X-Plane content/creations

[Avimimus]

A couple of years ago I made many aircraft in X-Plane. I used standardised techniques which means that the handling is consistent between them, and also was implementing custom airfoils - which significantly improved the accuracy of the flight models.

 

The reason why nothing was released is that I built the 3d models in X-Plane plane-maker and ran out of time to learn how to efficiently do 3d modelling well... and without even very basic 3d cockpits I felt that the aircraft weren't up to standard visually (even if the aerodynamics was pretty good). If anyone feels like doing some relatively simple 3d models - I'd be happy to finish these aircraft.

 

Jcdomm asked about the gliders I made - so I decided to post this thread to discuss. I'll add to it in a bit. If I get around to it, I'll also share some of the powered aircraft I built.

[Avimimus]

I found interwar gliders very interesting - because it represents a transitional era when true soaring flight was first achieved. There was also a lot of refinement going on and limited economic resources after the Great War (and Versailles treaty restrictions) meant there was a lot more interest in developing novel aerodynamics using unpowered designs.

 

The glider collection:

Spoiler

Weltensegler ‘Feldberg’, 1921. An remarkable flying wing glider that proved a glider could gain energy while airborne. The outer wings were spring loaded - possibly in an attempt to allow gust soaring. It lacks ailerons and only allows active pilot control over yaw and downward pitching movements. Flown. Note: Some flight model issues need to be resolved.

 

Platz folding glider, 1923. Designed in response to the rising popularity of gliders after the Versaille Treaty of 1919 came into effect. It was a tandem biplane glider designed with non-rigid wing, intended to be as cheap as possible and bicycle transportable. Flown.

Note: Some flight model issues need to be resolved.

 

Küpper Ku-4 ‘Austria/Elefant’, 1931. A high performance parasol winged glider with an enormous 30 metre wing span. Flown.

 

Akaflieg Stuttgart F1 ‘Fledermaus’, 1932. A high performance glider designed to work without a vertical stabiliser. Moving the stabilisers to the wing tips allowed saving fuselage weight and optimising aerodynamics allowing a small circling radius to make tight turns within thermals. It also has the effect of making landings slightly terrifying. Flown.

 

 

Gribovski G11, 1933. Six seat twin-fuselage transport glider. Designed for high efficiency, its layout would not have been as useful for carrying cargo as later transport glider designs. Conceptual design.

 

Romeiko-Gurko RMK-1 ‘Planerlet’, 1935. A six seat transport motor-glider capable of efficient cargo operations and carrying an exceptional payload load for its engine power through using towing to assist short takeoffs. While more efficient than conventional aircraft and with exceptional endurance this came at the cost of exhaustingly long flights. Preliminary design.

 

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Antonov LEM-2 ‘Planerlet’, 1935-1937. A transport glider with cargo in the wings. Up to two seats in the cockpit. The propeller and engine were identical to those used on the much smaller U-2/Po-2 biplane of the era, and Belyayev was involved in the aerodynamic work for the wing (see the BP-3 & BP-LK). As with the other Russian powered transport-gliders it was underpowered, while it could land in 20 metres, it took 500-550 metres to take-off if it didn’t have a tow-cable to assist it! Flown.

 

DFS ‘Seeadler’, 1935. An elegant high performance sea-glider with impressive gull wings. It was intended to fly out over rough seas and explore wind conditions in coastal cumulus cloud formations. Flown.

 

Akaflieg Darmstadt D-30 ‘Cirrus’, 1938. A record setting high-performance research glider. It is capable of varying the dihedral (i.e. upward or downward angle) of the outer-wings while in flight. Flown.

 

FAG Chemnitz C-10, 1939. A motor-glider with a propeller mounted part way along the tailboom, and the innovative ability to retract the propeller in flight to reduce drag while gliding. Flown.

 

Horten XIII, 1944. A research glider intended to test the handling of highly swept wings in preparation for an attempt on the sound barrier. Having decent gliding abilities, the special escape mechanism provided to the pilot never ended up being used.  Flown.

 

Antonov A11/Antonov A13/Antonov A13M, 1957. A high performance v-tailed glider. Built with high span soaring wings, short span aerobatic wings, and the option of a miniature 60 kgf thrust jet engine. Mass produced.

 

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Belyaev BP-3, 1935. A large single or two-seat glider intended to test the aerodynamic performance of an experimental wing (later used in the DB-LK and PB-LK). Possibly up to six gliders were built and also used as trainers. The glider was very high performance for its time with a glide ratio of 33. Flown.

 

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Makeyev MAI-3, 1932-1933. A small and very light weight high-performance glider with a parasol wing. Russian in origin. Flown.

 

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Lippisch Storch IX, 1933. A tailless training glider, intended to prepare pilots for the many tailless aircraft that Alexander Lippisch was certain would follow. As with most training gliders of the 1920s the cockpit consisted of little more than a board to sit on. The design mixes the simple and the complicated, the futuristic and the primitive into something quite unique and enjoyable to fly. Flown.

 

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Domrachev “Leningrad”, 1933. A large glider which attempting to increase efficiency by using a thinner outer wing braced by external wires. The added drag and complexity meant that most gains made were cancelled out, however it remained very high performance for the era. Flown.

 

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Kouzakov MAK-8, 1935. An unorthodox training glider with long inner wing merging to the tail replacing the fuselage and compound forward swept outer wing. Exceptionally light weight at 65 kg it was fully aerobatic! With its good performance and handling, the design was wildly successful - leading to the scaled up two-seat MAK-12, the post war MAK-15 and MAK-15m powered glider. Series produced (4).

 

[Picture missing]

 

Borchn-Anemon Ba-1 ‘Anemone’, 1935. an experimental high-performance tandem wing glider. Flown.

 

Planned development:

 

I also wanted to do the Bonnet Bordeaux high performance experimental biplane glider, but only recently got enough references to do it. I also tried producing the Horten H.IV, but it broke the physics engine a bit too much.

 

 

If you are curious about any of these - let me know and I'll give a review. The Kouzakov MAK-8, Küpper Ku-4, and Borchn-Anemon Ba-1 were some of the most pleasant to fly (oddly enough). I also liked the Akaflieg Stuttgart F1 ‘Fledermaus’ and Makeyev MAI-3 a lot. The Akaflieg Darmstadt D-30 ‘Cirrus’ probably has the highest performance of all of them.

[jcdomm]

@Avimimus,

 

superb / precious list !!!!!