| Slingsby Type 42 Eagle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | High performance training Glider |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd. |
| First flight | 12 June 1954 |
| Number built | 17 |
The Slingsby Type 42 Eagle was a two-seat glider designed in England from 1952.
After the end of WWII the British Gliding Association (BGA) recognised a need for two-seat training gliders to replace the unsafe and inefficient solo training techniques that were prevalent at the time, launching a competition to design a two-seat trainer. Though Slingsby did not enter the competition it spurred them to look in the early 1950s at a two-seat version of their Type 34 Sky. The advent of the NACA laminar flow aerofoil sections at that time prompted them to start from scratch, designing a large aircraft with nearly 18 m span, three-part wings and a large fuselage with spacious, comfortable cockpits.
The fuselage is built up as a wooden truss with a plywood-covered stressed-skin top decking and wooden semi-monocoque forward fuselage. The cockpits are covered by two canopies, the forward one hinging to starboard and the rear hinged at the rear forming part of the leading edge, in the cut-outs provided for access to the rear seat.
The wings are built up from wood with plywood covering back to the rear spar inboard of the ailerons and forward of the mainspar outboard. A rectangular constant-thickness/chord ratio centre section sits atop the fuselage out to approximately 1/5 span each side where the tapering outer wings are fitted, with the leading edge unswept. Large, effective plate-type airbrakes are fitted, aft of the mainspar, to the wings at approximately 1/3 span extending out from upper and lower surfaces.
Plywood-skinned low-set tailplane and fin with fabric-covered built-up wooden elevators and rudder are at the tail end of the fuselage, the elevators fitted with trim tabs, one for longitudinal trim and one to compensate for pitch-up with operation of the airbrakes.
The undercarriage comprises a single mainwheel just aft of the loaded centre of gravity with a large nose skid faired in with leather or canvas and a metal tailskid.
Ellison 1971 , pp. 209–210
Data fromThe World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs du Monde,and [2] Bridgman 1956, p. 92, Flight (1957)
General characteristics
Performance
Related development
Related lists
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