Rudolf Kaiser (aircraft designer)

This article is not adequately provided with supporting documents (for example individual proofs ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The article has no source.

Rudolf Kaiser (born September 10, 1922 in Waldsachsen , † September 11, 1991 in Poppenhausen ) was a German sailplane designer .

Even as a boy he was enthusiastic about aircraft construction . At the age of twelve he began building model aircraft and a hang-glider at the Coburg-Brandensteins level airfield . In 1942 he successfully passed the C test for gliding.

Professional background

After the end of the war Kaiser studied civil engineering . In 1952 he completed his studies with a diploma. During his studies he did not belong to any Akaflieg (academic flying group). With regard to the construction of aircraft, he had to acquire all the basics as an autodidact. With the fall of the ban on gliding in 1951, Kaiser constructed his first glider, the Ka 1 . The construction took place in his own apartment. This aircraft was initially only intended for purely private use. At the turn of the year 1953/54 Kaiser brought out a tubular steel fuselage for the Ka 1, the machine was named Ka 3 .

From 1952 to 1953 Kaiser worked for both the Scheibe-Flugzeugbau GmbH company and the Schleicher company . He designed the Spatz at Scheibe, and the two-seater performance machine Ka 2 , the Rhönschwalbe and Ka 4 Rhönlerche II (training two-seater) for Schleicher . After he developed the Zugvogel (Ka 5) for Scheibe between 1953 and 1955, he switched to Schleicher in 1955.

Constructions

The construction of the Ka 6 Rhönsegler and K 10 and the two-seater K 7 Rhönadler followed at Schleicher . The K 8 training single-seater , which Kaiser designed in 1957, became very famous . Its successor, the ASK 18 , is less widespread and was also created in a composite construction.

The K 11 was the first small motor glider , which was followed by the K 12 , ASK 14 and ASK 16 .

Another popular training two-seater is the ASK 13 . After plastic construction found its way into glider construction with Gerhard Waibel , Kaiser constructed his first GRP aircraft, the ASK 21, as their successor in 1975 . It was widely used, so that he designed a training single-seater ASK 23 to go with it , which could be flown in 1983.

The different spelling of Ka to Ka 6 and K from the K 7 explained by the fact that the aircraft designer Albert Kalkert Emperor, pointing out the abbreviation Ka during the war for his constructions in Gotha Coach Factory , for example in the Gotha Ka 430 used to have. Kaiser therefore used the abbreviation K from K 7 onwards .

The ASK 23 was his last construction. In 1958 in Leszno he received the OSTIV Award for the best standard class glider Schleicher Ka 6.