Göppingen Gö 1

The Göppingen Gö 1 Wolf was a single-seat glider produced in Germany from 1935.

Design and development

Conceived as a rival to the Grunau Baby, it was the first product of the newly formed Sportflugzeugbau Göppingen Martin Schempp firm. It was a conventional, strut-braced high-wing design of wooden construction, incorporating a wheel aft of the loaded centre of gravity to ease ground handling, as well as aero-tow and winch launches.

Of very similar construction to the Grunau Baby, the Wolf had strut-braced high-set monoplane wings supported on a pylon aft of the cockpit. The hexagonal-section fuselage was constructed largely of wood with plywood skinning and the wings and tail surfaces were plywood-skinned back to the main spars with wooden-framed fabric-covered rear portions. The undercarriage consisted of rubber-sprung skids under the nose and tail with a fixed mainwheel aft of the loaded centre of gravity.

Operational history

Stressed for aerobatics, one example was purchased by Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day displays, and was flown under tow directly to London by Joan Meakin. During early flying with the Wolf it gained a reputation for dangerous spinning characteristics, which resulted in the Gö 1 being grounded in 1938, pending incorporation of modified, longer-chord, slotted ailerons.

The cost of the required modifications proved uneconomic for the majority of owners and the majority of Gö 1s never flew again and only three are known to have survived in museums.
One is still operational in Germany at Schempp-Hirth GmbH. On June 30, 2018, Tilo Holighaus made a 74 km cross country flight with it.

Variants

;TG-20: Four Gö 1s impressed by the USAAF and allocated serials ''42-57168'',''42-57175'', ''42-57195'', and ''42-57204''https://usmilitaryaircraft.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/airf-tg.pdf

Specifications (Gö 1 Wolf)

See also

References

Further reading

*
*Japanese Gliders 1930–1945, 回サδ,ー之i 1930–1945, KAWAKAMI, H. (1998) . 310. Note 3 views + plan + specs
*Segelflugzeug Geschichten Die Gleit Segelflugzeuge des Deutschen und auf der Segelflugmuseums Wasserkuppe SELINGER, Peter F. (2004) . 56–57. Text + photo + specs

External links

Manufacturer's website

Gö 1 Wolf page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goppingen Go 1
1930s German sailplanes
Schempp-Hirth aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1935