Lippisch Storch
Страна: Германия
Год: 1927
Планер

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

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

THE STORCH SERIES

  Inspired by the Weltensegler, Alexander Lippisch, who was resident research engineer and head of the flight technical section for the RRG on the Wasserkuppe, began in the mid-1920s to experiment with tailless gliders, at the same time as he was working on the various training gliders that occupied him at first. In 1925-6, isolated from the rest of the world by bad weather in the mountains, Lippisch spent the winter working on the problem. He built and flew many large scale models before proceeding to full-sized, man-carrying types. A wind tunnel test was done at Goettingen on the most promising layout. In this way he established most of the vital requirements for stability and control of such aircraft.
  His first successful tailless glider was the Storch. The pilot was housed in a nacelle hung beneath the wing on struts. The wings were swept back 15 degrees and endplate fins, with rudders, were fitted at the tips. These not only gave some measure of control in the yawing plane but also helped to reduce the strength of the tip vortices. The aileron and elevator controls were combined into elevons, both surfaces moving together for pitch control and up and down respectively for banking. The structure was an orthodox, wooden framework, fabric covered. Each wing rib had to be set at an angle to the spars, since the ribs ran directly fore and aft whilst the spars were angled back. Directional control was not good. The tip rudders were modified several times; at first they were mounted in a vulnerable position below the tip, but later were more successful when placed above it. The original streamlined nacelle was changed to a larger, hexagonal cross-sectioned form with the rear end projecting aft to make a sort of fin. Other changes resulted before long in the Storch 4. It had ailerons of lobate planform. The wing was of two-spar type with internal diagonal bracing. The tip fins and rudders were not symmetrical in section but cambered in the same sense as the mainplane, as if the extreme tip of the wing had been bent upward at right-angles. This feature has been almost exactly reproduced, after extensive wind tunnel testing and calculations, on some modern, swept-wing jet aircraft. The Storch tip winglets were also ‘toed in’ slightly, which improved their effectiveness.
  The Storch 4 was successful enough as a glider to be fitted with an 8 hp motor driving a pusher propeller, mounted behind the pilot’s cockpit in the nacelle. This was flown by Guenther Groenhoff, Lippisch’s test pilot, in 1929. The motor was incapable of giving power enough for an unassisted take-off, the aircraft being launched with engine running, by bungee, like a glider. Once airborne it could maintain height and flew at 125 km/h.
  Further development resulted in the Storch 8, named Hans Huckebein, which also had a pusher motor and an enclosed cockpit. The end of the Storch series came with the Delta 1, named Hermann Koehl, which flew in 1931 first as a two-seat sailplane with the pilot and passenger seated in tandem, in a central nacelle with windows. Later the nacelle was rebuilt as a cabin for two, and a 30 hp motor was added together with a tricycle undercarriage.
  Lippisch’s experiences greatly influenced the Horten Brothers when they began experiments with flying wing gliders, and Lippisch himself continued his researches for many years.

  Technical data:
   Storch 2: Span 12.20 m. Wing area 18.667 sq in. Aspect ratio, 7.97.
The Storch 2. Alexander Lippisch holds the wingtip.
The Storch 2 flying in 1927.
The Storch 4 in flight, with the tip winglets.
Dr Lippisch’s Storch V made its first powered flight on September 17, 1929.
Storch 4
Lippisch 'Storch' VII