The Fieseler F 3 ''Wespe'' ("

Wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

") was a German aircraft developed in the early 1930s by Gerhard Fieseler. Little history of the aircraft remains due in part to destruction of records and documents during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Design and development

The aircraft configuration, either inspired by or copied from Alexander Lippisch, featured a flying wing design with

winglets Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...

and two

radial engines The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is cal ...

. The seven cylinder

Pobjoy R The Pobjoy R is a British seven-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engine designed and built by Pobjoy Airmotors. Introduced in 1926, it was a popular engine for ultralight and small aircraft in the 1930s. A notable feature of the Pobjoy R was ...

engines were installed in a

push-pull configuration An aircraft constructed with a push-pull configuration has a combination of forward-mounted tractor (pull) propellers, and backward-mounted ( pusher) propellers. Historical The earliest known examples of "push-pull" engined-layout aircraft incl ...

and provided 75-85

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

each. A two bladed propeller manufactured by

Gustav Schwarz Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: * Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short car ...

can be seen in some of the few remaining photos. The design featured a canard and folding wings. Different versions of the aircraft had either a fully enclosed "greenhouse" style canopy or two open cockpits. After determining the aircraft to be generally uncontrollable, the project was transitioned to the

Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft The Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft (RRG) or Rhön-Rossitten Society was a German gliding organization, the first one in the world that was officially recognised. The Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft was mainly responsible for establishing gliding as a sp ...

(RRG). The design was further evolved into the Lippisch Delta IV.

Design and development

References

Further reading