Warsztaty Szybowcowe Orlik
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The Warsztaty Szybowcowe Orlik (Glider Workshop Dove), also known as the Kocjan Orlik after the designer, is a family of
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
gull winged gliders that was designed by Antoni Kocjan and produced by Warsztaty Szybowcowe.Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory,
Soaring Magazine ''SOARING'' is a magazine published monthly as a membership benefit of the Soaring Society of America. It was first published in 1937. The headquarters is in Hobbs, New Mexico. The magazine's article topics include safety issues and accounts of ind ...
'', page 94, Soaring Society of America November 1983. USPS 499-920


Design and development

Kocjan designed the Orlik family of gliders in the late 1930s. The original Orlik had a wingspan. The Orlik 2 had a wingspan and a glide ratio of 26.5:1. The Orlik 3 was proposed as the One-Design type for the
1940 Summer Olympics The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo City, Empire of Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from ...
, but the DFS Olympia Meise was chosen instead. Regardless, the 1940 Olympics were cancelled by the advent of the Second World War. The development of the series was cut short by Kocjan's murder on 13 August 1944 by the Gestapo as part of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. The Orlik gliders were built with a wooden structure, the fuselage covered in wood, while the wings and tail were covered with doped
aircraft fabric covering Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as ar ...
. Glidepath control is via an unusual pair of air brakes located on the underside of the wing just aft of the leading edge, extending from the wing root to the gull bend.


Operational history

One Orlik 2 was exhibited at the
1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...
. After the fair it was purchased by a private buyer and then confiscated by the US government and pressed into military service as a training glider with the designation XTG-7. After the Second World War ended it was sold as surplus and overhauled by Clarence See. It was then purchased by
Paul MacCready Paul B. MacCready Jr. (September 25, 1925 – August 28, 2007) was an American aeronautical engineer. He was the founder of AeroVironment and the designer of the human-powered aircraft that won the first Kremer prize. He devoted his life to dev ...
who flew it in the 1948 and 1949 US Nationals, winning both contests. MacCready also used the aircraft to set a world altitude record of in 1948, flying in the
Sierra Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...
mountain wave. MacCready later sold the Orlik to George Lambros and it was flown by Lyle Maxey in the 1961 US Nationals. Next it was purchased by Eldon M. Wilson who modified the aircraft with a Aircraft fairing, faired fixed main wheel with a brake and added a free-blown bubble canopy. Wilson then sold it to John Serafin who intended to get his Diamond badge in the aircraft. The aircraft was completely rebuilt and restored by Ray Parker. In July 2011 the aircraft was owned by Dale Busque of Andover, Connecticut and was still registered with the Federal Aviation Administration in the ''Experimental - Exhibition/Racing'' category.


Variants

;Orlik 1 :Original 1937 design, with a wingspan ;Orlik 2 :1938 development with a wingspan. One example was designated as XTG-7 in United States Army Air Corps service. ;Orlik 3 :Development for the
1940 Summer Olympics The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo City, Empire of Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from ...
. The chosen type for the Olympics was the DFS Olympia Meise instead.


Specifications (Orlik II)


See also


References

{{US glider aircraft 1930s Polish sailplanes High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1936 Gull-wing aircraft