Design and development
The Lommatzsch factory of the Volkseigener Betrieb Flugzeug (Association of the People's Aircraft Enterprises) was responsible for glider design and production in the DDR. [1] The Lom-61 was principally designed by Hans Wegerich, Hans Hartung, and Wolfgang Heintze.
The Favorit has a high wing with a 6-series NACA laminar flow airfoil, straight tapered in plan. This was built in two pieces around a single spar at 40% chord with a pine and honeycomb supported plywood skin, linked by a central section integrated with the fuselage. Schempp-Hirth airbrakes are mounted further aft than usual, at 70% chord. The ailerons are gapless and split into pairs on either side. [2]
The wooden fuselage of the Favorit is slender, with a maximum cross-section of 0.38 square metres (4.1 sq ft) that tapers gently to the rear. Tail surfaces are straight and tapered, with a sweep on the fin but none on the rudder, which extends to the keel. Horizontal surfaces are mounted on top of the fuselage, forward enough for the rudder hinge to be ahead of the elevator trailing edge. Forward of the wing, the cockpit is under a long, low, single-piece canopy. The Favorit lands on a fixed monowheel, partially enclosed in the fuselage, rubber sprung and fitted with brakes, assisted by a rubber sprung nose skid. [2]
The Lom-61 first flew, as its name suggests, around 1961. Proposed variants for 1962-4 were not built.
