The Schneider Grunau Baby (named for the town where Schneider's factory was located - now Jeżów Sudecki in Poland) was a single-seat sailplane first built in Germany in 1931, with some 6,000 examples constructed in some 20 countries. It was relatively easy to build from plans, it flew well, and the aircraft was strong enough to handle mild aerobatics and the occasional hard landing. When the Baby first appeared, it was accepted wisdom that the pilot should feel as much unimpeded airflow as possible, the better to sense rising and falling currents of air, temperature changes and the like.
Grunau Baby III from the Wasserkuppe Museum at the 2009 Munich Oktoberfest
It was designed by Edmund Schneider with the assistance of Wolf Hirth and Hugo Kromer as a smaller version of his ESG 31 of the previous year, incorporating a new elliptical wing design based on work done by Akaflieg Darmstadt. The first 14 inner ribs are of the Gotinngen 535 shape with the outer ribs gradually changing up to the last 22nd rib having a bi-convex and symmetrical shape with a slight reduction in the angle of incidence. The tips and leading edges of the wings up to the main spar are covered with plywood. The tail unit is built of plywood. The intention was to create an aircraft suitable both for training and for cross-country soaring. Typical for its day, it was a high-wing braced monoplane with a fuselage of hexagonal cross-section and an open cockpit. The Baby was an instant success, and was enthusiastically promoted by gliding champion Wolf Hirth. An extensive redesign followed in 1932 following the fatal crash of an unrelated Schneider design, resulting in the Baby II. This version and the definitive Baby IIb that followed it were adopted as a standard sailplane trainer for the German Air Sports Association (later the National Socialist Flyers Corps).
During 1941, 30 GB gliders were built by Laminação Nacional de Metais, later Companhia Aeronáutica Paulista in Brazil, under the name "Alcatraz". Following World War II, the Baby was built in France (as the Nord 1300) and the United Kingdom (as the Elliotts Baby EoN and the Slingsby T5 - Slingsby also used it as the basis for a number of their own designs). Edmund Schneider emigrated to Australia, where he developed the Baby design into his Baby 3 and Baby 4, which had enclosed cockpits.
Variants
- ESG 31
- The precursor to the Baby with larger less sophisticated wings.
- Baby
- The initial version - an ESG31 with an improved wing based on work done by Akaflieg Darmstadt.
- Baby II
- Baby IIa
- Baby IIb
- Baby III
- Alcatraz
- Thirty aircraft licence built in Brazil by Laminação Nacional de Metais, later called CAP Companhia Aeronáutica Paulista
- Nord 1300
- License production in France by Nord Aviation
- Elliotts Baby EoN
- License production in England by Elliotts of Newbury
- Slingsby T5
- License production in England by Slingsby Sailplanes
- Baby 3
- Post-war redesign, with an anclosed cockpit, by Edmund Schneider after emigration to Australia
- Baby 4
- Further improvements made for production in Australia.
- AB Flygplan Se-102
- License production in Sweden for the Royal Swedish Air Force.
- Hawkridge Grunau Baby
- licence-built Grunau Babys
- TG-27 Grunau Baby
- Grunau Babys impressed into the USAAC in 1942
- IFIL-Reghin RG-1
- Grunau Babys built in Romania under licence.
Specifications (Baby IIb)
Data from The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs du Monde[1]
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 6.09 m (20 ft 0 in)
- Wingspan: 13.57 m (44 ft 6 in)
- Wing area: 14.2 m2 (153 sq ft)
- Aspect ratio: 13
- Airfoil: Göttingen 535
- Empty weight: 170 kg (375 lb) (equipped)
- Max takeoff weight: 250 kg (551 lb)
Performance
- Never exceed speed: 150 km/h (93 mph; 81 kn)
- Aerotow speed: 90 km/h (55.9 mph; 48.6 kn)
- Winch launch speed: 80 km/h (49.7 mph; 43.2 kn)
- Maximum glide ratio: 17 at 60 km/h (37.3 mph; 32.4 kn)
- Rate of sink: 0.85 m/s (167 ft/min) at 55 km/h (34.2 mph; 29.7 kn)
- Wing loading: 17.68 kg/m2 (3.62 lb/sq ft)
See also
- Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Hütter Hü 17
- Related lists
List of gliders
Notes
- ↑ Shenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson & Peter Brooks (1958). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs dans Le Monde (in Primarily English with French and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 95–98.
References
- Shenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson & Peter Brooks (1958). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs dans Le Monde (in Primarily English with French and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 95–98.
Further reading
- Hardy, Michael (1982). Gliders and Sailplanes of the World. Shepperton: Ian Allan. pp. 50–51.
- Coates, Andrew (1978). Jane's World Sailplanes and Motor Gliders. London: MacDonald and Jane's. p. 97.
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