DFS Kranich
The DFS Kranich is a German glider. It was developed by Hans Jacobs for the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS).
History
Series production of the Kranich took place in the aircraft division of Karl Schweyer AG in Mannheim. The two-seater was in its version 2, the most widely built glider in Germany from 1935 to 1939. Several hundred examples were built; exact numbers are not known.
On 11 October 1940 Erich Klöckner in a Kranich achieved the record height in a glider of 11,460 m. Because it occurred in wartime, the altitude record was not recognized by the Allied occupying powers, and Klöckner only received official recognition by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in the late 1990s. [1] This record height was only exceeded ten years after the flight by the American Bill Ivans during a similar scientific program in the Sierra Nevada.
In 1942 30 Kranichs were built by the Swedish manufacturer AB Flygplan in Norrköping, and delivered to the Swedish Air Force for training purposes. These machines were given the military designation Se 103.
Between 1950 and 1952 50 examples of a slightly modified copy of the Kranich II were built in Poland, known as the SZD-C Żuraw (żuraw is Kranich in Polish = "crane").
After the war, the Focke-Wulf aircraft factory in Bremen developed and produced the Kranich III, which was a completely new development and shows no similarities with its predecessors. The first flight was on 1 May 1952, piloted by Hanna Reitsch. 37 examples of this type were built.
Kranich II specifications
| Category |
Data |
| Overall length |
7,7 m |
| Span |
18 m |
| Maximum take-off weight |
465 kg |
| Maximum speed |
175 km/h |
| Best Glide ratio |
23 at 70 km/h |
| Minimum sink |
0,7 m/s at 60 km/h |
References
- Horst Lommel: Vom Höhenaufklärer bis zum Raumgleiter 1935 – 1945, Geheimprojekte der DFS, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3613020726
- aerokurier magazine 1/1999: Erich Klöckners Vorstoß zur Tropopause, Motor Presse 1999
- Georg Brütting; Die berühmtesten Segelflugzeuge, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3613022966
- Horst Lommel: Zeitschrift Luftfahrt History Nr. 4: Der Flieger Erich - ein Nachruf auf Erich Klöckner, Lautec Software und Medien GmbH, Siegen 2004
- Peter F. Selinger: Segelflugzeug-Geschichten: die Gleit- und Segelflugzeuge des Deutschen Segelflugmuseums mit Modellflug auf der Wasserkuppe. Stiftung Deutsches Segelflugmuseum Wasserkuppe mit Modellflug, Gersfeld/Rhön 2004, ISBN 3-00-011649-4.
- ^ aerokurier magazine 1/1999: Erich Klöckners Vorstoß zur Tropopause, Motor Presse 1999
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