The Fieseler F2 Tiger was a German single-seat aerobatic

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

which was flown to victory in the 1934 World Aerobatics Competition (WAC) by its designer/builder

Gerhard Fieseler Gerhard Fieseler (15 April 1896 – 1 September 1987) was a German World War I flying ace, aerobatics champion, and aircraft designer and manufacturer. From birth to the 1918 armistice Born in Glesch (near Cologne), Fieseler joined the Imperial G ...

Design and development

started his own company in 1930 in the former Segelflugzeugbau company at Kassel, Germany. Fieseler was a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

German

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

with almost 20 kills to his credit, and became a world class competition aerobatic pilot. To compete in International competitions Fieseler designed and built the Fieseler F2 Tiger single-seat biplane, powered by a Walter Pollux II air-cooled 9-cylinder radial. The 1934 World Aerobatics Competition, held in

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, was the first of its kind, and, despite the deaths of two pilots and a few crashes, the competition continued and Fieseler won, although he went over the time limit due to a loose

harness A harness is a looped restraint or support. Specifically, it may refer to one of the following harness types: * Bondage harness * Child harness * Climbing harness * Dog harness * Five-point harness, a type of seatbelt * Horse harness * Pet harnes ...

, beating his nearest competitor, Michel Detroyat of

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(who flew an M.S.225), by 23 points (645.2 to 622.9). Fieseler retired from the sport with his victory. The F2 Tiger itself would form the basis for later aircraft, including the Fieseler F5. It was built by Fieseler's own aircraft company,

Fieseler Flugzeugbau The Gerhard Fieseler Werke (GFW) in Kassel was a German aircraft manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s. The company is remembered mostly for its military aircraft built for the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. History Gerhard Fieseler, the ...

(later, Gerhard Fieseler Werke). The F2 served as both an important forerunner of later German aircraft which would go on to fight for the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and as a famous piece of inter-war aircraft design, as well as being the winning aircraft of the first WAC.

Design and development

Specifications

See also