Valentin Taifun on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Valentin Taifun is a two-seat self-launching sailplane designed and built by Valentin Flugzeugbau GmbH of Hasfurt, Germany.
European Aviation Safety Agency Type Certificate Data Sheet - Taifun 17E
1980s German sailplanes Motor gliders T-tail aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1981
The Valentin Taifun is a two-seat self-launching sailplane designed and built by Valentin Flugzeugbau GmbH of Hasfurt, Germany.
Design and development
The Taifun is an all glass-fibre low-wing cantilevermonoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
with a T-tail
A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane is ...
and side-by-side seating for two occupants. It has a manually operated retractable tricycle landing gear
Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...
. The Taifun is powered originally by an 80 hp (60 kW) Limbach L2000EB (Volkswagen) engine with later production aircraft being fitted with 90 hp (67 kW) Limbach L2400EB engine. The wings fold back along the fuselage sides for transportation and storage. The prototype, registered ''D-KONO'', first flew on the 28 February 1981. The main production aircraft had a 17-metre wingspan and was designated the Taifun 17E. Two examples of aircraft with a 12-metre wingspan were built as the Taifun 12E which were classed as light-aircraft rather than a motor glider. An improved four-seat Taifun 11S was studied with a 115 hp (86 kW) Lycoming O-235
The Lycoming O-235 is a family of four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed piston aircraft engines that produce , derived from the earlier O-233 engine.Textron Lycoming: ''Operator's Manual, Textron Lycoming Aircraft Engines, Series O-23 ...
engine and fixed landing gear but the design was abandoned.
Variants
;Taifun 17E :Main production variant with a 17 metre wingspan and a Limbach flat-four engine. ;Taifun 17E II :Later production variant with a 17 metre wingspan and a Limbach flat-four engine or can be retrofitted with aRotax 914
The Rotax 914 is a turbo-charged, four-stroke, four-cylinder, horizontally opposed aircraft engine with air-cooled cylinders and water-cooled cylinder heads. It is designed and built by the Austrian company BRP-Powertrain, owned by Bombardier R ...
, hydraulically operated landing gear, double panel Schempp-Hirth
Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH is a glider manufacturer based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany.
History
Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935, with the assistance of Wolf Hirth.
The company was initially called "Sportfl ...
type airbrakes on the upper wing surface. aka WI Taifun 17 EII
;Taifun 12E
:Variant with a 12 metre wingspan, two built.
;Taifun 11S
:Planned variant with four-seats, not built.
Aircraft on display
*Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim
Flugwerft Schleissheim is an aviation museum located in the German town of Oberschleißheim near Munich, it forms part of the Deutsches Museum collection and complements the aviation exhibits on display at the main site. The museum was opened on ...
, near Munich, Germany.
Specifications (17E)
See also
References
Bibliography
* * * *External links
{{commons category, Valentin TaifunEuropean Aviation Safety Agency Type Certificate Data Sheet - Taifun 17E
1980s German sailplanes Motor gliders T-tail aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1981