General Aircraft GAL.56
General Aircraft · United Kingdom · first flew 1944 · glider
The General Aircraft GAL.56 was a family of 1940s British experimental tailless swept-wing glider designs.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Low-mounted, swept |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × none, embedded-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Tandem cockpits for pilot and observer in a short pod fuselage |
| T — Tail | No tailplane |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Tailless swept-wing glider with a fin and rudder at each wingtip
- Tandem cockpits for pilot and observer in a short pod fuselage
- Elevons acting as elevators and ailerons
Wings attach to the fuselage by a joint allowing the dihedral to be pre-set before flight. The fixed main undercarriage struts attach to the wing spars.
Specifications
- The General Aircraft GAL.56 has a length of 5.69 m (19 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 13.82 m (45 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 320 km/h (199 mph).
- Typical crew: 2.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
In 1944 General Aircraft was contracted to build four unpowered proof-of-concept aircraft for the Tailless Aircraft Advisory Committee, three of them GAL.56. Robert Kronfeld flew the first on 13 November 1944.
Variants
The three variants shared a fuselage but had different wings, such as the GAL.56/01 Medium-V with 33.5 degrees of leading-edge sweep and the GAL.56/03 Maximum-V with 40 degrees.
Where you'll see it
Test pilot Eric Brown described the GAL.56/01 as the most difficult aircraft he ever flew. Kronfeld was killed in it on 12 February 1948 and the trials were then terminated.
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