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Страна : Великобритания

Год : 1935

Планер

M.Simons The World's Vintage Sailplanes 1908-45

THE KIRBY KITE

  In 1934, Fred Slingsby, with much support from a local landowner, J. E. D. Shaw, set up a glider factory at Kirbymoorside, a small village in the Vale of Pickering. Apart from some 60 or so primary gliders the first sailplane built in quantity was the Grunau Baby 2. Slingsby decided he would be able to sell a streamlined version and in 1935 designed the Kirby Kite. The wing planform was identical to the Grunau Baby and the tail also was practically the same. Most of the metal fittings and even such components as wing ribs, were similar to those of the GB. The fuselage, however, was much more appealing with a round-backed, ‘inverted pear' cross-section and, instead of the high, narrow neck of the Grunau design, the wing came down to a low pylon, a pad on the leading edge providing a headrest for the pilot.
  The Kite drew favorable attention when Slingsby took the first one to the National Competitions at Sutton Bank in late August. The prototype was speedily sold and orders came in for more. The production Kites had enlarged rudders of rounded outline instead of the squarish Grunau Baby shape. They were just what the British gliding movement needed at the time and some two dozen Kites had been built before the outbreak of war in 1939. Many pilots achieved their Silver ‘C’ badges in them. A couple of Kites were exported, one to the USA, and one to South Africa. During the war, five Kirby Kites were used in the early experiments with military towing methods and pilot training. Other tests were made with Kites on tow being ‘attacked’ by fighters with camera guns, to discover how easy it was to shoot down gliders. At the same time, crucial tests were being done to find out if such aircraft could be detected by radar. Gliders with normal metal cables and steel tubular push rods could be picked up on a radar screen, although only with some difficulty. It occurred to the scientists that a glider with no metal parts might be quite undetectable, so a Kirby Kite was built with all the control cables replaced by wooden pushrods. As expected, it proved almost impossible to detect.
  After the war, a few Kites remained and were soon again in service with gliding clubs. Some were fitted retrospectively with spoilers, which the originals lacked. In 1945 Slingsby produced a Kite IA, which had spoilers and a wheel, instead of the simple skid landing gear. This version, however, never entered production. Several Kites still fly regularly, including the radar test aircraft with wooden controls.

  Technical data:
  Kirby Kite: Span. 14.10 m. Wing area. 14.49 sq m. Aspect ratio, 13.8. Empty weight. 137.8 kg. Flying weight. 230.8 kg. Wing loading. 15.9 kg sq m. Aerofoils. Goettingen 535 at root and centre section, tapering to thin symmetrical tips.

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  • M.Simons The World's Vintage Sailplanes 1908-45
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