SSVOBB is the acronym for Stichting Studenten Vliegtuigontwikkeling, -bouw en -beheer which is Dutch for Foundation for Students in Airplane development, manufacturing and management.
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The SSVOBB is a non-profit-foundation of students in Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology in Delft, Netherlands dedicated to building aircraft with historic or scientific value. Main objective is to apply the knowledge acquired as an engineer to real aircraft. Thus improving the graduates with knowledge of the actual work on aircraft instead of the theoretical ideal situation. The organisation was founded on January 19, 1991 when the students organised the building of their first aircraft the Lambach HL II.
The Lambach HL II (registration PH-APZ) is a replica of a late 1930s aircraft.
The original Lambach HL was commissioned by Dutch aviation enthusiasts to try to beat the far more superior German aerobatics pilots and aircraft in aerobatics contests. She was completely designed and build within six months by the Dutch engineer Hugo Lambach. The biplane had a steel tube, cloth-covered fuselage, and wooden wings and tail, and was powered by a Gipsy Major Mk. 1. After test flights she was successful at several air shows were she proved to be a unique aerobatics aircraft, however not quite the quality of the German aircraft. The aircraft was destroyed during a German bombing raid on the Ypenburg airfield near The Hague on May 10, 1940.
Hugo Lambach was a Delft graduate in applied physics. During his study he already designed and built his first aircraft, the Lambach HL I. After graduation he worked with Koolhoven Vliegtuigfabrieken. With the commissioning of the Lambach HL II he started his own aircraft factory, Lambach Vliegtuigfabrieken, which ultimately only produced one aircraft. After the war he worked with Fokker for several years and had his own engineering company. Hugo Lambach died July 8, 1972.
The replica started out as a student's joke in 1989 to organise a stunt in honour of the 45th anniversary of the Society of Aerospace Students 'Leonardo Da Vinci'. Thanks to a complete set of drawings found in the Aviodrome museum and the help of Hugo Lambach's main engineer Willem de Koo, the students managed to complete the aircraft in six years. Her first flight took place on September 18, 1995. The aircraft was demonstrated at several air shows in the Netherlands and Belgium during 1996. In 1997 inspection showed the need for heavy maintenance which has grounded her since.
The maintenance work is almost finished and the aircraft will hopefully get her certificate of airworthiness coming summer, after undergoing a heavy D-inspection.
The Impuls (Dutch for momentum, registration PH-VXM (velocity times mass)) is completely designed by the foundation's students. The design started in 1994, currently the design is reaching final phases and 25% of the production works have been completed. The Impuls is expected to fly around 2013.
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