Slingsby Dart 17

Slingsby Aviation · United Kingdom · first flew 1963 · glider

The Slingsby Dart 17 is a single-seat British Standard-class glider developed in the early 1960s as one of the UK's first competitive composite sailplanes. It gave British pilots a locally-built alternative to German designs for the first time.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Mid-mounted, tapered
E — Engines	1 × none, embedded-mounted
F — Fuselage	Pointed nose and narrow fuselage typical of 1960s competition designs
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Unpowered sailplane — no engine
British 15m Standard-class glider with conventional tail and fibreglass construction
Pointed nose and narrow fuselage typical of 1960s competition designs

Distinguished by the slightly blocky British fibreglass fuselage construction of its era, conventional (non-T) tail, and the 15m tapered wing. Compare the more refined German contemporaries by looking at fuselage cross-section and cockpit shape.

Specifications

The Slingsby Dart 17 has a length of 6.56 m (22 ft).
It has a wingspan of 15 m (49 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

First flown in 1963, the Dart 17 was Slingsby's first serious foray into fibreglass construction and competition-class glider design. The Dart 17R introduced a retractable undercarriage to improve ground clearance, and the type competed successfully at national level through the late 1960s.

Variants

The Dart 17 had a fixed monowheel; the Dart 17R introduced a retractable wheel and minor wing improvements. The later Dart 15 was a shorter-span variant for different class rules.

Where you'll see it

Flown widely by BGA clubs and private owners in the 1960s and 1970s; survivors are maintained by vintage gliding enthusiasts and appear at BGA historic glider gatherings.

Related aircraft

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