DFS Rhönadler
| Rhönadler | |
|---|---|
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| A Rhönadler in The German Gliding Museum | |
| Role | Single seat competition glider |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co |
| Designer | Hans Jacobs |
| First flight | 1932 |
| Number built | (Rhönadler 35) 65 |
The Schleicher Rhönadler,DFS Rhönadler or Jacobs Rhönadler is a high performance, single seat competition sailplane built in Germany in the 1930s. More than 65 were built.
About 1931 the glider manufacturer Alexander Schleicher went to Hans Jacobs, then at the RRG (Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft) on the Wasserkuppe, for glider design that, like the RRG Fafnir designed by Alexander Lippisch, was capable making long cross country by travelling quickly between thermals but could be put into series production making it cheaper to build. Jacobs responded with the Rhönadler (in English, Rhön eagle), ready for the 1932 Rhön competition. The following year both Jacobs and Lippisch had to transfer to the state owned DFS (Deutsche Forschungsanstalt Für Segelflug) at Darmstadt, where Jacobs continued to refine the Rhönbussard, hence the DFS Rhönadler name.
The Rhönadler was a wood framed aircraft with plywood and fabric covering. In plan its high wing wings were straight tapered with a torsion resting D-box form by ply skin ahead of the single spar. Aft of the spar the wings were fabric covered. The Rhönadler wing root used a version of the thick Göttingen 652 section, modified by a reduction of its high camber; further outboard this turned into the progressively lower camber Göttingen 535 and Clark Y airfoils. Dihedral was constant, to avoid the constructional complication of the Fafnir's gull wing. The ailerons were very long, occupying more than half the span. Though neither the prototype nor later production aircraft came with spoilers or airbrakes such devices, opening above the wing, were often retro-fitted.
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