RRG Falke
| Falke | |
|---|---|
| Role | Secondary training glider |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft (RRG) |
| Designer | Alexander Lippisch |
| First flight | 1930 |
The RRG Falke (English: Falcon) of 1930 was a secondary training glider designed by Alexander Lippisch in Germany and intended to provide better performance than his earlier RRG Prüfling whilst being easier to fly because of its inherent stability. It was sold as plans for both club and commercial production and was built in Germany and abroad.
Secondary gliders were meant to be used by student pilots after an introduction to flight in primary gliders like Liippisch's Zögling. His first secondary glider, the 1926 RRG Prüfling, was disappointing, with a performance not much better than some contemporary primaries; lacking inherent stability its handling was not good either. After that design Lippisch had been working on aircraft which relied on wing sweep to provide stability in pitch, having no horizontal tail. The wing of the Storch IV was swept at about 17° and carried lobate ailerons which extended behind the rest of the trailing edge and were hinged at right angles to the fuselage line. He decided that his ideal secondary glider should use a similar wing but also have a conventional tail which enabled him to dispense with the wing tip fins and rudders of the Storch and to reduce the wing sweep to about 12°.
The inner part of the Falke's wing had constant chord but it became a little narrower outboard where the trailing edge sweep decreased. The ailerons increased the chord again to about its inboard value. It was a two spar structure with plywood covering from the forward spar around the leading edge, forming a D-shaped torsion box. Aft the wing, including the ailerons, was fabric covered. It was mounted high over the fuselage on two vertical underwing cabane struts, one on each side of the open cockpit to the forward wing strut and by a ply covered, triangualar support pylon centrally behind it. On each side a V-pair of lift struts braced the two wing spars, at about 40% of the span, to the lower fuselage longeron.
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