 2016, ISBN 978-3-7431-1823-2