Schempp-Hirth Cirrus

The Schempp-Hirth Cirrus is a glider manufacturer Schempp-Hirth Club Class. The glider - index is 100

History

With the Cirrus the era of plastic gliders began in Kirchheim. The original Cirrus was developed for the Open Class and European weather, with a span of 17.74 m and a relatively thick profile without flaps and indeed good climbing and gliding properties, but by weaknesses in high-speed flight. For days with strong thermals he could, therefore, be loaded with water ballast.

Construction

It was designed by Dipl Ing Klaus Holighaus and first flew in 1967. Cirrus was the first own design by Klaus Holighaus and at the same time the first plane of Schempp -Hirth in GRP construction. The hull was built as a fiberglass shell with fiberglass / Schaumspantringen. The Cirrus wing is a fiberglass / foam sandwich. Klaus Holighaus had the Cirrus calculated in his thesis at the Technical University of Darmstadt. The introduced of Holighaus innovations characterize many of his later developments. There are a steel tube structure in the center fuselage and the wing connection. The dive brakes went out on the wing top and bottom, plus a braking parachute was installed. The landing gear was retractable. This type of aircraft was later ( to distinguish the following types, such as the Standard Cirrus ) and " Open Cirrus " mentioned. After just over a year of construction Klaus Holighaus flew the Cirrus V1 1967 itself.

In contrast to the later series of Cirrus V1 has been built with a V-tail. The later models were then but the characteristic cruciform tail. From the work number 5 of the Cirrus was called then " Cirrus B" and was delivered with 50 liter water tanks in the wings.

Use

Between 1967 and 1971 107 Cirrus were built in Germany. The production was then continued under license by Vazduhoplovno Techniki Centar (VTC ) to 1977 in Vrsac in Yugoslavia. A Cirrus won the German championship in 1967 and the World Cup 1968.

The Cirrus B was prepared by the German Centre for Aerospace (later renamed DLR) used for years as a comparison plane and measuring plane. The research aircraft was named "Holy Cirrus ".

Specifications

Successor of the Cirrus Schempp -Hirth Nimbus is the.