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Lie-Fang

  When during the 1950s the Chinese People's Republic decided to revive the country's sporting gliding movement it was to Poland that they turned for help, and with the aid of instructors, technicians and designers from the Polish ДальшеMore>>> SZD organisation a central Gliding School was organized at An-Yan and large gliding establishments were set up at Tchan-Tia-Kou. It was here that a Chinese glider design office was formed towards the end of 1956 under the direction of Dipl Ing Niespal of the Polish SZD, and a Glider Manufacturing Centre was organized for the licence production of Polish types such as the ABC, Salamandra, the SZD-8 Jaskolka, the SZD-12 Mucha 100 and the SZD-9 Bocian, examples of which had already been purchased from Poland; production of these types began during 1955-56. And it was at Tchan-Tia-Kou that the first Chinese glider of original design, the Lie-Fang (or Liberation) two-seater intermediate trainer, was created, the prototype making its first flight on 10 May 1958. It was intended that pupils should graduate from the Lie-Fang to the single-seat SZD Mucha, which it resembles in appearance, for their first solo flights and the Lie-Fang went into small-scale production for the Chinese gliding centres. It is a cantilever midwing monoplane of conventional wood and fabric construction; the single-spar wings have a plywood leading edge torsion box and fabric covering aft of the spar, the forward sweep being 2° at the quarter-chord line. The wooden slotted ailerons are also fabric covered and there are spoilers on both top and bottom wing surfaces. The fuselage is a plywood monocoque with a light alloy nose-cap, and the cantilever tail unit is of wood with fabric covering. The landing gear consists of a non-retractable monowheel with brake, and a rubber-mounted skid under the forward fuselage. The two pilots are seated in tandem under a large sideways-opening Perspex canopy.


Span: 49 ft 2 1/2 in
Length: 26 ft 3 in
Height: 4 ft 5 1/2 in
Wing area: 200 sq ft
Aspect ratio: 12.4
Empty weight: 534 lb
Max weight: 926 lb
Max speed: 102.5 mph (in smooth air)
Max aero-tow speed: 87 mph
Min sinking speed: 2.62 ft/sec at 38.5 mph
Best glide ratio: 22:1 at 53 mph