AB Flygindustri Fi-1

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Flygindustri Fi-1
Role Single-seat intermediate training glider
National origin Sweden
Manufacturer AB Flygindustri, Halmstad
Designer Tord Lindman and Rudolf Abelin
First flight 1942
Number built 7

The AB Flygindustri Fi-1 was a Swedish intermediate training glider built in small numbers in the 1940s.

Design and development

What became AB Flygindustri was initially a canoe building factory founded by Rudolf Abelin, who had earlier worked in de Havilland's aircraft factory in England. His canoes had hulls formed with moulded veneers and he saw that these techniques could be used to produce glider fuselages. AB Flygindustri became the first Swedish glider company and began by building German aircraft under licence.[1]

The Fi-1 was originally intended to be an improved

ailerons, also fabric-covered, fill less than half the trailing edge.[1][2]

The glider has a pod-and-boom fuselage, constructed with techniques learned in canoe building. Both pod shell and boom, made separately, were shaped by glueing crisscrossed layers of

canopy, placing the pilot above the wing leading edge. The rear of the cockpit is smoothly faired into the boom. Below, the pod carries the monowheel landing gear, placed under the forward wing, with a landing skid ahead of it. Behind the wheel the pod curves upwards on its underside to meet the slender boom just aft of the wing rather abruptly.[1]

The tail surfaces are fabric-covered apart from ply-reinforced leading edges of the tailplane and very narrow fin and the bottom of the rudder. The latter has a blunted triangular profile. In plan, the tailplane and elevators, mounted on top of the boom, are straight-tapered to rounded tips with a small cut-out for rudder movement. On its underside the boom has a ply-covered tail bumper.[1]

The Fi-1 first flew in 1942. Flight tests revealed a problem with the original canopy, which produced turbulence over the tail, but this was rapidly fixed.[1]

Operational history

The Fi-1 had been intended as a Grunau Baby replacement but emerged as too advanced for first-solo pilots and only seven were built. One went to Denmark; modified by students of the Polyteknisk Flyvergruppe in Copenhagen, it was flown by K.A. Rasmussen in the 1950 World Championships, held at Örebro. He finished in 18th place out of 29, a remarkable result for a trainer. The same aircraft was used to make the first Danish Gold C flight.[1]

Another Fi-1 was exported to Iceland in 1945 and registered as TF-SDR.[1]

Aircraft on display

Specifications

Data from j2mcl planeurs[4]

General characteristics

  • Crew: One
  • Length: 6.44 m (21 ft 2 in)
  • Wingspan: 14.00 m (45 ft 11 in)
  • Wing area: 14.45 m2 (155.5 sq ft)
  • Aspect ratio: 13.6
  • Airfoil: Göttingen Gö 549 root, Gö 676 tip
  • Empty weight: 165 kg (364 lb)
  • Gross weight: 260 kg (573 lb)
  • Dihedral: 2.5°

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 200 km/h (120 mph, 110 kn)
  • Maximum glide ratio: 23

References

  1. ^ .
  2. .
  3. ^ "AB Flygindustri Fi-1 TF-SDR". Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  4. ^ "AB Flygindustri Fi-1". Retrieved 27 July 2019.