| Fafnir | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | High performanceglider Type of aircraft |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft (RRG) |
| Designer | Alexander Lippisch |
| First flight | July–August 1930 |
| Number built | 1 |
| Developed into | RRG Fafnir 2 |
TheRRG Fafnir, named after the legendary dragon, was a single seatGerman high performanceglider designed byAlexander Lippisch. It won the Rhön competition in 1931 and made several outstanding flights as well as setting a fashion forgull wings.
Lippisch began the design of the influential Fafnir in 1929. Its refined design proved difficult to construct and the aircraft was only just ready for flight tests at the start of the 1930 Rhön competition on theWasserkuppe.[1]
The Fafnir was not the first glider with acantilever wing, for theDarmstadt Konsul had been built seven years earlier but a cantilever wing with anaspect ratio of almost 20 was exceptional. The single wing spar had to be deep for strength and Lippisch accommodated this by using the Göttingen 652airfoil which is thick and stronglycambered, additionally providing lift at low speeds. The wing root was faired into the upper fuselage.
The wing was straight tapered in plan to elliptical tips and the profile changed along the span through the less cambered, more widely used Göttingen 535 to the familiar Clarke Y profile withwashout at thetips to prevent tip stalling. It wasplywood covered ahead of the spar, withfabric covering aft. Laterally stabilisingdihedral was not common on gliders in 1929, but Lippisch applied it to about 40% of the inner span on the Fafnir, producing agull wing. Many later gliders followed this form, though it is harder to build and has no solid aerodynamic justification. Thetrailing edges of the outer part of the wing carried broad and constantchordailerons.[1]
The Fafnir's fuselage was oval in cross-section, carefully streamlined with a ply skin and becoming slender behind the wing. The cockpit was just ahead of the wing and originally enclosed in a ply coveredfaring with only two side apertures for vision. Later this fairing was replaced with a stepped and fully glazedcanopy. All the tail surfaces were fabric covered: anall-moving taperedelevator with an unsweptleading edge was mounted on the fuselage mid-line below a small, straight edgedfin which carried a large, roundedrudder mounted at the keel and moving in a shallow elevator cut-out. Launching accidents showed this exposed low mounting to be a dangerous weakness. A skid, running from the nose to under the wingtrailing edge acted as anundercarriage.[1]
The Fafnir had only just begun test flights at the start of the Rhön competition held in August 1930, when wing root turbulence was found to reduce performance. After this was rapidly reduced by the addition of shaped balsa blocks at the cockpit-leading edge junction the glider, piloted by Günther Groenhoff, had some success, sharing a new record out and return flight of 30 km (19 mi) withRobert Kronfeld.[1][2]
Despite several launching accidents in theAlps early in the new year, 1931 was a successful period for Groenhoff and the Fafnir. He made the first glider flight of over 200 km (120 mi), flying 272 km (169 mi) fromMunich toKaaden in May after atow launch. Because of the tow launch this was not officially recognised but abungee launched, 220 km (140 mi) flight, made between theWasserkuppe andMagdeburg in late August did set a new record.[1][3] Groenhoff was overall winner at the 1931 Rhön competition. He was killed in the Fafnir at the 1932 Rhön in another rudder related launching accident.[1]
Repaired and with a lengthened and glazed cockpit, the Fafnir was flown on some notable flights in 1933, including one of over 228 km (142 mi) fromDarmstadt toFrance and others aboveBerlin. In 1934, it was taken toSouth America and flown for over seven hours overBuenos Aires. On return, it continued to fly from its Darmstadt home until retired to a Berlin museum, where it was destroyed by bombing inWorld War II.[1]
Data from Simons (2006)[1]
General characteristics
Performance
Related lists
