The Antonov A-15 is a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
mid-wing
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
,
V-tail
The V-tail or ''Vee-tail'' (sometimes called a butterfly tail or Rudlicki's V-tailGudmundsson S. (2013). "General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures" (Reprint). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 489. , 9780123973290) of an aircraft ...
ed single-seat,
FAI Open Class
Competition classes in gliding, as in other sports, mainly exist to ensure fairness in competition. However the classes have not been targeted at fostering technological development as in other sports. Instead classes have arisen because of:
* ...
glider
Glider may refer to:
Aircraft and transport Aircraft
* Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight
** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...
that was designed by
Oleg Antonov and produced by
Antonov
Antonov State Enterprise ( uk, Державне підприємство «Антонов»), formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov (Antonov ASTC) ( uk, Авіаційний науково-технічни ...
.
Design and development
The A-15 was a follow-on design, based on the bureau's experience gained with the
A-11
A11, A 11 or A-11 may refer to:
Military
* Aero A.11, a Czechoslovakian bomber produced before World War II
* Consolidated A-11, an attack version of the Consolidated P-30 fighter plane of the 1930s
* HMS ''A11'', an A-class submarine of the Roy ...
and
A-13 gliders. This new open class design quickly proved its worth as a record-setter.
The aircraft is made from
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
. Unusually for a
Cold War Soviet aircraft, its span wing employs an
American NACA
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...
64-618
airfoil at the
wing root
The wing root is the part of the wing on a fixed-wing aircraft or winged-spaceship that is closest to the fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, o ...
, transitioning to an NACA 64-616 section at the
wingtip
A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft.
Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...
. The A-15 carries of water ballast. The landing gear is a retractable monowheel.
A total of 350 A-15s were built.
Operational history
The A-15 was used to set many world records, including a world goal distance record of , flown in June 1960.
In August 2011, there was one A-15 registered with the
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
Specifications (Antonov A-15)
See also
Notes
References
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External links
A-15 Three viewPhoto of the A-15Video of A-15 landing{{Antonov aircraft
1960s Soviet sailplanes
A-15
Glider aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1960
V-tail aircraft