The LFU 205 is a single-engined, four-seat, low-wing

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

, that was built in the late 1960s entirely from

glass reinforced plastic Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

Design and development

The Leichflugtechnik-Union (LFU) was a consortium formed by the

Bölkow Bölkow was a West German aircraft manufacturer based in Stuttgart, Germany, and later Ottobrunn. History The company was founded in 1948 by Ludwig Bölkow, who since 1955 with Emil Weiland had developed helicopters for Bölkow Entwicklungen KG. ...

, and

Rhein-Flugzeugbau Rhein-Flugzeugbau GmbH (RFB) was a German aircraft manufacturer. The company was established at Krefeld, Germany in 1955, and later moved to Mönchengladbach. Due to insolvency of its parent company, ABS International, in 1993 RFB became unable ...

companies specifically to produce an aircraft built entirely of glass reinforced plastic (GRP). The result, the LFU 205 was one of the first all-grp light aircraft. The LFU 205 is a single-engined, low-winged monoplane of conventional appearance apart from slight, 7° forward sweep on the moderately tapered wing. This carries Fowler flaps along the whole trailing edge inboard of the Frise ailerons. The tail surfaces are also straight tapered, with the vertical surfaces slightly swept. The tailplane is a single piece, all moving surface. There are two pairs of side by side seats under a large curved, rearward sliding, canopy. Fuselage and flying surfaces are monocoque structures using a grp sandwich with a smooth outer surface bonded to a corrugated inner skin, the latter formed from parallel 10 mm (0.4 in) tubes wrapped in glass fibre. The corrugations run chordwise, rib-like, in the wings and tail and circumferentially in the fuselage. The tail structures have a foam plastic core. It is powered by a flat 4-cylinder, 200 hp (150 kW)

Lycoming IO-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between , with the basic O-360 producing . The engine family has been installed in ...

engine and has a tricycle undercarriage with inward retracting main legs and an aft retracting nosewheel. The first flight was on 29 March 1968.

Operational history

The LFU 205 was intended as an experimental aircraft and only one was built. The initial flying programme was to test the constructional methods. Since 1984 it has flown with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) at

Brunswick, Germany Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and ...

. It has been used in a research program into

laminar flow Laminar flow () is the property of fluid particles in fluid dynamics to follow smooth paths in layers, with each layer moving smoothly past the adjacent layers with little or no mixing. At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral m ...

aerofoils by fitting a "glove" of the new profile over the wings of the LFU 205 in the central sections inboard of the ailerons on both sides. One prime interest is in the transition region between laminar and

turbulent flow In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by Chaos theory, chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disrupt ...

, studied using

infra-red Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those of ...

imaging. The gloved regions are also instrumented to gain data on pressure and drag distributions and

boundary layer In physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is the thin layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a Boundary (thermodynamic), bounding surface formed by the fluid flowing along the surface. The fluid's interaction with the wall induces ...

behaviour.

Aircraft on display

Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim Flugwerft Schleissheim is an aviation museum located in the German town of Oberschleißheim near Munich, it forms part of the Deutsches Museum collection and complements the aviation exhibits on display at the main site. The museum was opened on ...

- sole example

Specifications

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, LFU 205 1960s German civil utility aircraft 1960s German experimental aircraft

205 Year 205 ( CCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta (or, less frequently, year 958 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 205 for this year h ...

Single-engined tractor aircraft Forward-swept-wing aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1968 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear