The successor to the DG-202/DG-400, the unpowered 15 m. racing class DG-600 first flew in 1987, followed by the mast mounted self- launching DG-600M in 1989. The fuselage is based on that of the DG-400, but with a more slender tailboom. The wing has a thin section with fully span flaperons. Approach control is by…
Three models of the DG-800, which first flew in 1991, have been developed, the unpowered DG- 800S, the Rotax powered DG-800A and the liquid cooled buried engine configuration of the 800B substantially reduces noise emissions. Each model comes either with a one piece 18 m. wing or a 15 m wing with tip extensions increasing…
Discus 2 – first impressions by Andreas Maurer ( article in rec.aviation.soaring) First, let me point out that it was the first prototype of a new airplane. Therefore anyone will see that nothing I’m going to say will be cemented for all times. A quick glance on Discus 2, registrated D- 6111 “D2″ shows a…
The Standard Class Discus A first flew in 1984 using the fuselage and tail unit of the original Ventus with a new unflapped wing. The wing planform is noteworthy as being the first production sailplane to have the now common distictive shape where the leading edge sweepback increases towards the tip, establishing a worldwide trend…
The all-fiberglass two-place self-launching HOAC ( formerly Hoffmann) Dimona features a folding wing design which allows two people to fold both wings in several minutes and reduce the aircraft hanger space requirement to no more than that of a sailplane trailer. The Limbach engine drives a Hoffmann 2 blade, 3 position propeller. The Hk 36…
The development of this early all-fiberglass sailplane began at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich under the direction of Prof. Rauscher, first flying with a new fuselage and tailplane married to wings from a schleicher Ka-6 (the Ka Bi-Vo). Further development was taken over by Flug un Fahrzeugwerke (FFA) which used flapped 15…