First use of term "sailplane" ?

Interesting ...

So the original cloth over avian inspired skeletal designs built by
Otto were sailplanes ... Segelflugzeug ...

Then at some point Gleiter (Glider) was a descriptive term ... that may
or may not have had performance implications.

Then in the 20s the term sailplane was 're-defined' to mean higher
performance ... vs. gliders I assume ...
Thanks all for you info on this ...

KK

Thanks all for you info on this ...

... and hey, thanks for discovering my FAQ draft, forgot I had it up. John
Seaborn improved on it (with nice pictures) at www.ssa.org/UsTeam/adobe
pdf/pr pdf/BR Soaring FAQ V4 04.pdf , along with other gems in the US Team
Press Room, www.ssa.org/UsTeam/ust_press.htm .

My reading of many old books suggests that segelflugzeug - prueflung -
zoegling (sailplane - secondary - primary) was a breakdown set at 20:1 and
10:1 as of the early days of the RRG and Wasserkuppe flight school ca 1923.
In the USA, builders preferred lumping primary and secondary categories
together as the "utility" glider, reflected in the 1930 Franklin PS-2
("Primary and Secondary, too") or some Schweizer gliders up through 1968
(e.g. SGU 2-22E, SAC Glider Utility model #22, vs. SGS 2-8). This despite
Col. Evans and JC Penney Jr. having imported one of all 3 kinds of german
glider in 1928 for display the Detroit Air Show (including the D-1 as the
"sailplane").

Good point about Otto and Gustav. "Birdflight as the basis for Aviation" is
in reprint and evidences the fascination of those brothers with soaring
flight. The quote I liked came early in their program:
"We returned home, after these experiments, with the conviction that sailing
flight was not the exclusive prerogative of birds" - Otto Lilienthal, 1874.
However, their devices were hardly sailplanes (either in performance,
control, or launch means), more like parachutes.

It might be of interest to note, that on commercial jets, with with wing
mounted engines, the skin that covers the engine pylon (the pylon is the
internal structure that attaches the engine to the wing) is called, of all
things, the Sailplane!

Erik Larson / XL

John H. Campbell wrote:
Good point about Otto and Gustav. "Birdflight as the basis for
Aviation" is
in reprint and evidences the fascination of those brothers with
soaring
flight. The quote I liked came early in their program:
"We returned home, after these experiments, with the conviction that
sailing
flight was not the exclusive prerogative of birds" - Otto Lilienthal,
1874.
However, their devices were hardly sailplanes (either in performance,
control, or launch means), more like parachutes.


Thanks for sharing this John. I found this quote which I think is
perfect for those of us who yearn to get into the air as Spring
approaches:

"With each advent of spring, when the air is alive with innumerable
happy creatures; when the storks on their arrival at their old northern
resorts fold up the imposing flying apparatus which has carried them
thousands of miles, lay back their heads and announce their arrival by
joyously rattling their beaks; when the swallows have made their entry
and hurry through our streets and pass our windows in sailing flight;
when the lark appears as a dot in the ether and manifests its joy of
existence by its song; then a certain desire takes possession of man.
He longs to soar upward and to glide, free as the bird, over smiling
fields, leafy woods and mirror-like lakes, and so enjoy the varying
landscape as fully as only a bird can do."
Otto Lilienthal

I need to read this book!