Wladimir Talanczuk (also known by his

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

name ''Vladimir Talanczuk'') is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

- born

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...

known for his

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

and

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...

designs.Jones, Terry: ''About The Designer - Vladimir Talanczuk - Trained in The European Tradition''. Birdman Enterprises, 1984.Taylor, John WR, ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1979-80'' page 599, Janes Publishing Limited.Taylor, John WR, ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1980-81'' page 597, Janes Publishing Limited.Taylor, John WR, ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1987-88'' page 544, Janes Publishing Limited.

Career

Talanczuk graduated from the Polish Institute for Aviation Specialists in 1970 as an aeronautical engineer and immediately embarked upon a career as a designer of hang gliders and light aircraft. He worked with Tadensca Dobczynski, the Polish amateur aircraft builder, assisting in the design and construction of more than thirty Dobczynski designs. Talanczuk qualified as a light aircraft pilot, logging 1200 hours of flight time. In 1972 he began to seriously devote his time to hang gliding. While working for the AeroKlub Wrocław he designed his ''Mars'' series of hang gliders, including the WT-6 Mars-S, WT-7 Mars-2S and WT-8 Mars-Agat. Throughout 1979 he was a member of the Polish National Hang Gliding Team and competed in the World Hang Gliding Championships at

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, flying a Mars hang glider of his own design. The hang glider he flew at that event was at that time the largest

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

hang glider flown. Talanczuk also served as a consultant to the Polish National Aero Club in the fields of accident investigation and analysis. He designed several light aircraft and completed a single-seat gyroplane during his time in Poland. He emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

in 1981 and began working for hang glider and ultralight aircraft manufacturer Birdman Enterprises, of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

shortly after his arrival, filling the position of Chief Engineer and Designer. Talanczuk's first project at Birdman was the design of a new ultralight aircraft to replace the

Birdman Atlas The Birdman Atlas is a single-seat, high wing, single engine in pusher configuration, ultralight aircraft that was based upon the Eipper Quicksilver design.Taylor, John WR: ''Janes All the Worlds Aircraft 1982-83'' page 625-626, Janes Publishing ...

in production. The company's stated design goals for the aircraft were: good flying characteristics, simplicity of construction and maximization of aesthetics.Jones, Terry: ''Birdman WT-11 Chinook - Design Philosophy - A Third-Generation Ultralight''. Birdman Enterprises, 1984. Designer Talanczuk stated his own additional project intentions: Talanczuk chose an

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbin ...

that was created by Dr Dave Marsden at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

, the UA 80/1. The aircraft was his eleventh design and was designated the ''WT-11 Chinook'', although in 1987 the company redesignated it ''1S'' (for 1 seat) to conform to their own nomenclature. Birdman President Terry Jones assessed the results of the WT-11 design in a press release, saying: The WT-11 received both critical acclaim and commercial success. The single seat WT-11 was followed by Talanczuk's two-seat trainer version which Birdman designated as the Chinook 2S (2 seater). A total of over 700 WT-11s and 2S Chinooks were completed before Birdman Enterprises went out of business in late 1987.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page E-9. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. Talanczuk's Chinook design was resurrected in 1989, when it was redesigned by Aircraft Sales and Parts President Brent Holomis as the ASAP Chinook 2 Plus, an Advanced Ultralight Aeroplane that remains in production today.Hunt, Adam: ''Flying the ASAP Chinook Plus 2 with Ottawa's Capital Air Sports''.

Canadian Owners and Pilots Association The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) (french: Association canadienne des pilotes et propriétaires d'aéronefs) is a federally registered not-for-profit association that provides information and advocacy services for Canadian pilot ...

Career

Aircraft

References

External links