The DFS Olympia Meise (German: "Olympic

Titmouse ''Baeolophus'' is a genus of birds in the family Paridae. Its members are commonly known as titmice. All the species are native to North America. In the past, most authorities retained ''Baeolophus'' as a subgenus within the genus ''Parus ...

") was a German

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 ...

Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug The ''Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug'' (), or DFS , was formed in 1933 to centralise all gliding activity in Germany, under the directorship of Professor Walter Georgii. It was formed by the nationalisation of the Rhön-Rossitten G ...

(DFS) for

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

competition, based on the DFS Meise.

Design and development

After the Olympic games in Berlin in 1936 introduced gliding as an Olympic sport, plans were made to fly the 1940 Olympic championships with a standard design of sailplane to give each pilot the same chances. The Meise was redesigned to fit into the new Olympic class specifications. The new 'Olympia' Meise had the prescribed wingspan of 15 m (49 ft 2 in), spoilers, but no flaps, and an undercarriage consisting of a skid and a non-retractable wheel. The pilot sat all-enclosed in an aerodynamically clean fuselage made of laminated wood and topped by an

acrylic glass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

hood. The plane could be launched by winch as well by towplane. Its wood-and-fabric construction made it easy for flying clubs to maintain, to repair and even to build the gliders from kits. A design contest to select the single Olympic glider was run by testing the prototypes of the entered and accepted designs at Sezze airfield in Italy between 20 and 26 February 1939. There were six evaluation pilots of different nationalities. They chose

Hans Jacobs Hans Jacobs (30 April 1907 in Hamburg - 24 October 1994) was a German sailplane designer and pioneer. He had been taught sailplane design by Alexander Lippisch, designer of many gliders during the 1920s and the 1930s. As the head of the ''Deut ...

’ design, the DFS Meise. Both the Meise as well as the Olympic class gained immediate enthusiastic support, and the 1940 Olympic gliding championship would probably have ended up as an all-Meise contest — if the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

had not intervened and the 1940 Olympics had not been cancelled. Nevertheless, 626 Olympia Meises were built in Germany during the war by Flugzeugbau Ferdinand Schmetz Herzogenrath (601 built) and Flugzeugbau Schleicher (25). Most of the German production were among the 15,000 German gliders destroyed in 1945. 17 were also built at the time in Sweden. The design of the Olympia Meise survived the war and was taken up by a small British firm called

Chilton Aircraft Chilton Aircraft Ltd was a British aircraft design and manufacturing company of the late 1930s and 1940s. Foundation The company was founded in early 1937 by two former de Havilland Technical School students and Old Etonians, the Hon. Andrew ...

Ltd. The German drawings were not detailed and so entirely new drawings were made that retained the Olympia Meise's aerodynamic shape but otherwise it was a stronger and heavier aircraft. After building one prototype, which flew in 1946, the rights and drawings of the Chilton aircraft were taken up by another British company,

Elliotts of Newbury Elliotts of Newbury was a British company that became well known for manufacturing gliders. Beginnings and World War II The company was founded by Samuel Elliott in 1870 as a joinery works, Elliott's Moulding and Joinery Company Ltd. It produc ...

(EoN). Their first EoN Olympia flew in 1947. Later variants by Elliotts continued to be produced as gliders suitable for the

World Gliding Championships The World Gliding Championships (WGC) is a gliding competition held every two years or so by the FAI Gliding Commission. The dates are not always exactly two years apart, often because the contests are sometimes held in the summer in the Southern ...

into the late 1950s. The Olympia was also built after the war in Germany, where series production restarted in 1956, in France as the Nord 2000 (100 built), in the Netherlands, Switzerland (12), Hungary (35) with a further twenty modified as the Cinke, Australia (3), Austria, in Czechoslovakia as the Zlin Z-25 Šohaj, Brazil (7).

Variants

;DFS Olympia Meise: The original design for the 1940 Olympic gliding competition; built in large numbers during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria and Brazil. ;Chilton Olympia 2:A single prototype built in England by

in 1946. ;Elliotts of Newbury EoN Olympia: Further production in the UK after Elliotts acquired the rights to the design from Chilton. ::EoN Type 5 Olympia 1: Improved Olympia-Meise. Landing skid. ::EoN Type 5 Olympia 2: Fixed monowheel. ::EoN Type 5 Olympia 3: Jettisonable dolly wheels and skid. ::EoN Type 5 Olympia 4: New wing section, NACA 64₃618 at root, NACA 64₃421 at tip. ;Nord 2000: Production in France post-war. ;Zlin Z-25 Šohaj:Production in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

post-war. ;Cinke: A modified version built in Hungary post-war.

Aircraft on display

US Southwest Soaring Museum The US Southwest Soaring Museum is an aviation museum, located at 918 E US Route 66, in Moriarty, New Mexico, United States that focuses on the history of gliding in the western United States. The museum is an affiliate member of the Soaring Socie ...

National Soaring Museum The National Soaring Museum (NSM) is an aviation museum whose stated aim is to preserve the history of motorless flight. It is located on top of Harris Hill near Elmira, New York, United States. The NSM is the Soaring Society of America's officia ...

Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin (German Museum of Technology) in Berlin, Germany is a museum of science and technology, and exhibits a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The museum's main emphasis originally was on rail transport, but today it also features e ...

Specifications (Olympia Meise 51)

Notes

References

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External links

Olympia test pilots image

at scalesoaring.co.uk {{DFS aircraft 1930s German sailplanes Olympia Meise Glider aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1938