DFS Kranich
Karl Schweyer AG · Germany · first flew 1935 · glider
The DFS Kranich is a German two-seat glider developed by Hans Jacobs for the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug. Its name means Crane.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | High-mounted, straight |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × none, embedded-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | 7.7 m fuselage |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Shoulder-mounted gull-type wing of 18 m span
- Two-seat tandem training glider
- Wing profile of Göttingen 535 section
It is a two-seat sailplane of 18 m wingspan and 22.7 square metres wing area, in its Kranich II form.
Specifications
- The DFS Kranich has a length of 7.7 m (25 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 18 m (59 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 175 km/h (109 mph).
- Typical crew: 2.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
It was developed from 1935 and series production took place at Karl Schweyer AG in Mannheim. In its second version it was the most widely built two-seat glider in Germany from 1935 to 1939.
Variants
Variants include the Kranich II, the Liege-Kranich with a prone-pilot position in the nose, the Swedish Flygplan Se 103, the Polish SZD-C Żuraw and the Yugoslav UTVA Ždral and LIBIS Žerjav. The Focke-Wulf Kranich III was a major redesign.
Where you'll see it
On 11 October 1940 Erich Klöckner reached 11,460 m in a Kranich, a glider altitude record recognised by the FAI only in the late 1990s. Thirty were built in Sweden in 1942 for the Swedish Air Force.
Related aircraft
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