Sharp Swallow
Autre nom (ou nom en langue originelle) : Sharp Swift| DONNÉES GÉNÉRALES |
| Année du premier vol (ou de design, si seul projet) |
1950 |
| Pays | Australie |
| Designer(s) | SHARP, Ron |
| Premier constructeur | Ron SHARP (AU) |
| Type d'appareil | Planeur |
| Fonction | Entraînement |
| SPÉCIFICATIONS TECHNIQUES |
| Envergure | 10.05 m |
| Longueur | -- |
| Hauteur | -- |
| Allongement | -- |
| Surface alaire | -- |
| Profil aile | NACA 4415 / 4412 |
| Masse à vide | -- |
| Masse maxi | -- |
| Charge alaire | -- |
| Vitesse mini | -- |
| Vitesse maxi | -- |
| Finesse maxi | |
| Taux de chute mini | -- |
| Nb sièges | 1 |
| Structure | Bois et toile |
AUTRES INFORMATIONS
| Constructeur(s) |
| ||||||
| Infos techniques | -- | ||||||
| Histoire résumée | Ron SHARP nous raconte l'histoire de son planeur : Fred Hoinville, knowing something of my past projects, challenged me to make a small glider, having read of two made in the USA. I took the challenge. My first sketch included a passenger, and was printed in A.G. This was soon altered to solo. Merv. Wagorn told me how Martin had made the Kite by drawing it out on the floor, including stressing, mpirically from his experience. For a start I visited the Dept. of Aeronautical Engineering at Sydney Uni. and asked for coordinates for the 4415 and 4412 airfoils, as I was designing and building a sailplane. They said, “You’ve done the degree course have you?” I said, “no, just made model aeroplanes”. They made some derogatory looks and said that I could get coordinates from the library. When, two years later I showed photos and said that I had been two hours at five thousand feet they had nothing much to say. In designing and building the 33ft. Swallow Sailplane I was helped with suggestions in its basic stressing by Mervyn Waghorn who was works manager at De-Havilland. Jack Davidson and others offered advice during construction. The fuselage was made on the front verandah and when brought into the lounge room from the weather, the family had to step over it for months. I was not popular. Geoff Badgery assisted in gluing the spar in his garage. Swallow’s wing was tested with a load of bricks at Reg. Todhunter’s Glidair factory. I did two hops on the runway at Camden, the first without canopy and then with canopy. The performance was noticeably better with the canopy. Some higher test flights followed after which Merv. Waghorn test flew it for approval, with a tail chute attached. This wasn’t needed as everything went as expected. He said that this was the last glider to be approved without full stressing. It was aerobatic. Red and white. The Swallow was designed to side-slip very steeply due to having all rudder and a narrow fin post. Half the tail plane was elevator and the ailerons went all up with almost no down. The shoulder wing assisted this. On one occasion, those on the ground scattered, as if I had stalled at the threshold. It would fall at forty-five degrees on approach and then straighten quickly for a very short landing. This was not usually expected with conventional control surfaces and a high wing. The purpose of the glider was to allow me to fly like a bird with the wings at shoulder level as though my arms were outstretched. This also allowed one to see what was coming in turns. I tried to improve the deficiencies that I had perceived in the Grunau. It was a small, fun glider that flew almost just by thinking about it. As would a bird. I was now a member of Sydney Soaring Club and the Skylark was on the way. Being poor and creative, the Swallow had achieved its purpose, so had to go. For 200 pounds. A group from Mount Isa Club bought it with trailer. Some damage occurred on the way north. I was told that without flying it, work was started to repair and in the process, improve it. Some time later I received photos of it with a long streamlined canopy and other modifications. It had a nice new paint scheme. I was informed that very soon after all this work, someone put it into a tree and that was the last I heard of it. " Ron Sharp in his article published in the last newsletter said that after the Swallow went to Mt Isa it was modified and flown until "someone put it into a tree". After Ron Sharp sold the glider to Mt Isa it became know as the "Swift". Correspondence from Neil Hart to Allan Ash in December 1997 (now held in the Museum Archives) gives a bit more detail: "Your enquiry about the SWIFT ... we bought it, ... from Ron Sharp in Sydney, and member Noel Harper trailed it back from that congested city without problem. The Leichardt Soaring Club workshop on BSD hill saw it ensconced for half a year or more, with an overhaul and modification items taking a while to finish. Wing surfaces were filled and polished, various other streamlining minor points, and I had a spare pair of DFS scissor dive brakes which I put into the wing structure. The cockpit canopy flat-top was fitted with a teardrop canopy "Mustang" style, with barely head room to change your mind. However, it worked okay in flight. I did the test flying. Test flights were uneventful, and air handling quite lively but predictable. After other group members had tried the aircraft, about a year later Maurie Bradney took it on his attempt for a Gold C distance, which he got fairly quickly, landing in the Northern Territory past Camooweal. His ground crew, with radio contact, dismantled and trailer-loaded the sailplane within an hour of the roadway landing. Sometime later, Don Stewart tried the same distance and same route. He arrived back at the Gliderport by road, much to our consternation, some hours later. His thermal factory shut down about half-way to Camooweal, over rough country without clear patches. Don flat-stalled it into a bushy tree, climbed down to the ground, and hitched back to town. The damage was not repairable, so the framework was cannibalised for some parts to fly again in other aircraft." | ||||||
| Liens personnalités | Pas de personnalité associée. | ||||||
| Remarques | Année approximative | ||||||
| Compléments docs |
SOURCES DOCUMENTAIRES
| Liens WEB | Pas de site référencé. |
| Livres | Pas de livre référencé. |
| Autres sources | Australian Gliding Museum Newsletter n° 30, septembre 2014, p 10-11. Texte + photo More about Ron Sharp’s “Swallow” glider, Australian Gliding Museum Newsletter n° 31, juin 2015, p 9-10. Texte + 5 photos Midget glider designed in Sydney, Australian Gliding, Décembre 1953, p 18-19 A Swallow flies in the Spring, by Ron Sharp, Australian Gliding, Octobre 1955, p 6-7 |
MODÈLES RÉDUITS
| Pas de plan ou kit référencé. |
Fiche n° 1625 [Dernière mise à jour : 2015-02-20]
Team J2mcL © 2003 -
- Pages optimisées pour Mozilla Firefox