Sack AS-6

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Sack AS-6
KN Sack AS6 1944.jpg'
Type: Test aircraft
Design country:

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire

Manufacturer:

MMW

First flight:

Start attempt unsuccessful

Number of pieces:

1

The Sack AS-6 was the prototype of an unusual German circle wing aircraft , the so-called flying beer mat , with a circular wing area.

development

The name goes back to the developer Arthur Sack , who had the idea in his early years to develop a new type of aircraft with special flight characteristics. From 1939 he built six models of the unconventional aircraft. The first model AS-1 , which could not take off independently and had very poor flight characteristics, he presented at Leipzig-Mockau Airport in June 1939 during the first national competition for model aircraft. Ernst Udet , who was fascinated by the flying disc, encouraged Arthur Sack to continue his research by offering him official support. He then built four more machines on a larger scale.

In early 1944, the sixth model AS-6 V1 was built as the first manned prototype at the Mitteldeutsche Motorenwerke in Leipzig. The V1 in the name had no reference to the retaliatory weapons at the time , but only referred to the first test model. The cockpit, the pilot's seat and the landing gear came from a Messerschmitt Bf 109 that was cannibalized for this purpose . It was propelled by a 240 HP Argus As 10 C-3 engine with a wooden two-blade propeller .

Final assembly and coordination work took place on the military airfield near Brandis . At the beginning of February 1944, Mr. Baltabol from ATG carried out roll tests with the model AS-6 V1. The aircraft was damaged because the rudder was not effective enough. Then five attempts were made from the 1200 m long runway in Brandis. It was found that the control surfaces were in the flow shadow of the disc and therefore could not function. During the last test, the right landing gear leg also broke . It was decided to increase the flow angle because it was not possible to get a more powerful engine due to the restrictions caused by the war. The test pilot said that the landing gear should be moved backwards by 20 cm. Due to the position of the frames , however, it had to be moved 40 cm backwards. However, this seemed too dangerous to Mr. Baltabol because of the danger of the machine tipping over. To compensate for this, the brakes of a Junkers Ju 88 were installed, an additional 70 kg of ballast was placed behind the third bulkhead and the tail surface was enlarged with 20 mm of corrugated iron . On April 16, 1944, the third attempt to take off took place on the 700 m long runway in Brandis. There was no wind and the aircraft rolled 500 m and made a little hop. On the fourth take-off attempt, the hop was a little bigger, but the direction of rotation of the propeller caused the aircraft to swerve to the left. The test pilot's hopes were gone and he insisted on installing a more powerful engine and further tests in a wind tunnel . Arthur Sack, however, tried to solve the problems in the traditional way.

In the summer of 1944, the 1st squadron of Jagdgeschwader 400 with the new Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter was stationed in Brandis. Since the fighter pilots of the Messerschmitt Me 163 were used to performing difficult take-offs from narrow-wing aircraft, it did not take long before they tried their luck with the AS-6 V1. They gave the aircraft the nickname "Flying Beer Coaster". When Lieutenant Franz Rössle attempted to take off, the landing gear broke one more time. Ultimately, all of the documented tests failed, which was partly attributed to the insufficient engine performance. A successful start was never reported, only a few short hops.

The AS-6 V1 was damaged by a heavy air raid in the winter of 1944/45. The wood from the damaged aircraft was reused for other purposes, while the various metal parts ended up in the junkyard. When the Allies marched into Brandis in April 1945, there were no more traces of the project.

Due to its futuristic appearance, the AS-6 sack significantly promoted the spread of the legend about the Reichsflugscheibe .

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
crew 1
length 6.4 m
span 5.0 m
height 2.56 m
Wing area 19.62 m²
Takeoff mass 900 kg
Engine an Argus As 10 C-3 with 240 PS (177 kW)
Flight duration 1 h

literature

  • Volker Koos: Flying beer mat. In: Flugrevue No. 3/1994, pp. 60-63.
  • Volker Koos: Kreisflügler Arthur Sack AS 6. In: Fliegerrevue No. 11/1998, p. 54/55.
  • J. Miranda, P. Mercado: German circular wing aircraft. In: Flugzeug Profile No. 23. Flugzeug Publikations, Illertissen 1995.

Web links

Commons : Sack AS 6  - Collection of images, videos and audio files