M.Hardy. Gliders & Sailplanes of the world

Scheibe SF-24B Motorspatz

  The SF-24 Motorspatz was developed in 1957 as a powered version of the L-Spatz-55 and L-Spatz-lll single-seater trainer or competition sailplanes; the Spatz (or Sparrow) had first flown on 12 March 1952. The initial ДальшеMore>>> production version of the Motorspatz was the SF-24A with a 21 hp Zink-Brandl ZB300-S two-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled two-stroke mounted in the nose in a conventional tractor installation; the SF-24B was powered by a 25hp Hirth-built Solo 560A 'flat four' air-cooled two-stroke driving a two-blade fixed-pitch wooden propeller, and this version had a better performance than the SF-24A. Both versions had a fuel tank of 3.3 Imp gallons capacity in the fuselage behind the wing spar. About 70 examples of both versions were built altogether. The Motorspatz is very similar structurally to its unpowered predecessor, with a fabric-covered welded steel tube fuselage and wooden single-spar cantilever high-set wings with plywood and fabric covering; the inset-hinged ailerons are also fabric-covered and there are spoilers in the upper surfaces. The wooden tail unit is also covered with plywood and fabric, and the landing gear consists of a fixed monowheel partly faired into the bottom of the fuselage, plus a rubber-sprung tailskid; there are no outrigger balancer wheels under the wings to maintain the aircraft upright on the ground. The pilot sits under a one-piece blown canopy.


Data: SF-24B
Span: 46 ft 1 in
Length: 20 ft 0 in
Height: 4 ft 5 in
Wing area: 127 sqft
Aspect ratio: 16.7
Empty weight: 485 lb
Max weight: 760 lb
Max speed at sea level: 93.5 mph
Min sinking speed: 3.28 ft/sec
Rate of climb: 394 ft/min at sea level
Take-off run: 426 ft