The Standard Cirrus is a German Standard-class

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of gliding ...

built by

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 "Sportflu ...

. The Standard Cirrus was produced between 1969 and 1985, when it was replaced by the Discus. Over 800 examples were built, making it one of the most successful early

fibreglass 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 clot ...

glider designs.

Development

The Standard Cirrus was designed by Dipl. Ing. Klaus Holighaus and flew for the first time in February 1969. It is a

Standard Class Competition classes in gliding, as in other sports, mainly exist to ensure fairness in competition. However the classes have not been targeted at fostering technological development as in other sports. Instead classes have arisen because of: * t ...

glider with a 15-metre span, and laminar-flow airfoil section designed by Professor Franz Wortmann. The all-moving tailplane, a feature of many designs of that period due to its theoretically higher efficiency, caused less than desirable high-speed stability characteristics, and so modifications were made to the early design. Even so, the glider is still very sensitive in pitch. The aircraft built before 1972 have a washout of -0.75 degrees. The washout was then increased to -1.5 degrees which improved low-speed performance and response at slow speed.Standard Cirrus Wing Twist
/ref> Improvements were made with the Standard Cirrus 75. These included better air-brakes with an increased frontal area and a safer tailplane attachment system. By April 1977, when production by Schempp-Hirth ended, a total of 700 Standard Cirruses had been built, including 200 built under licence by Grob between 1972 and July 1975. A French firm, Lanaverre Industrie, had also built 38 Standard Cirruses under licence by 1979. VTC of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

also licence-built Standard Cirruses, reaching approximately 100 by 1985.

Variants

;Baby Cirrus The Baby Cirrus is similar to a Standard Cirrus 75. The only thing different about them is the fact it had its

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...

on top of 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 aircraft t ...

mounted on a

fiberglass 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 cl ...

beam of some sort. Only one was made. It was primarily used to try and improve the design of the Standard Cirrus. The original registration was D-3111. It was later converted to a Standard Cirrus 75 and was given a new registration. It is still flying to the day of this edit and is owned by a club in Germany. ;Cirrus B The Cirrus B is based on the Standard Cirrus 75 but with interchangeable wingtips giving a span of either 15m or 16m. ;Cirrus K The two Cirrus K have a reduced span (12.6m), larger

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around t ...

, a cross

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals ...

with larger

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They ar ...

, and a strengthened

which make them suitable for

aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glider ...

. This modification was initiated by Wilhelm Düerkop in the late 1980s.Swiss Glider Aerobatics Association's Cirrus K website (in German)
/ref>
Wolfgang Seitz took part in the 1995

World Glider Aerobatic 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 ...

with a Cirrus K.FAI pilot profile of Wolfgang Seitz
/ref> ;G/81 The last Cirrus model was the G/81 built by VTC until 1985. This incorporated a longer fuselage and canopy, and a conventional tailplane and elevator with the wings of the Cirrus 75.

Specifications

References

Citations

Bibliography