The Glaser-Dirks DG-100 is the first

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. Sailpla ...

manufactured by Glaser-Dirks. It is a standard class glider designed by Wilhelm Dirks in 1974 and developed from the Akaflieg Darmstadt D-38.

Development

The first model had an all-flying

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 gyropla ...

, with anti-balance tabs along the entire trailing edges, and a two-piece canopy (movable and fixed parts), built of

GFRP Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

(glass-fibre reinforced plastic)/foam sandwich materials and resin impregnated rovings for high strength parts. Successive developments included the DG-100G, DG-101 and DG-101G. Most models are available with water ballast bags in the wings. The DG-101 and DG-101G had improvements such as a single-piece front-hinged canopy, improved crash resistant cockpit and a conventional tailplane (with fixed horizontal stabilizer and articulated elevator). There was also a club version of this sailplane with fixed landing gear. All models featured top-surface-only air brakes. Some later models were also manufactured by the Elan company in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

and can be identified by the word "ELAN" on the

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 aircraf ...

and

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 air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

. The serial number of these gliders is prefixed with "E". Although these gliders were designed in the 1970s, they are still popular in the Club class and remain competitive in Sports class contests (which are handicapped). The wing's control surface hookups are non-automatic and utilize L'Hotellier fittings, which must be secured by a secondary means such as a safety pin, safety wire, Uerling Sleeve or Wedekind Sleeve (Se
this web page
for more details on this subject). The Glaser-Dirks Company declared bankruptcy, after which the newly organized company DG Flugzeugbau GmbH assumed responsibility for servicing the gliders.

Variants

;Akaflieg Darmstadt D-38 :The prototype designed and built at

Darmstadt University of Technology Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse a ...

. ;DG-100 :The initial production version developed by Wilhelm Dirks. ;DG-100G :Later production with a conventional tailplane and elevator in place of the all-flying tailplane. ;DG-100 Club / Club DG :An unballasted, fixed gear version with a gross weight of 385 kg / 849 lb.. ;DG-101 :The DG-101 introduced a one-piece full length canopy that opened forwards, but retaining the all-flying tail. ;DG-101G :Ultimate production version with the one-piece canopy and the conventional tailplane with elevator.

Specifications (DG-100)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83''. London: Jane's Yearbooks, 1982.

External links

Akaflieg Darmstadt websiteDG-Flugzeugbau DG-100 Technical NotesJohnson R, An Flight Test Evaluation of the DG-101G, Soaring, May 1985Sailplane Directory
{{DG Flugzeugbau aircraft 1970s German sailplanes DG Flugzeugbau aircraft T-tail aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1974