Slingsby T-45 Swallow??
bumper
nothing. He's considering this one on eBay:
Thumbs up or down or opinions appreciated.
thanks,
bumper
Al Eddie
Probably worth an offer of $2,000
David Salmon
solo glider 40 odd years ago, BTW I do mean that I was sent for my first
solo in one, not a happy experience.
The main problem with them is that they are a bit twitchy in pitch, and do
not soar all that well because the 13.5 metre span is effectively shortened
even more by lots of washout at the tips. It would be somewhere near the
bottom of my list of desirable gliders.
Dave
Chris Nicholas
and re-covering.
As a glider, poor penetration. Soaring capability as David says.
There were some early Swallows which did not have wash-out, I was
told, and they had better performance, but presumably are more prone
to departure characteristics that were thought not suitable for the
early solo pilots most likely to be flying them.
Chris N
Chris Nicholas
the red wing tip in the first picture has negative angle of incidence
relative to the root.
Chris N
Fred
stretch that as it really doesn't take excess weight. Don't ask me
how I know.
Don't take it to a high humidity climate because of the wood/fabric
construction and age.
If someone is buying it for the novelty and weighs in at 170 without
clothes and parachute, ok. If someone is buying it because of the
price, either hold out until you have more money and get something
better, or take up a different sport. Fred
Ian Kennedy
Even with my normal rose-tinted glasses on, Swallows are just not on for
this day and age, given what we train in now.
"Fred" <fred....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:2cca5b29-6f28-49f9...@k14g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
Mike the Strike
> X-no-archive: yes
> In article <4d020c12$0$12276$bed64...@gradwell.net>, David Salmon
> <davekaysal...@f2s.com> writes
>
> >>I don't think that I would go that high Al. The Swallow was my first
> >solo glider 40 odd years ago, BTW I do mean that I was sent for my first
> >solo in one, not a happy experience.
>
> with the performance of a Swallow was something to DREAM about.
>
> Tim Newport-Peace t...@spsys.demon.co.uk
>
> "Indecision is the Key to Flexibility."
A suitable glider to donate to one of the soaring museums, IMHO.
Mike
Tony
26:1 L/D according to the Sailplane Directory. I guess it depends on
what kind of cross country flying you want to do but it seems to have
plenty of performance to me. Probably not the best if you are hoping
to do a 500 km triangle and make it home for supper.
My club used to have one. I wasn't around then but I think it was
pretty popular with students coming out of the 2-22 and 2-33. Also
apparently was a nice intermediate step before they flew the club Ka-6.
Paul T
Remember this is the USA it's for sale in. Probably outhandles and
outperforms a Schweizer 1-26 ! Though 22.1 probaly more realistic L/D. So
t the good old US probably capable of 500 k -think one did 300 in the UK
once!
Nethertheess sold my share of a Swallow within 15 minutes of landing of
the first and last flight in it!
Don Johnstone
>At 19:09 10 December 2010, Tony wrote:
>>> The Swallow is OK for local soaring, but not for cross-country.
>>
>>26:1 L/D according to the Sailplane Directory. I guess it depends on
>>what kind of cross country flying you want to do but it seems to have
>>plenty of performance to me. Probably not the best if you are hoping
>>to do a 500 km triangle and make it home for supper.
>>
>>My club used to have one. I wasn't around then but I think it was
>>pretty popular with students coming out of the 2-22 and 2-33. Also
>>apparently was a nice intermediate step before they flew the club Ka-6.
>>
>
>Remember this is the USA it's for sale in. Probably outhandles an
>
>Nethertheess sold my share of a Swallow within 15 minutes of landing o
>
Swallow and therefore will very definitely have the tip washout. That did
not prevent it from spinning readily and it remains the only glider I have
spun unintentionally. For a glider with a wingspan of only 13.5 metres (45
feet if you want to be picky) the performance was not that bad. When the
Air Cadets had them they were fitted with a stop to prevent full elevator
deflection. If those stops were removed it was a very interesting glider,
capable of being rolled and Slingsbys originally cleared it for rolling
aeros. (The Air Cadets restricted it but that did not stop everyone :-))
Like all wooden Slingsby gliders of that era the elevator control was very
positive. Fot it's time it was a delightful glider to fly and I will have
flown the one shown for sale. If you are into serious cross country
gliding then this is probably not the glider for you. If you are up for
fun and some moderate hooliganism then the Swallow fits the bill nicely at
a reasonable price.
Steve Leonard
>
> 26:1 L/D according to the Sailplane Directory. I guess it depends on
> what kind of cross country flying you want to do but it seems to have
> plenty of performance to me. Probably not the best if you are hoping
> to do a 500 km triangle and make it home for supper.
>
> My club used to have one. I wasn't around then but I think it was
> pretty popular with students coming out of the 2-22 and 2-33. Also
> apparently was a nice intermediate step before they flew the club Ka-6.
Yes, our club had one. I got my 5 hours in it, and my younger brother
flew it 45 miles upwind (10-15 MPH wind, I believe) to get his Silver
Distance. There was a nice airport, and one of our members kept a
plane there. Had to get a tow and fly home because he had the crew
car keys in his pocket!
It was very responsive in pitch. LOTS of washout (something like 7
degrees or more), and not much up elevator (only 6 or 8 degrees, as I
recall). Ours had a max payload of a bit over 200 lbs. When I flew
it, airspeed control while thermalling was stick on the back stop,
shallow out so slow down, steepen up to speed up. Awesome dive brakes
(I hat the shoulder straps going forward when I opened them at about
65 knots). Really good roll rate, too. Huge vertical, so it probably
made an excellent cloud flyer.
