The TG-10 is the military designation for the
Blanik,
Super Blaník and
Blanik L-33 Solo Czechoslovakian
sailplanes used for basic flight training at the
United States Air Force Academy. The Academy maintained an inventory of 21 TG-10s, in these three variants, until 2012. The aircraft were flown by cadets and officers of the
94th Flying Training Squadron,
306th Flying Training Group
The 306th Flying Training Group (306 FTG) is a unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The group is stationed at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
T ...
,
Nineteenth Air Force,
Air Education and Training Command.
Variants
All of the TG-10 models are of aluminium
semi-monocoque construction with fabric-covered control surfaces. All are equipped with full soaring instrument panels (altimeter, airspeed indicator, accelerometer, variometer, vertical velocity indicator, magnetic compass) and feature a full avionics suite (VHF radio, GPS, navigation computer, ELT).
TG-10B ''Merlin'':
LET L-23 Super Blanik. 12 in inventory. Basic trainer; 2-seat tandem configuration. Used in the Academy's ''Soar For All'' Program and for training cadets to become glider instructor pilots. Four of them have been configured for high altitude wave soaring.
TG-10C ''Kestrel/"Saber"'':
LET L-13AC Blanik. 5 in inventory. Advanced trainer; cockpit and controls are identical to the Merlin making transitions between the two aircraft very seamless. Used for aerobatics and spin training. Slightly heavier with shorter wingspan and conventional tail configuration offers slightly faster dynamic response to control inputs.
TG-10D ''Peregrine/"Thunder"'':
Let L-33 Solo
The Let L-33 Solo is a Czech shoulder-wing, single-seat, glider, designed by Marian Meciar and Vaclav Zajic, and produced by Let Kunovice. The L-33 first flew in 1992 and remained in production through 2012, supplied as a ready-to-fly aircraft.Bay ...
. 4 in inventory. Advanced trainer; single seater. Cockpit and controls are similar to TG-10B. Used for advanced cross country and wave soaring training.
In 2007 the Air Force Academy began retiring the TG-10D sailplanes in favor of the newer high-performance gliders, the
Schempp-Hirth Duo Discus and
Discus 2b, designated the TG-15A (tandem two-seater) and TG-15B (single seat). In 2011, the Air Force Academy began retiring its remaining TG-10B and TG-10C gliders. Both variants have been replaced by the
TG-16A.
History
The Academy used the older, very reliable
TG-4 gliders (
Schweizer SGS 2-33) until 2002, when it replaced them with the newer TG-10.
Until 2004, sailplane operations were conducted by the 94th Flying Training Squadron under the
34th Operations Group
The 34th Operations Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was first activated as the 34th Flying Training Wing and supervised training of bombardiers and pilots for multiengine aircraftuntil it was disbanded on 16 June 1946 at ...
, a unit of the
34th Training Wing
The Commandant of Cadets is a named organization of the United States Air Force based at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Until August 2006 The commander of the 34th Training Wing was "dual-hatted" as the Commandant of Cad ...
,
United States Air Force Academy. In 2004, the 94th as well as other operations units at the Academy (98th and 557th) realigned under Air Education and Training Command.
See also
References
TG-10B Merlin fact sheet U.S. Air Force Academy. Accessed 2010-11-16.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanik Tg-10
2000s Czech military trainer aircraft
Glider aircraft
TG-10
The TG-10 is the military designation for the LET L-13 Blaník, Blanik, LET L-23 Super Blaník, Super Blaník and LET L-33, Blanik L-33 Solo Czechoslovakian sailplanes used for basic flight training at the United States Air Force Academy. The Aca ...