The Grüne Post was a secondary trainer glider designed by

Alexander Lippisch Alexander Martin Lippisch (2 November 1894 – 11 February 1976) was a German aeronautical engineer, a pioneer of aerodynamics who made important contributions to the understanding of tailless aircraft, delta wings and the ground effect in aircra ...

at the request of a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

newspaper, the Grüne Post (), who distributed plans. Many were built by amateur groups.

Design and development

In 1932 the Grüne Post, a popular German Sunday newspaper, approached Alexander Lippisch, a successful glider designer, for plans of a club glider that they would make available to their one million readers. The resulting simple single seat aircraft, named after the paper, was broadly similar to his earlier Prüfling design of six years earlier. The performance of the two types was also similar. The Grüne Post had a constant chord, unswept wooden wing built around two spars and fabric covered except at the

leading edge The leading edge is the part of the wing that first contacts the air;Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. alternatively it is the foremost edge of an airfoil sectio ...

, which was

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

skinned. Its tips were slightly angled outwards behind the leading edge, where the tips of the broad

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

were cropped. It was supported over the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

on a short chord, thin, enclosed pylon, its leading edge vertical under the forward wing and sloping down to the upper fuselage under the trailing edge of the wing. The forward half of the fuselage was built on a wide V-section platform, Zögling-style but with sloping side covering, onto which the controls and the single seat, with its back on the wing pylon, were mounted. The short nose section containing the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

opening could be removed for access or display. From each side of the platform a pair of streamlined, parallel

lift strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s braced the wing at about mid-span. Behind it the fuselage had a simple rectangular section structure. The Grüne Post had a near rectangular horizontal tail of constant chord and slightly angled tips. A straight tapered, narrow

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

was placed far enough aft that the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

hinge line was almost beyond the

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

; the rudder was also straight tapered, square tipped and reached down to the keel. The Grüne Post landed on a rubber sprung skid on the bottom of the fuselage platform, assisted by a small tail skid. The first flight was in 1932 or 1933. Many Grüne Posts were amateur built from the plans available from the newspaper. The plans spread widely: two Grüne Posts were built in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and one in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. There is a replica in the German Gliding Museum on the

Wasserkuppe The Wasserkuppe (;) is the highest mountain in the Rhön Mountains, Rhön range and the tallest elevation in the Germany, German state of Hesse, standing at above sea level. It forms a prominent plateau within the Fulda district and is known as ...

but no originals in European museums.

Specifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grune Post 1930s German sailplanes Aircraft first flown in 1932 Glider aircraft Parasol-wing aircraft