It was great fun to fly and a real Sports Car compared to the TG-3A.
I don't think it is worth the "Buy it Now" price. Comparable
performance to a 1-26, but British Wood. Realistically, if the fabric
is good, probably worth about half of an average, early (pre-D) 1-26.
If the fabric isn't good, not likely worth over $500.
It wasn't very popular, though. Ka-6 is much easier to fly, much more
performance, and much more fun overall. But, until I got to fly the
Ka-6, the Swallow was a blast. As one of our Canadian club member
said of it, "It's a riot, eh?" I think he had an ASW-17 at home to
fly.
For whatever that was worth.
Steve Leonard
Frank Whiteley
Flew a Swallow at Tibenham a couple of times. Fun little bird. At the
end of a soaring day, I once watched Mick Boyden take an 1100ft winch
launch at Wattisham in a Swallow, roll inverted after release, pull
through to a loop, a chandelle, and a slowest beatup and landing. You
don't want to stay inverted long on the washout wings as all the load
is on the tips.
Frank Whiteley
Don Brown
Despite the original hopes, not many were assembled from kits. Among the
few was the Swallow known as Penguin, which was built in 15 months by a
syndicate of four young Cambridge University Gliding Club members during
1958-59.
With advice from Slingsby himself, the group reduced the wing washout to
the figure that had originally been intended, 3°, and omitted the elevator
stop. Penguin thus came closer to Reussner's notion of a small sailplane
for experienced pilots, and it gave excellent service.
It was used for various enjoyable expeditions to hill-soaring sites,
smaller competitions and rallies, visiting the Long Mynd and Malvern
Hills, Clwyd and Snowdonia in North Wales, Sutton Bank in Yorkshire and
Portmoak in Scotland, where one of the owners achieved a height climb of
3,450m (11,500ft). Later it was used for a 300-km goal Diamond flight from
the Long Mynd to Leiston.
Penguin's greatest achievement was Stuart Waller's flight in the
Dunstable Regional competitions in July-August 1983. Twenty-five
sailplanes competed, among them several of the best 'open'-class types
flown by famous pilots. Waller, who had helped build the air-craft,
achieved an ambition by reaching Snowdon in North Wales, where he was able
to soar up the face of the mountain in the anabatic thermal from the rock
face to reach 1,350m (4,500ft). On his way to Wales he had seen many of
his competitors in fields below, and he flew on across the Menai Straits
to land in Anglesey. Penguin becoming the first sailplane ever to do so.
It was a 'Gold C' distance of 305km.
Waller won the day. but unfortunately an accident to the trailer prevented
Penguin from getting back to Dunstable in time to compete next morning, so
after scoring 1,000 points one day there was zero for the next. At the end
of the week the modified Swallow nevertheless placed sev
Derek C
> Tim Newport-Peace wrote:
> > Having done my first solo on a Slingsby Tutor (1963), flying something
> > with the performance of a Swallow was something to DREAM about.
>
> (Slingsby T.31 Tandem Tutor) with a max. L/D of 14! I used
> to dream about flying the Olympia which was then a hot ship.
>
> The Swallow is OK for local soaring, but not for cross-country.
I have a small share it an ex Air Cadet Slingsby Swallow. I have done
several cross-countries in it, including a 210 km out and return and
one of my syndicate partners has completed a 300 km FAI triangle in
it; all in weak UK conditions by the way. It looks like a tea-chest
with wings, but soars quite well. The handling is actually lovely and
it is aerobatic. The main downsides are a slightly uncomfortable
seating position and not too much straight line glide performance;
realistically not much better than 20:1. Everything happens at about
40knots - best L/D and min sink speed.
Derek C
Bob Kuykendall
> Next time someone sneers at a wooden Sailplane, remind them that it is
> made of a unidirectional reinforced laminated composite material
> consisting of micro-tubular fibres embedded in a long chain polymer
> matrix and having a near infinite fatigue life.
And remind them that it is powered by a nuclear fusion reactor!
Derek C
> X-no-archive: yes
> In article <47a6acaf-7c36-466b-a89b-05a381cfa...@v17g2000vbo.googlegroup
> s.com>, Tony <abcon...@gmail.com> writes
> made of a unidirectional reinforced laminated composite material
> consisting of micro-tubular fibres embedded in a long chain polymer
> matrix and having a near infinite fatigue life.
One other advantage of the Slingsby Swallow is that it is made with
decent British synthetic glue.
Derek C
Paula Cavallucci
I am also interested in any microlight or LAA aircraft needing work to complete under £3,500.00
Or why?
paulaca...@yahoo.com. 07703192597
nealpf...@sbcglobal.net
I saw the glider in question at the Tehachapi Vintage Meet a couple of years ago, and it looked to be in good condition. The structure looked to be solid and the fabric in reasonable condition. It had a serviceable open trailer.
The Swallow has to much wing twist to push the nose down and go cross country at speed, the tips start "lifting" down. But for local flying, it thermals nicely and can fit in the smallest of thermals. It has very nice control harmony.
The tow release is offset to the left side and well aft. It takes most people a little time to get used to the offset pull at the start of the takeoff run. Also, if the tow plane jerks the rope to start, the glider will jump immediately into the air. New pilots typically PIO at that point, but if one holds the stick firmly in the neutral position, it damps quickly.
This glider appeared to be solid to me. It is certainly not priced as a hot rod. If someone is wanting to get inexpensive air time near their local airport, this ship should work well. It will require inside storage, but should be airworthy for years it treated right.
my 2 cents,
..... Neal
Mike the Strike
Mike