The Hirth Hi 20 MoSe was a German
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 ...
designed in the late 1930s. Based on the
Göppingen Gö 4
The Göppingen Gö 4 or Goevier is a German sailplane of the late 1930s used for training pilots. Its most notable features include side-by-side seating and dual controls, making the plane ideal for use as a trainer. It boasted average performan ...
side-by-side seat training glider, it had a foldaway
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
, column-mounted above the
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 aircraft t ...
and shaft-driven by a small internal
piston engine
A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...
.
Design and development
The
Carden-Baynes Auxiliary
The Carden-Baynes Auxiliary was the first motor glider with a retractable engine and propeller; it is known as the Abbott-Baynes Scud 3 when engineless. Both aircraft, built in the mid-1930s, were still flying in 2010 as pure sailplanes.
Deve ...
or Scud 3 of 1935 was the first motorised glider to use an engine and propeller unit which could be retracted, allowing conventional gliding after self-launching.
[ The Hi 20 MoSe (MoSe was short for Motor-Segler or motor glider) was the first ]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 ...
motor glider of this kind and the first such two seater; it is not known if Hirth was familiar with the earlier aircraft when he began the Hi 20's design in 1937. The Schempp-Hirth factory at Nabern (now Kirchheim/Teck
Kirchheim unter Teck ( Swabian: ''Kircha'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the district of Esslingen. It is located on the small river Lauter, a tributary of the Neckar. It is 10 km (6 miles) near the Teck castle, approxima ...
) was busy with the production of the Göppingen Gö 4 and with the outbreak of 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 opposin ...
, the sole prototype was not completed until 1941.[
Rather than develop a new aircraft for their foldaway power plant and propeller experiments, it was decided to save on time and money by using the wings and tail of a Göppingen Gö 4. A new, steel framed rather than wooden, fuselage was constructed with very similar length and profile to the original. The propulsion unit, when deployed, consisted of a vertical, faired column carrying a pusher propeller with its hub about 700 mm (2 ft 3 in) above the fuselage, so the tips just cleared the structure. The column was pivoted just inside the fuselage with the engine at its short lower end. Engine and propeller were connected by a shaft within the column; at its top gears turned the drive-shaft through 90° and reduced the output speed by a factor of 2.3. After a powered climb to altitude, the unit was rotated on its pivot so the propeller fitted into a ]dorsal
Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to:
* Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism
* Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage
* Dorsal co ...
slot in the fuselage and the engine lay immediately behind the cockpit bulkhead.[
A new 19 kW (25 hp) air-cooled four cylinder ]two stroke engine
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...
was developed for the Hi 20 by W. Krautter. Cooling air was moved to the engine inside the fuselage through the propeller-bearing column.[
The first flight was made under aero tow in October 1941. More flights were made the following year but then development stopped, as war work took priority.][
]
Specifications
See also
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite book , title= British Light Aeroplanes, last=Ord-Hume, first=Arthur W.J.G., year=2000, publisher=GMS Enterprises , location=Peterborough , isbn=9781870384766]
[{{cite journal , last=Selinger , first=Peter , date=July–September 1998 , title= The Hirth Hi 20"MoS", journal=Auxiliary-powered Sailplane Association, volume=X , issue=63 , page=6 , url=http://asa.thixo.com/back_issues/98JulAug.pdf ]
[{{cite magazine , date=9 May 1935 , title= Flying on 250 cc, magazine= ]Flight
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
, volume=XXVII , issue=1376 , pages=508–9 , url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1935/1935%20-%201072.html
Motor gliders
1940s German sailplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1941
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Mid-wing aircraft