Arsenal Air 100
Arsenal de l'Aéronautique · France · first flew 1947 · glider
The Arsenal Air 100 is a French single-seat competition sailplane produced in the 1940s. It sold in small numbers but set several records.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | High-mounted, tapered |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × none, embedded-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Deep, rounded fuselage with a high, curved single-seat canopy |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Shoulder-mounted wing of 18 m span, straight tapered with rounded tips
- Slotted ailerons and Schempp-Hirth parallel-rule airbrakes just aft of the main spar
- Deep, rounded fuselage with a high, curved single-seat canopy
A wooden single-seat sailplane with a shoulder wing, a rounded deep fuselage and a high canopy, closely resembling the Jacobs Weihe but with the wing mounted lower.
Specifications
- The Arsenal Air 100 has a length of 8.02 m (26 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 18 m (59 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 220 km/h (137 mph).
- Typical crew: 1.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
A design group called the Groupe de l'Air, led by Raymond Jarlaud, began work before the war on an improvement of the German Jacobs Weihe. The Air 100 first flew on 10 June 1947 and kept the Weihe's span of 18 m, but with a higher taper ratio and a deeper fuselage that allowed the wing to be mounted at shoulder height.
Variants
The first aircraft landed on a skid and tail bumper; production aircraft have a fixed monowheel under mid-chord with the rear part of the skid removed. Some later Air 100s have squared-off wingtips ending in streamlined "salmons", and production aircraft were 43 kg heavier empty than the prototypes.
Where you'll see it
The Air 100 still holds the world absolute solo glider endurance record of 56 hours 15 minutes. Examples survive on display at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget.
Related aircraft
- Arsenal O.101
- Arsenal VG 70
- Arsenal VB 10
- Arsenal VG 90
- Aermacchi MB.308
- Aero 45
- Aeronca 15 Sedan
- Ambrosini S.1001 Grifo
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