F.V.D. Stehaufchen
Stehaufchen | |
---|---|
At the 1922 Rhön contest | |
Role | Single seat biplane glider |
National origin | Germany |
Manufacturer | Flugtechnische Verein, Dresden (F.V.D.) |
Designer | Horst Muttray, Reinhold Seiferth, Rudolf Spies (T.H.Dresden) |
First flight | 23 August 1921 |
Number built | 1 |
The F.V.D. Stehaufchen or Der Dresdener Stehaufchen, later relabelled the Akaflieg Dresden D-B1 Stehaufchen, was an unequal span
Design and development
Before the formal formation of the
During its career, the glider was known in England at least as the F.V.D. Stehaufchen after the club, or just as the F.V.D. glider to distinguish it from the F.V.D. monoplane or Doris of 1922.[2] After the founding of the Akaflieg Dresden it was retrospectively renamed the D-B1 Stehaufchen, numbering it as the first of their ten designs.[1]
The Stehaufchen was a
The glider had a simple, wide, rectangular cross section fuselage with four cross braced longerons forming
Operational history
The Stehaufchen first flew at the 1921 Rhön contest, the second of the series. Muttray began with a flight on 23 August which lasted just 38 seconds but five days later flew it for three minutes.[1] More than one third of the competing aircraft were biplanes[2] but of these the Stehaufchen was the most successful and its three designers received a 1,500 Mark prize. After the competition the Stehaufchen stayed on the Wasserkuppe until September, making flights of up to 4.5 minutes and enabling Seiferth and Spies to get their pilot's certificates.[1]
The Stehaufchen was damaged on the rail journey home and during the rebuild the upper wing was increased in span from 8 m (26 ft 3 in) to 9 m (29 ft 6 in). It resumed test flying in the spring of 1922, launched by bungee cord. In this period several more pilots gained flight experience and their certificates.[1] It then went to the third Rhön contest, where it gained first prize for total time in the air (1851 seconds) and second prize for distance covered in a single flight (2.7 km (1.7 mi)).[3]
It went once more to the Wasserkuppe in 1923 but did not take part in the contest; during a practice flight, it crashed and was destroyed.[1]
Specifications
Data from Historische Deutsche Flugzeug bis 1945 [1]
General characteristics
- Crew: One
- Length: 4.80 m (15 ft 9 in)
- Upper wingspan: 8.00 m (26 ft 3 in)
- Lower wingspan: 6.00 m (19 ft 8 in)
- Height: 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)
- Wing area: 18.7 m2 (201 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 70 kg (154 lb)
- Gross weight: 140 kg (309 lb)
- Wing loading: 7.50 kg/m2 (1.5 lb/sq ft)
Performance
- Maximum glide ratio: 1:8
See also
Related lists
References
- ^ ISBN 978-3-923142-39-2.
- ^ a b "Soaring flight in Germany". Flight. Vol. XIII, no. 36. 8 September 1921. pp. 601–5.
- ^ "German gliders". Flight. Vol. XIV, no. 38. 21 September 1922. pp. 546–9.