5/2/2024 0 Comments Wortmann airfoil database![]() However the expected performance gains were only partly realised and the B12 does not rank with the highest performance gliders, as was hoped. Once the quirks and foibles of the B12 are understood it is possible to compete effectively with other contemporary two-seaters. ![]() High nose-up seating position tall undercarriage, which reduces forward view at low ground roll speeds high-mounted wings with significant dihedral, which makes ground-handling awkward the ailerons are relatively ineffective control pressures are large, causing pilot fatigue rigging and de-rigging of the aircraft are complicated and strenuous, requiring several ground-handlers high weight causes high wing loading, reducing thermalling performance (i.e. Flying įlying the B12 requires a certain amount of care, due to: The B12 continues to fly but rarely emerges from the hangar unless the soaring weather is good. interest group for academic flying groups) summer camp at Aalen-Elchingen, sporting a T-tail identical to that of the Akaflieg Berlin B13. Repairs were carried out and the B12 was flying again on 1 August 1987 at the IDAFLIEG ( Interessengemeinschaft deutscher akademischer Fliegergruppen e.V. History Īfter the first flight of the B12 on 27 July 1977, piloted by Jürgen Ehlers Thorbeck, the B12 was used for research, cross country and competition flying until a trailer accident in 1986, whilst being transported by road, destroyed the tail section and twisted the rear fuselage. In the original fuselage a braking parachute, used for approach control, was housed at the extreme rear, but this feature was not carried through to the replacement tailcone during its rebuild. A rubber tail skid, capped with hardened steel, under the rear fuselage completes the undercarriage. The single retractable main undercarriage wheel is supported on a tall leg assembly which was originally built with electric actuation, but after a field landing with a flat battery caused a wheels-up landing a manual system was fitted. A thicker aerofoil section was used for the vertical tail of this revised unit, a specially developed Wortmann FX-71 L 150/30 profile. After a trailer accident during road transport in 1986, which destroyed the rear fuselage and tail-unit, a T-tail was fitted during repairs. The empennage originally utilised a cruciform tail using an NACA 0009-64 aerofoil section formed with ' Rohacell'/GFRP sandwich supported by CFRP (Carbon-Fibre Re-inforced Plastic) spars. The wings are standard 'Janus B' items built using identical construction methods. The cockpit seats two in tandem under large plexiglas canopies with the instructor seat, in the rear, set at a higher level to improve his forward view. Construction īuilt principally from GFRP the B12 uses monocoque construction, avoiding the use of a welded steel-tube core structure, maximising the volume available for crew accommodation and payloads such as research instrumentation. The shape and profiles of the new fuselage were developed at the Institut für Luftfahrzeugbau (Institute for aircraft industry) and a new two-seat fuselage was constructed using contemporary GFRP (Glass-fibre Re-inforced Plastic) techniques in a monocoque shell. To improve a modern glider's performance through modifying the aerofoil sections is time-consuming and very costly, so to reduce costs the group utilised production wings from a Schempp-Hirth Janus B, shortened to 18.2m (59.71 feet), allowing the students to concentrate their efforts and budget on improving the fuselage. The students at Akaflieg Berlin set out to improve the performance of modern gliders by reducing drag. Conceived as a research vehicle, only one unit was constructed. The Akaflieg Berlin B12 is a high performance two-place glider aircraft that was designed and built in Germany.
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