On Sun, 10 Dec 2017 01:38:23 +0000, Michael Opitz wrote:

That was my father who re-built and flew the Ho-IV in 1952 USA contests.
He limited himself to no more than 80 mph IAS in order to keep away
from the pitch "pecking" characteristics which made him uncomfortable.
From the late 1930's until the mid 1940's,
he was one of the world's top flying wing test pilots, so he knew
exactly what he was doing when he flew the Ho-IV.

Most interesting stuff. Thanks for posting it. On a closer look, I see
exactly what you mean about that horrid lump of block foam that passes
for a subfin, but there's not enough detail to see how bad the tip is -
except that they haven't bothered to make and fit ailerons.

I've found out a little more about that Ho S.IV. It seems to have been
taken to Farnborough by the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE)'s Enemy
Aircraft Flight. These were the British equivalent of Rechlin and NACA.
At first I thought it had been collected by Philip Wills or Eric "Winkle"
Brown, but this wasn't the case.

Eric Brown flew it several times while it was at Farnborough as part of a
tailless research project. He liked it and especially to 'praying mantis'
pilot position. I can see that that odd yoke is tilted for roll control,
but what about elevator - do the handles link to that by rotating the
tube they're mounted on? Similarly, I can see the tow release at the
front of the canopy but have no idea where the airbrake and trim controls
might be.

Geoffrey de Havilland must have got the glider from the RAE after they'd
finished testing it. I never knew he was a glider pilot, so can only
assume that he heard of it due to his involvement with the DH.108 Swallow.

I thought Philip Wills had brought a number of gliders back from Germany
but misremembered that. He he visited the Wasserkuppe as a side trip with
the Air Transport Auxiliary and found a lot of gliders there in good
condition. He'd been after a Reiher but, when he found a bunch of Weihes
there he got two of them back to Farnborough - at the time the US forces,
whose zone included the Wasserkuppe, were planning to burn the lot
because some troops had killed or maimed themselves trying to do
untutored bungee launches off the hill so he thought he'd best save at
least some from the bonfire. However, by the time his two arrived at
Farnborough two months later the rest were still untouched in their
hangars, so I wonder if the threatened destruction ever happened.

Anyway, Philip Wills ended up owning one of the Weihes and flying it for
two years before he sold it to Dick Georgeson in NZ, who used it for his
early explorations of mountain wave on the Southern Alps. He flew it for
what I believe was the first significant XC in wave (1953) when he flew
it from Christchurch to Dunedin, getting Gold height in the process and
missing Gold distance by just 3km due to being released a bit too far
south.

Bruce, if you're reading this: does that Weihe still exist and if it
does, is it still airworthy and who owns it?


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Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie
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