Slingsby T.9 King Kite

Slingsby T.9 King Kite
Role	Glider
National origin	England
Manufacturer	Slingsby
Designer	Mungo Buxton, John Sproule, Fred Slingsby and Peter Shaw
First flight	17 April 1937
Number built	3 + 1 replica

The Slingsby T.9 King Kite is a British glider designed and built by Slingsby that first flew in 1937.

ISTUS (international commission for the study of motorless flight) launched a campaign for gliding's inclusion in the Olympic games, organising an international competition, planned for 4–17 July 1937 for aspiring national teams. The BGA were in a quandary as the only suitable aircraft was the Buxton Hjordis. To replace it Mungo Buxton had started the design of the Hjordis 2 but due to his commitments as a serving RAF officer Buxton handed over the design to Slingsby, Sproule and Shaw to complete the aircraft. Buxton had studied the latest soaring techniques and came to the conclusion that competitive aircraft would need to fly efficiently at higher speeds and not sacrifice glide performance for climb performance.

The result of their efforts, the Slingsby Type 9 King Kite, emerged as a cantilevered gull wing sailplane with wooden structure covered by plywood throughout, except for fabric covered ailerons, tailpane, elevators and rudder. A large comfortable cockpit housed the pilot under a canopy built up from single curved pieces of plexiglas. To ensure full aileron control at high speed it was necessary to build a stiff wing with ribs at half the normal spacing with a deep laminated timber main spar. The trailing edges of the wings were taken up by landing flaps inboard of the gull joint and ailerons outboard.

Flight tests of the King Kite with Philip Wills at the controls revealed a tendency to enter spins easily, and more importantly, a reluctance to recover from spins. To alleviate the problem while a permanent solution was found the rudder was increased in size twice, initially in span and later in chord.

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