The Slingsby T.53 was the first all-metal
sailplane
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplan ...
designed and built in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
It was designed and built by
Slingsby Sailplanes
Slingsby Aviation was a British aircraft manufacturer based in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, England. The company was founded to design and build gliders and sailplanes. From the early 1930s to around 1970 it built over 50% of all British c ...
for evaluation by 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 ...
.
Design and development
In the early 1960s the RAF issued a requirement to replace the current wooden gliders used by 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 ...
with a new tandem two-seater.
Slingsby took the opportunity to design a new glider that would meet the needs of the ATC and could be used by civil gliding clubs.
Slingsby decided to make the glider in metal, which would make it more marketable in areas like the United States and Australia where the traditional wooden gliders did not sell well.
The glider would also be lighter and the labour costs would be less, although the cost of tooling would be higher.
To gain experience the company purchased a kit of the
Schweizer 2-22
The Schweizer SGU 2-22 is an American two-seat, high-wing, strut-braced, training glider built by Schweizer Aircraft of Elmira, New York.Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine'', pages 26. Soaring Society of America, November ...
, which was then constructed to learn the techniques applicable to metal gliders.
The construction of the prototype was started in June 1966, with the first flight on 9 March 1967 at Wombleton.
The T.53 is constructed using a conventional light alloy flush-riveted design.
To ensure the rear occupant is forward of the wing leading edge, the shoulder-mounted wing is swept forwards by 5 degrees. It has a high-mounted stabiliser.
The Royal Air Force ordered 40 gliders, and the second T.53 was evaluated by them for use by the Air Training Corps.
The order was cancelled following evaluation and the disruption caused when the Slingsby factory was destroyed by fire in November 1968. Following the fire, Slingsby built a small batch of modified T.53B aircraft, the ''Phoenix'', for the civil market, and later sold the rights of the design to Yorkshire Sailplanes which then resumed production as the Yorkshire Sailplanes YS-53 Sovereign.
Variants
;T.52
:A preliminary design study of an all-metal two-seater, superseded by the T.53.
;T.53A
:prototype with flaps on wings, one built.
;T.53B
:updated with two fixed tandem wheels and a swept-forward flapless wing of constant chord, 20 built.
;T.53C
:Production variant for the RAF, not built.
;Yorkshire Sailplanes YS-53 Sovereign
:Production resumed after Yorkshire Sailplanes acquired the rights to the T.53 Phoenix.
Specification (T.53B)
See also
References
Bibliography
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{{Slingsby aircraft
1960s British sailplanes
Glider aircraft
T.53
Aircraft first flown in 1967
Mid-wing aircraft