Laister-Kauffman TG-4

Last updated
TG-4, LK-10
Laister-Kauffman TG-4A.jpg
TG-4A in the National Museum of the United States Air Force
RoleSailplane
National originUnited States
Manufacturer Laister-Kauffmann
Designer Jack Laister
Number built153
Developed fromYankee Doodle
Variants Bartos/Nobel BN-1 Phantom

The Laister-Kauffmann TG-4 (designated LK-10 Yankee Doodle 2 by its designer) is a sailplane produced in the United States during the Second World War for training cargo glider pilots. It was a conventional sailplane design with a fuselage of steel tube construction and wooden wings and tail, covered all over with fabric. The pilot and instructor sat in tandem under a long canopy.

Contents

Design and development

LK-10A/TG-4A N53619 based in Tehachapi, California, USA LK in Hawthorne.jpg
LK-10A/TG-4A N53619 based in Tehachapi, California, USA

Jack Laister designed the aircraft in response to the formation of the United States Army Air Corps' American Glider Program in 1941, basing it on his Yankee Doodle design of 1938 for Lawrence Tech. Aside from the addition of a second seat, the Yankee Doodle 2 differed from its predecessor by having wings of constant dihedral instead of gull wings. The USAAC expressed interest, but only if Laister could arrange for the manufacture of the type. When Laister found a sponsor in businessman John Kauffmann, they established the Laister-Kauffmann Corporation in St Louis, Missouri and the USAAC ordered three prototypes as the XTG-4.

When evaluation of the type proved positive, the Army placed an order for 75 aircraft, followed by an order for another 75. These were operated as the TG-4A. All had been withdrawn from service prior to the end of the war when it was discovered that the flight characteristics of the aircraft were so different to those of a cargo glider, that the experience gained on the TG-4 was not particularly relevant. After the war many were sold as surplus and helped build civilian gliding in the USA.

Variants

Operators

LK-10 Serial #48 registered as N53619 owned and flown by Doug Fronius of Poway, California, USA as of 2023. Based at Mountain Valley Airport in Tehachapi, California.

LK-10 Serial #106 under prefix PT-PAZ operated by Aeroclube de Bauru in Brazil as of April 2013 [1]

Laister-Kauffman TG-4 PT-PAZ in Bauru, Brazil Laister-Kauffman TG-4 PT-PAZ in Bauru.jpg
Laister-Kauffman TG-4 PT-PAZ in Bauru, Brazil

This glider crashed on March 10, 2020.

LK-10 Serial # unk operating at Rockton, Ontario (CF-AZJ) as of Apr, 2022

TG-4 on display at the Museum of Aviation 17 01 041 TG4.jpg
TG-4 on display at the Museum of Aviation

LK-10 Serial #23 formerly registered as N53609 currently under restoration to flying condition in Dayton, Ohio, USA as of 2025.

Aircraft on display

Specifications (LK-10 / TG-4A)

Data from The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs du Monde Volume II [16]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

Notes

  1. "Planadores: Aeroclube de Bauru" (in Portuguese). 2013. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 29 Apr 2013.
  2. "Canada's oldest actively flying glider is steeped in history". skiesmag.com. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  3. "Flying & Static Aircraft". Planes of Fame Air Museum. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  4. "Airframe Dossier – Laister-KauffmanTG-4, s/n 42-43688 USAAF, c/n 9, c/r N53612". Aerial Visuals. AerialVisuals.ca. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  5. "Laister-Kauffmann TG-4A". National Museum of the US Air Force. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  6. "AIRCRAFT, DRONES AND MISSILES AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE" (PDF). National Museum of the US Air Force. June 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  7. "TG-4A "Yankee Doodle"". Museum of Aviation. Museum of Aviation Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  8. "Laister-Kauffman TG-4A". Air Mobility Command Museum. AMC Museum Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  9. "Airframe Dossier – Laister-Kauffman TG-4A, s/n 42-437357 USAAF, c/n 60, c/r N54191". Aerial Visuals. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  10. "City of Lubbock – Departments | Silent Wings Museum".
  11. "Sailplanes, Hang Gliders & Motor Gliders". U.S. Southwest Soaring Museum. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  12. "Airframe Dossier – Laister-KauffmanTG-4, c/n 71, c/r N56588". Aerial Visuals. AerialVisuals.ca. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  13. "Aircraft N51462 (1943 Laister-Kauffman LK-10A C/N 126) Photo by Dean Heald (Photo ID: AC292671)". www.airport-data.com. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  14. "Museum Hangar 2". Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  15. "1942 Laister–Kauffman LK–10A (TG–4A)". Port Townsend Aero Museum. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  16. Shenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson (1963). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs du Monde Volume II (in English, French, and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 232–233.

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References

Further reading