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Old December 11th 18, 03:21 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bob Kuykendall
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Default schweizer135 canopy

On Saturday, December 8, 2018 at 6:35:48 PM UTC-8, wrote:

...it turns out that the "modern glider canopy" came from a Zuni.


[Warning: Off-topic reminiscence.]

Unlike most modern composite sailplanes, George made Zuni canopies using a free-blowing process, not the molded stretch-forming process used by the major manufacturers. As a result, it is challenging to get a consistent profile match between the canopy and the fuselage.

George's original approach to the problem of matching a free-blown transparency to a molded fuselage was actually kind of genius: He started by free-blowing an attractive looking canopy bubble, then he incorporated it into the plug that he made the Zuni fuselage molds from. That way he knew that it was at least possible to free-blow a canopy that would fit. However, the gulf between possible and practical means that some Zunis look better than others, depending on the ambient temperature in Moriarty when they were finishing up the ship.

--Bob K.