Schleicher Ka 3

The Schleicher Ka 3 or Kaiser Ka 3, is a 1950s single seat training glider, mostly sold in kit form.

Ka 3
Prototype Ka 3 in 1954
Role Single seat training glider
National origin Germany
Manufacturer Alexander Schleicher Segelflugzeugbau
Designer Rudolf Kaiser
First flight 1954
Number built 15

Design and development

The Ka 3 and its predecessor the Ka 1 were mostly sold as kits for home assembly. Apart from their fuselages the two types are very close in appearance, simplicity, weight and performance. They share a round tipped high wing with constant chord and no sweep, mounted with 2.5° of dihedral and braced with a single lift strut on each side from the lower fuselage to the wing at about one third span. Plain, constant-chord ailerons reach almost from the tips to about mid span and upper wing spoilers are placed at mid chord, inboard of the ailerons. Both have 37° butterfly tails with straight leading edges and round tips and trailing edges.[1]

The Ka 1 has a ply-covered, rounded wooden-framed fuselage but that of the Ka 3 is more angular, steel tube-framed, fabric covered and slightly longer. Both have a simple, deep, sprung landing skid reaching from the nose to under the trailing edge of the wing, assisted by a tail bumper. Their cockpits are under the wing leading edge, into which the clear canopy extends.[1]

The Ka 1 first flew in 1951 and ten were built;[2] the Ka 3 followed in 1954 with fifteen eventually completed.[1] One Ka 1 and two Ka 3s remained on the German civil aircraft register in 2010.[3]

Variants
Ka 1 in the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim
Ka 1 in the Wasserkuppe museum
Ka 1 Rhönlaus
Original version with rounded, wooden fuselage.[1] First flown 1951. 10 built.[2]
Ka 3
Development with a slightly longer, fabric-covered steel-tube fuselage. Performance and weights as Ka 1. First flown in 1954. 15 produced.[1]

Specifications (Ka 3)

Data from The World's Sailplanes pp.83-5[1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: One
  • Length: 5.45 m (17 ft 11 in)
  • Wingspan: 10.00 m (32 ft 10 in)
  • Wing area: 9.9 m2 (107 sq ft)
  • Aspect ratio: 10.1
  • Airfoil: Göttingen 549
  • Empty weight: 100 kg (220 lb) equipped
  • Max takeoff weight: 195 kg (430 lb)
  • Wing loading: 19.7 kg/m2 (4.04 lb/sq ft) maximum

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn) placard, smooth air. All performance figures at a flying weight of 180 kg (397 lb)
  • Maximumun speed, placard, rough air: 100 km/h (62 mph; 54 kn)
  • Maximumun aero-tow speed: 100 km/h (62 mph; 54 kn)
  • Maximumun winch launch speed: 90 km/h (56 mph; 49 kn)
  • Stall speed: 53 km/h (33 mph, 29 kn)
  • Maximum glide ratio: best, 17.5:1 at 75 km/h (47 mph; 40 kn)
  • Rate of sink: 1.0 m/s (200 ft/min) at 65 km/h (40 mph; 35 kn)


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References
  1. Wilkinson, K.G.; Brooks, Peter; Shenstone, B.S. (1958). The World's Sailplanes - Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt - Les Planeurs de le Monde (in English, German, and French). I. Organisation Scientifique et Technique International de Vol à Voile (OSTIV) & Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 81, 83-5146-9.
  2. "Kaiser Ka 1". Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  3. Partington, Dave (2010). European registers handbook 2010. Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85130-425-0.
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