The Brditschka HB-3, HB-21 and HB-23 are a family of
motor glider
A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight ...
s of unorthodox configuration developed in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
in the early 1970s.
Design and development
The unusual design was based on work done by
Fritz Raab in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in the 1960s. The pilot and passengers sit in a
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...
pod with the
engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...
and
propeller behind them. The pod also carries the fixed tricycle
undercarriage and the high
cantilever wing
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
. The tail is carried on a pair of booms that emerge from the top and bottom of the fuselage pod, the upper of which passes through the propeller hub. The HB-21 has a conventional
tail
The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammal ...
and has two seats in tandem accessed by a sidewards-hinged
canopy
Canopy may refer to:
Plants
* Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests)
* Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes
Religion and ceremonies
* Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...
, while the HB-23 has a
T-tail
A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane ...
and side-by-side seating accessed via gull-wing doors in the canopy.
The Militky MB-E1 was a modified HB-3 with an 8-10 kW (11-13 hp) Bosch KM77 electric motor. It was the first full-sized, manned aircraft to be solely electrically powered. Flights of 12 minutes duration at up to an altitude of were just within the Ni-Cd battery's capacity. Its first flight was on 23 October 1973.
[Taylor 1974 p.573]
Variants
;Brditschka HB-3:Single seat powered sailplane, powered by Rotax 642 engine, wingspan.
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 21:Tandem two-seat derivative of HB-3 with longer span () wings.
[Taylor 1976, p. 549.]
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 21/2400:
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 21/2400 B:
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 21/2400 V1:
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 21/2400 V2:
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 23/2400:
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 23/2400 SP:
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 23/2400 Scanliner: Observation version of HB-23 with bubble canopy and provision to carry
FLIR
Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation.
The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...
or
LLTV pods under the wings.
;HB-Flugtechnik HB 23/2400 V2:
;Militky MB-E1: electrically powered version.
Specifications (HB-23/2400 Hobbyliner)
See also
References
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External links
fsg-grimming.atwww.lokh.at - HB23 Daten
{{HB-Flugtechnik aircraft
1970s Austrian sailplanes
HB-3
High-wing aircraft
Mid-engined aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Motor gliders
Aircraft first flown in 1971