The Slingsby T.6/T.23 Kirby Kite was a single-seat sport glider produced from 1935, by

Fred Slingsby Frederick 'Fred' Nicholas Slingsby MM (6 November 1894 – 21 May 1973) was the founder of Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd (later Slingsby Aviation). Slingsby was born 6 November 1894 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, the son of Reuben and Charlotte ...

Kirbymoorside Kirkbymoorside () is a market town and civil parish in the Ryedale district in North Yorkshire, England. It is north of York, It is also midway between Pickering and Helmsley, on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. It had a populat ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

Design and development

During the early 1930s there was a dearth of high-performance gliders that could be flown by relatively inexperienced pilots. To remedy this shortcoming Fred Slingsby modified the

Grunau Baby The Schneider Grunau Baby was a single-seat sailplane first built in Germany in 1931, with some 6,000 examples constructed in some 20 countries. It was relatively easy to build from plans, it flew well, and the aircraft was strong enough to han ...

design with longer gulled wings and rounded fuselage formers skinned with plywood, resulting in the T.6 Kirby Kite. Later developments included spoilers to improve landing performance and an enlarged rudder which improved the harmony of the controls. Further re-design was carried out at the end 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 ...

, with a raised wing pylon, landing wheel and spoilers fitted as standard. The T.23 Kite 1A flew in December 1945 but did not enter production due to the limited improvement in performance, but further development was planned, as the Type 23A, with a new 1° dihedral straight wings, the production of which is uncertain. The final iteration of the Slingsby Grunau Baby derivatives was the T.26 Kite 2, which introduced an entirely new wing, an enclosed cockpit, straight tapered wings and other detailed improvements.

History

The T.6 Kirby Kite was immediately in demand for competition and club flying, but their performance was soon overtaken by newer gliders. Production continued until 1939 totalling 25, of which one was exported to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, one to Canada and one to

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. One more was built from plans by Herman Kursawe in the USA. Almost all the Kirby Kites still flying at the outbreak of World War II were impressed into the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

for use as training aircraft for assault glider pilots. Kirby Kites were also used, along with other types of glider, to assess the ability of the

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

system to detect aircraft largely constructed of wood. These tests carried out over the English Channel were successful in showing that even gliders with very little metallic content could be detected, though the strength of return depended on how much metal was on board. After use by the Glider Training Schools the surviving Kirby Kites were passed to the

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

. Eight Kirby Kites survive, one has new wings. Another is being built using some original parts.Kirby Kite owners club.

Operators

;

: No 1 Glider Training School ;

Variants

;T.6 Kite : the initial re-design of the Grunau Baby. Twenty-five built. ;T.23 Kite 1A :Improved T.6 developed after

. One built. ;Type 23A : A planned development of the T.23, with a new straight wing with 1° dihedral. ; T.26 Kite 2 :The final extrapolation, in 1946-7, of the Kite series with a completely different wing, enclosed cockpit and other detailed refinements. ;T.26 Kite 2A :Modified wash-out at the wing-tips. ;T.26 Kite 2B :As for the 2A, with air-brakes instead of spoilers.

Specifications (T.6 Kite 1)

Design and development

History

Operators

Variants

Specifications (T.6 Kite 1)

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading