Schempp-Hirth Cirrus
The Cirrus was designed by Dipl.-Ing Klaus Holighaus and was the first glass-fibre production glider to be built by Schempp-Hirth. The prototype flew in 1967 with a V-tail. It was the German Open Class winner in 1967.
From 1967 to 1971 107 had been built by Schempp. After that the production was transferred to Vazduhoplovno Tehnicki Centar (VTC) at Vrsac in Yugoslavia, who built 63 units.
Development
Design
Previous Holighaus had designed and built the ground-breaking D-36 (pictured above) during his period at Akaflieg Darmstadt together with Gerhard Waibel, Wolf Lemke and Walter Schneider, he followed a completely different design philosophy for the Cirrus, preferring a thicker airfoil and the use of Conticell foam instead of balsa as a core material.
The result was a mid-set cantilever wing glider with a span of 17.74 metres called the Cirrus. It has a conventional low-set cruciform tailplane. Water-ballast tanks in the wings were optional, and could carry 100 litres. There are no flaps. There are effective top-and-bottom air brakes Schempp-Hirth type, and a substantial drag chute built into the bottom part of the rudder. The undercarriage is retractable. The open class Cirrus has harmless flight characteristics and is a joy to fly!
