| Ka 3 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prototype Ka 3 in 1954 | |
| Role | Single seat training glider |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Alexander Schleicher Segelflugzeugbau |
| Designer | Rudolf Kaiser |
| First flight | 1954 |
| Number built | 15 |
The Schleicher Ka 3 or Kaiser Ka 3, is a 1950s single seat training glider, mostly sold in kit form.
The Ka 3 and its predecessor the Ka 1 were mostly sold as kits for home assembly. Apart from their fuselages the two types are very close in appearance, simplicity, weight and performance. They share a round tipped high wing with constant chord and no sweep, mounted with 2.5° of dihedral and braced with a single lift strut on each side from the lower fuselage to the wing at about one third span. Plain, constant-chord ailerons reach almost from the tips to about mid span and upper wing spoilers are placed at mid chord, inboard of the ailerons. Both have 37° butterfly tails with straight leading edges and round tips and trailing edges. [1]
The Ka 1 has a ply-covered, rounded wooden-framed fuselage but that of the Ka 3 is more angular, steel tube-framed, fabric covered and slightly longer. Both have a simple, deep, sprung landing skid reaching from the nose to under the trailing edge of the wing, assisted by a tail bumper. Their cockpits are under the wing leading edge, into which the clear canopy extends. [1]
The Ka 1 first flew in 1951 and ten were built; [2] the Ka 3 followed in 1954 with fifteen eventually completed. [1] One Ka 1 and two Ka 3s remained on the German civil aircraft register in 2010. [3] One is one display at the Gliding Heritage Centre.
Data from The World's Sailplanes pp.83-5 [1]
General characteristics
Performance
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