The Jacobs Hols der Teufel ( en, Devil take it) was a single seat trainer

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

produced in complete and plan forms 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 ...

from 1928. It was built and used worldwide.

Design and development

The first glider to be named the Hols der Teufel was the influential Djävaler Anamma, designed by

Alexander Lippisch Alexander Martin Lippisch (November 2, 1894 – February 11, 1976) was a German aeronautical engineer, a pioneer of aerodynamics who made important contributions to the understanding of tailless aircraft, delta wings and the ground effect, and a ...

in 1923. The name was associated with the cursing of two

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

students in the

Wasserkuppe The is a mountain within the German state of Hesse. It is a large plateau formation at an elevation of and is the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains. Great advances in sailplane development took place on the mountain during the interwar peri ...

workshops whose favourite phrase it was. It translates into German as Hols der Teufel. Its key structural feature was an A-frame which carried wire braced wings and linked to a flat girder rear

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 ...

. It later evolved through the

Schneider Grunau 9 The ESG Grunau 9, later known as the ESG 29 and post-1933 as the DFS 108-10, was one of the first primary gliders, built in Germany from the late 1920s. It was widely sold. Design and development The Grunau 9 was a German single seat trainer ...

into the very popular Zögling, which avoided the controversial "skullsplitter" forward member of the A-frame with a vertical strut behind the pilot, and was related to the secondary

RRG Prüfling The 1926 German RRG Prüfling ( en, Examinee) of 1926 was a secondary training glider designed for club use. Plans were sold and it was built in Germany and across the world. Design and development Secondary gliders were meant to be used by s ...

glider that replaced wire bracing with rigid

lift strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s. The next machine to be named Hols der Teufel was designed by Lippisch and

Hans Jacobs Hans Jacobs (30 April 1907 in Hamburg - 24 October 1994) was a German sailplane designer and pioneer. He had been taught sailplane design by Alexander Lippisch, designer of many gliders during the 1920s and the 1930s. As the head of the ''Deuts ...

in 1928, possibly with the assistance of

Alexander Schleicher Alexander Schleicher (May 22, 1901 – April 26, 1968) was a German pioneer of sailplane design. The company that he founded and which bears his name - Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co - is today one of the world's leading sailplane manufacture ...

. It had the Zögling girder frame and the strut braced wings, making it very different from its previous namesake. It was built (and named) by Alexander Schleicher in his factory in the valley below the Wasserkuppe. Detailed plans of it for amateur use were included in a book on glider building published by Jacobs in 1932 and led to its widespread construction. The complete Schleicher version differed somewhat from the plans in several details, for example more rounded wing tips and span, different girder frame cross bracing and a wire, rather than strut braced tailplane. The Jacobs plans show the Hols der Teufel had a simple, constant chord wing much like that of the Zögling though of greater span, built around two spars and fabric covered except at the

leading edge The leading edge of an airfoil surface such as a wing is its foremost edge and is therefore the part which first meets the oncoming air.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, ...

which was

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 ...

skinned. Its broad, constant chord

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in Flight dynamics, roll (or ...

were longer than those of the Zögling and its round cornered, tapered tips were less angular. As before, the wing was supported by the forward members of its girder fuselage; a vertical strut near the leading edge and an inverted V-strut behind. As the wing was strut rather than wire braced there was no longer a need to extend these struts above the wing into a pylon. The two faired, parallel

s on each side ran from the lower forward fuselage to the wing at about mid-span. Like some Zöglings, the Hols der Teufel had a light

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...

, ending under the wing at a forward leaning vertical knife edge around the aft central wing strut, enclosing both the pilot's seat and the other supporting struts. Aft, the cross braced girder had a horizontal upper beam onto which the

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

was mounted, strut braced from below. Its leading edge was straight and strongly swept; the cropped, parallel chord

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

s had a central cut out for

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

movement. The

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

was under the tailplane, formed by fabric covering between the last two vertical fuselage fames. Its upright, near rectangular rudder was hinged on the extended, final vertical frame member. The Hols der Teufel landed on a rubber sprung skid which ran from the nose to a little beyond the aft lift struts.

Operational history

The ready availability of detailed plans and the fact that with its low

wing loading In aerodynamics, wing loading is the total mass of an aircraft or flying animal divided by the area of its wing. The stalling speed of an aircraft in straight, level flight is partly determined by its wing loading. An aircraft or animal with a ...

the Hols der Teufel was one of only a few training gliders with the soaring capability to take a pilot to a C-badge resulted in widespread amateur construction worldwide, though overall numbers are hard to establish, not least in Germany. Twelve were registered in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, one imported in 1929 and the rest locally built between 1931 and 1938. Seven appear in the UK on the BGA register, including one at least that flew with the

London Gliding Club The London Gliding Club (LGC) is a members' club whose airfield is located at the foot of the Dunstable Downs. Many privately owned gliders are based there. It has the facilities to train pilots in powerless flight, and in the skills necessary t ...

for several years. 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 opposin ...

some served with the ATC. Two were built by a

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immigrant in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, one of which is on display in the

Museu Aeroespacial Museu Aeroespacial is a national aviation museum located in the West Side of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the Administrative Region of Realengo. The place is known as "the Brazilian Aviation cradle".Ogden (2008) Address Av. Marechal Fontenelle, 2000 ...

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, the only recorded surviving original example One was built in the 1950s in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In 1990 a reproduction Hols der Teufel, built from Jacobs' plans was flown from

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

; it is now in the Gliding Museum on the

. The Slingsby Kadet was the result of a conscious "crossing" of the low wing loading soaring performance of the Hols der Teufel with the better handling of the Prüfling, particularly by improving the former's poor lateral control with better ailerons.

Variants

;Jacobs "Hols der Teufel": The original Lippisch and Jacobs design, popularized via Jacobs' plans in his 1932 book Segelflugzeug. ;Schleicher Hols der Teufel: A slightly modified version produced by Alexander Schleicher from 1928.

Specifications (Jacobs)

References

{{Schleicher 1920s German sailplanes Aircraft first flown in 1928 Parasol-wing aircraft