M.Hardy. Gliders & Sailplanes of the world

Laister LP-15 Nugget

  One of the pioneer US sailplane designers, John W. (or Jack) Laister built his first design, a gull-winged acrobatic sailplane in 1938 and later formed, with John R. Kauffman, the Laister-Kauffman Aircraft Corp. This produced, among other types, the TG-4A training glider version of the LK-10 for the USAAF and was one of the 16 firms taking part in the Waco CG-4A Hadrian programme, building 310 out of the nearly 14,000 CG-4As completed. Laister-Kauffman also produced one of the biggest troop-carrying gliders of the war, the 42-seat XCG-10A, which had a span of 105ft and could carry a 155mm howitzer or a 2 1/2 ton truck. The firm was later succeeded by Laister Sailplanes Inc and in 1970 Jack Laister and his son Bill, an aerodynamicist, started design work on the LP-15 Nugget Standard Class single-seater of metal construction. They decided to wait for the recommendations of the CIVV conference on Standard Class requirements before starting construction of the prototype in February 1971, and this first flew in June that year, its maiden flight also being a contest flight; the Nugget was certificated in mid-1975. It is a cantilever shoulder-wing monoplane with a T-tail and long-span flaps which are raised slightly for high speed flight, are lowered 8° for soaring in thermals and can be extended to 85° for use as air brakes. Up to 185lb of water ballast can be carried. The wings and top-hinged plain ailerons are of Chem-Weld bonded aluminium alloy construction, while the semi-monocoque fuselage has the forward portion of moulded glassfibre and the rear part of bonded aluminium alloy construction which incorporates the swept fin. Landing gear consists of a retractable monowheel and the pilot sits in a semi-reclining seat under a two-piece canopy with a removable section and a sliding ventilation panel.


Span: 49 ft 2 1/2 in
Length: 20 ft 0 in
Height: 4 ft 2 in
Wing area: 109 sqft
Aspect ratio: 22.1
Empty weight: 463 lb
Max weight: 900 lb
Max speed: 145 mph
Best glide ratio: 36:1 at 55 mph



Laister LP-49

  The LP-49, popularly known as the 'Forty Niner', is a Standard Class single-seater that was first rolled out in prototype form, designated LP-46, on 4 July 1966. It is of metal and glassfibre construction, but designed to be sold in kit form for the amateur constructor, and more than 50 LP-49 kits had been sold by early 1976, about 35 of which had been completed and flown. The high cantilever wings are of laminar flow section, the extruded aluminium main spar booms being curved in a chordwise direction to follow the aerofoil section; the roll-contoured aluminium sheet wing skin is butt jointed and flush riveted with blind pop rivets. The semi-monocoque fuselage is made up of two premoulded glassfibre halves joined over aluminium bulkheads and fittings. The tail unit is of aluminium with a swept back fin and rudder, and the landing gear consists of a retractable monowheel with a brake and a glassfibre nose skid with a steel shoe; a fixed shrouded tailwheel replaces the retractable tailwheel of early production aircraft.


Span: 49 ft 2 1/2 in
Length: 20 ft 7 1/4 in
Wing area: 143 sq ft
Aspect ratio: 17.0
Empty weight: 460 lb
Max weight: 900 lb
Max speed: 135 mph
Min sinking speed: 2.07 ft/sec at 50 mph
Best glide ratio: 36.5:1 at 58 mph