Gerhard Waibel (born 3 October 1938) is a designer of gliders who worked for

Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co is a major manufacturer of sailplanes located in Poppenhausen, near Fulda in Germany. It is also the oldest sailplane manufacturer in the world. History The company was founded in 1927 by Alexander Schleicher us ...

producing many famous designs.

Biography

Waibel was born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. His father Karl Waibel had worked with

Wolf Hirth Wolfram Kurt Erhard Hirth (28 February 1900 – 25 July 1959) was a German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer. He was a co-founder of Schempp-Hirth, still a renowned glider manufacturer.Segelflugbildkalendar 2011 Hirth was born in Stuttgar ...

in the 1920s. Gerhard began flying models in 1948. In 1951 he helped with building the SG38. He then studied at

Akaflieg Akaflieg is an abbreviation for ''Akademische Fliegergruppe'', groups of aeronautical engineering students from individual German universities of technology and Technische Hochschulen, pre and postwar, who design aircraft, often gliders. Histor ...

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

. In 1962 Gerhard's father arranged a practical course in a steel plant in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

for him and Wolf Lemke. In the evenings they started designing the D-36 ''Circe''. After much development back in Germany, Waibel flew the D-36 to victory in the Open Class of the German Championships in 1964. Waibel joined Schleicher in 1964. His first design, the ASW 12, was based on the D36. He then designed almost all the racing gliders for Schleichers up to the ASW 28 which first flew in May 2000. The 'W' in a Schleicher designation shows that it was designed by Waibel. He retired in August 2003 after 39 years service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waibel, Gerhard 1938 births Living people Aircraft designers German aerospace engineers German glider pilots Engineers from Frankfurt