General Aircraft GAL.56
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The General Aircraft GAL 56 was a British tail-less swept wing glider design of the 1940s built by General Aircraft Ltd.
There were three GAL 56 of different wing form:
- Medium-V (TS507) with constant sweep on leading and trailing edges
- Medium-U (TS510), with a parallel-chord centre section,
- Maximum-V (TS513), with increased sweepback on the quarter-chord line.
The first flew in November 1944, the last after the end of the Second World War. They were followed by the GAL 61 intended to be part of the series in a more finished form complete with retracting undercarriage and more of a flying wing but this was never completed and flown.
They were flown by pilots at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough and by General Aircraft themselves - their test pilot Robert Kronfeld was killed when one of them stalled and crashed.
[edit] References
- British aircraft of WWII 9 February 2007
- Century of flight flying wings 9 February 2007
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