RRG Fafnir 2 Sao Paulo
RRG · Germany · first flew 1934 · glider
The RRG Fafnir 2 Sao Paulo was a single-seat German high-performance glider designed by Alexander Lippisch. It set a new world distance record in 1934 and won the 1937 International Gliding Championships.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Mid-mounted, tapered |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × none, embedded-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Wing and fuselage blended, with the fuselage extending well ahead of and behind the wing at the root |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Strongly tapered cantilever gull wing
- Wing and fuselage blended, with the fuselage extending well ahead of and behind the wing at the root
- Long landing skid from the nose almost to the wing trailing edge
A mid-wing glider with a strongly tapered gull wing and a streamlined fuselage with an oval cross-section. It has a conventional tail with an all-moving tapered elevator mounted on the fuselage mid-line.
Specifications
- The RRG Fafnir 2 Sao Paulo has a length of 7.91 m (26 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 19 m (62 ft).
- Typical crew: 1.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
Lippisch began the design in 1934 and it had little in common with the Fafnir of 1930 apart from its wood and fabric construction. It was named after the Brazilian city that partly financed it, and since the RRG technical section moved to Darmstadt to become the DFS it was sometimes called the DFS Fafnir 2.
Variants
Only one was built. Unlike the high-wing Fafnir of 1930, it was a mid-wing design, after wind tunnel studies at Gottingen showed lower losses at the wing-fuselage junction.
Where you'll see it
On 27 July 1934 Heini Dittmar flew it from the Wasserkuppe to Luban in Czechoslovakia, a world distance record of 375 km. Three years later Dittmar flew it to win the 1937 International Championships on the Wasserkuppe.
Related aircraft
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