M.Hardy. Gliders & Sailplanes of the world

Projekt Dolphin

  This Danish tandem two-seater motor glider was designed and built by the Projekt 8 I/S company of Roskilde, formed by Helge Petersen and 10 other glider pilots; construction of the prototype was taking place at three separate ДальшеMore>>> sites near Copenhagen, and it was expected that the first flight would have been made late in 1978. The Dolphin is a cantilever mid-wing monoplane of mixed construction with a T-tail, powered by a 54hp Volkswagen VW1600 engine driving a two-blade pusher propeller, mounted on a pylon and retracting rearwards behind closed doors into the top of the fuselage aft of the wings in a manner similar to the PIK-20E and Scheibe SF-27M. The wings, which have 4° dihedral, have an aluminium centre section and wood and glassfibre outer panels, flaps and ailerons; there are aluminium air brakes in the upper surfaces just ahead of the flaps. The forward fuselage is a welded steel tube framework covered with a light glassfibre shell, and the rear fuselage is a wooden structure reinforced by glassfibre. The tail unit is likewise of wood, with a fixed incidence tailplane, a central trim tab in the elevator and an inset tab at the base of the rudder. There is a semi-retractable rubber-sprung mainwheel plus a nosewheel and a steerable tailwheel, as well as retractable wing tip balancer wheels. The one-piece cockpit canopy opens sideways.


Span: 61 ft 5 in
Length: 27 ft 10 3/4 in
Height: 4 ft 3 1/4 in
Wing area: 223.9 sq ft
Aspect ratio: 16.8
Empty weight: 1,058 lb
Max weight: 1,653 lb
Max speed: 163 mph
Max aero-tow speed: 77.5 mph
Min sinking speed: 2.30 ft/sec at 50 mph
Best glide ratio: 32:1 at 62 mph