Seems to me that a flameout at one tip might be a concern...

How about right at the end of the tailboom? It would require specific
engineering: the glider would have to be designed for it, both to fit
the engine there and from a c.g. point of view - although now that I
think of it, my glider already has tail weights to bring the c.g. aft!
The hot exhaust would be no issue. You'd have to duct inlet air from
the top of the tailboom to avoid ingesting foreign objects. Existing
gliders might be a little tough to retro-fit, but I'd imagine some
clever shops could do it (converting all the certificated gliders to
Experimental in the process, presumably...) As Chris says, you'd put
the fuel in the wings, displacing some (probably not all) of the
water, or put it between the wings in the fuselage. You'd have the
engine so far from the pilot and fuel, the exhaust aft of the
structure, and no complicated swinging arms, bomb bay doors, etc.

The noise in the cockpit would be pretty nasty, though...



Chris Ashburn wrote in message ...
It might get a pit toasty for the wing runner in self-launch mode, but
how about one at each wing tip?

It seems most gliders these days already have some sort of interchangable
tip, so make a new set with a jet built in.

Fuel storage would be the main issue. If you give up the water
ballast option though, there's plenty of room in the wing.

Chris

Slingsby wrote:

I would think that mounting a couple of small jets at or just behind
the wing/fuselage junction could also serve to remove some of the low
speed turbulence in that area. Also, if the engine had a tight
cowling around it then perhaps some water could be sprayed or drizzled
onto the outside of the engine and the resulting steam would mix with
the exhaust to provide some additional thrust. SWB Turbines in
Neenah, WI (SWBTurbines.com)has a Mamba turbojet which puts out 11
Lbs. of thrust. It is only 3.5 inches in diameter and would fit
nicely at the wing junction interface. SWB also has 45, 60 and a
100Lb thrust engine.