The Hirth Hi 20 MoSe was a German
motor glider
A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flig ...
designed in the late 1930s. Based on the
Göppingen Gö 4
The Göppingen Gö 4 or Goevier is a German sailplane of the late 1930s used for training pilots. Its most notable features include side-by-side seating and dual controls, making the plane ideal for use as a trainer. It boasted average performan ...
side-by-side seat training glider, it had a foldaway
propeller
A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...
, column-mounted above 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 ...
and shaft-driven by a small internal
piston engine
A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more Reciprocating motion, reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a Circular motion, rotating motion. This article ...
.
Design and development
The
Carden-Baynes Auxiliary
The Carden-Baynes Bee was a 1930s British two-seat aircraft, with twin engines in pusher configuration buried in the wings. The wings rotated for storage. Financial problems limited the Bee to a single flight.
Design and development
Carden Ae ...
or Scud 3 of 1935 was the first motorised glider to use an engine and propeller unit which could be retracted, allowing conventional gliding after self-launching.
[ The Hi 20 MoSe (MoSe was short for Motor-Segler or motor glider) was the first ]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 ...
motor glider of this kind and the first such two seater; it is not known if Hirth was familiar with the earlier aircraft when he began the Hi 20's design in 1937. The Schempp-Hirth factory at Nabern (now Kirchheim/Teck) was busy with the production of the Göppingen Gö 4 and with the outbreak of World War II
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 ...
, the sole prototype was not completed until 1941.[
Rather than develop a new aircraft for their foldaway power plant and propeller experiments, it was decided to save on time and money by using the wings and tail of a Göppingen Gö 4. A new, steel framed rather than wooden, fuselage was constructed with very similar length and profile to the original. The propulsion unit, when deployed, consisted of a vertical, faired column carrying a pusher propeller with its hub about above the fuselage, so the tips just cleared the structure. The column was pivoted just inside the fuselage with the engine at its short lower end. Engine and propeller were connected by a shaft within the column; at its top gears turned the drive-shaft through 90° and reduced the output speed by a factor of 2.3. After a powered climb to altitude, the unit was rotated on its pivot so the propeller fitted into a ]dorsal
Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to:
* Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism
* Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage
The fus ...
slot in the fuselage and the engine lay immediately behind the cockpit bulkhead.[
A new air-cooled four cylinder ]two stroke engine
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a four-stroke engine which re ...
was developed for the Hi 20 by W. Krautter. Cooling air was moved to the engine inside the fuselage through the propeller-bearing column.[
The first flight was made under aero tow in October 1941. More flights were made the following year but then development stopped, as war work took priority.][
]
Specifications
See also
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite book , title= British Light Aeroplanes, last=Ord-Hume, first=Arthur W.J.G., year=2000, publisher=GMS Enterprises , location=Peterborough , isbn=9781870384766]
[{{cite journal , last=Selinger , first=Peter , date=July–September 1998 , title= The Hirth Hi 20"MoS", journal=Auxiliary-powered Sailplane Association, volume=X , issue=63 , page=6 , url=http://asa.thixo.com/back_issues/98JulAug.pdf ]
[{{cite magazine , date=9 May 1935 , title= Flying on 250 cc, magazine= ]Flight
Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
, volume=XXVII , issue=1376 , pages=508–9 , url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1935/1935%20-%201072.html
Motor gliders
1940s German sailplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1941
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Mid-wing aircraft