The Fieseler Fi 97 was a 1930s

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

four-seat cabin touring and competition

monoplane 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 confi ...

aircraft designed and built by the German manufacturer

Fieseler The Gerhard Fieseler Werke (GFW) in Kassel was a German aircraft manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s. The company is remembered mostly for its military aircraft built for the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. History The firm was founded on ...

Design and development

Following the success of their two-seat tourer/trainer the Fieseler F5, Fieseler was encouraged by the German Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) to develop a four-seat version specially to take part in the European touring plane championship

Challenge 1934 The Challenge 1934 was the fourth and last FAI International Tourist Plane Contest (french: Challenge International de Tourisme), that took place between August 28 and September 16, 1934, in Warsaw, Poland. The four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, w ...

. The result of this request was the Fi 97, designed by Kurt Arnolt. It was a mixed-construction low-wing

cantilever 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 canti ...

monoplane with a conventional tail unit. The fuselage had a fabric-covered steel tubing frame. The wing structure was wood and was covered with fabric and

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

. The wings were able to be folded aft for storage or ground transport. The tailskid undercarriage was fixed. The pilot and three passengers had an enclosed cabin. Five examples of the Fi 97 were built. Three aircraft were fitted with the Hirth HM 8U, 250 hp inverted V8 engine, and two used the Argus As 17A, 225 hp inverted 6-cylinder inline engine. Both engines are air-cooled. The plane had

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

capabilities and the most significant design aspect was the wing's high-lift devices to enable the aircraft to be flown at low speeds. The leading-edge had

Handley Page Handley Page Limited was a British aerospace manufacturer. Founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909, it was the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation a ...

type automatic

slats Super Low Altitude Test Satellite (SLATS) or Tsubame was a JAXA satellite intended to demonstrate operations in very low Earth orbit (VLEO, below 200 km), using ion engines to counteract aerodynamic drag from the Earth's atmosphere which i ...

over more than half of the span. The trailing edge had Fieseler-designed ''Ausrollflügel'', a Fowler-type trailing-edge

flap Flap may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Flap'' (film), a 1970 American film * Flap, a boss character in the arcade game ''Gaiapolis'' * Flap, a minor character in the film '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland'' Biology and he ...

. The trailing-edge flap increased the wing area by nearly 20%. These high-lift features allowed the aircraft to be controlled down to 58 km/h (36 mph). These features were later utilized in construction of the famous

Fieseler Fi 156 The Fieseler Fi 156 ''Storch'' (, " stork") was a German liaison aircraft built by Fieseler before and during World War II. Production continued in other countries into the 1950s for the private market. It was notable for its excellent short fi ...

Storch.

Operational history

Five Fi 97s took part in the

touring plane championship in August–September, and

Hans Seidemann __NOTOC__ Hans Seidemann (18 January 1901 – 21 December 1967) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. From April 1928 to October 1929, Seidemann was ...

took third place in an Argus-powered Fi 97, bested by only two Polish

RWD-9 The RWD 9 was a Polish sports plane of 1934, constructed by the RWD (aircraft manufacturer), RWD team. Development The aircraft was a further development of the RWD 6 - the winner of the ''IIIrd Challenge de Tourisme International'' Challenge 1932 ...

s. A significant achievement was that all the Fieselers completed the contest (places: 3, 9, 12, 13, 16), especially comparing to other German aircraft. Among pilots was also

Wolf Hirth Wolfram Kurt Erhard Hirth (28 February 1900 – 25 July 1959) was a German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer. He was a co-founder of Schempp-Hirth, still a renowned glider manufacturer.Segelflugbildkalendar 2011 Hirth was born in Stuttgart, ...

. Among others, they scored 1st and 3rd results in a short landing trial (best result - 75 m, from over 8 m-high gate) and very good results in a short take-off (78.3 m over 8 m-high gate) and minimal speed trial (58.49 km/h).

Specifications

Fieseler_Fi_97_3-view_L'Aerophile_October_1934

References

* * The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1812/3
Luftarchiv

External links

{{RLM aircraft designations Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft 1930s German civil utility aircraft 1930s German sport aircraft Fi 097 Aircraft first flown in 1934

Design and development

Operational history

Specifications

See also

References

External links