D-39
Role Motor glider
National origin Germany
Manufacturer Akaflieg Darmstadt
First flight 28 June 1979
Number built 1
Developed from Akaflieg Darmstadt D-38

The Akaflieg Darmstadt D-39 was a single-seat motor glider derived from the D-38 sailplane. Built in Germany in the late 1970s, it was not intended for production and only one was constructed.

Design and development

The D-39 was a motorised version of the D-38 sailplane, with wings moved down from the latter's shoulder-wing position to the bottom of the fuselage. A Limbach SL 1700 flat four engine was conventionally mounted in the nose; the propeller could be removed but not folded away in flight. The wings, with 4° of dihedral, tail and monocoque fuselage were formed from glass fibre balsa sandwiches and the ailerons from glass fibre/Klégécel foam sandwiches. The D-38 had an all moving T-tailplane, fitted with a Flettner tab. It landed on a retractable monowheel, fitted with a drum brake and assisted by a small, fixed tailwheel.[1]

The D-39 was first flown on 28 June 1979.[1] By July 1982 it had been modified into the D-39b, with a greater span, revised wing roots and fitted with two-bladed Hoffmann Propeller airscrew and three pitch positions. The „D-39HKW“ was developed on the fuselage of the D-39, using 20-Meter flapped wing V[2]

Variants

D-39
Original version
D-39b
Same aircraft modified with greater span, revised roots and a new propeller.

Specifications (D-39)

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1981/2[1]

General characteristics

Performance

References

  1. ^ a b c Taylor, John W. R. (1981). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1981-1982. London: Jane's Information Group. pp. 575, 598–9. ISBN 0710607059.
  2. ^ Taylor, John W. R. (1985). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1985-1986. London: Jane's Information Group. p. 734. ISBN 0-7106-0821-7.


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