Rudolf Kaiser (10 September 1922 – 11 September 1991) was 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 u ...

. The designs of Rudolf Kaiser have proven themselves for over 50 years all over the world. His designs for Schleichers can be recognised by the K in the ASK designation. The designs that he did on his own account have the designation Ka. He was born in Coburg, Germany, and graduated in house construction in 1952. However at the same time he took up gliding. He built a small single seater, the Ka 1 at his home in 1952 to perfect his design skills. (He used it to get his 'Silver C'

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

badge.) His next glider, the two-seat Ka 2, was created for Alexander Schleicher, the sailplane manufacturer in

Poppenhausen Poppenhausen is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Schweinfurt (district), Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany. It consists of the following six localities: Hain, Kronungen, Kützberg, Maibach, Pfersdorf, Poppenhausen. Ref ...

. Rudolf Kaiser also worked for Egon Scheibe designing the Ka 5 "Zugvogel" which was the best performing production sailplane in the world at the time. To earn his Gold C, he again built a sailplane for himself; the Ka 6. It won the OSTIV prize for the best new design in 1958. After Schleicher put it into production, it became the most popular

Standard Class Competition classes in gliding, as in other sports, mainly exist to ensure fairness in competition. However the classes have not been targeted at fostering technological development as in other sports. Instead classes have arisen because of: * t ...

sailplane, winning two World Gliding Championships (1960 and 1963). 1368 Ka 6's were built and many are still flying. Kaiser then designed three more classic gliders: * Schleicher K7 two-seat trainer (550 built)Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine'', page 105, Soaring Society of America November 1983. USPS 499-920 * Schleicher ASK 13 two-seat trainer (645 built) * Schleicher K 8 single-seat glider with 15 metre wingspan (1,212 built) The K 8 was a single seater with similar characteristics to the two-seaters and so it is still a popular glider for early solo pilots who had trained on Kaiser's two seaters. Further designs followed: the Schleicher ASK 18 single seater and two motorgliders, the

ASK 14 The Schleicher ASK 14 is a West German low-wing, single-seat motor glider that was designed by Rudolf Kaiser and produced by Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co.Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine'', page 131. Soaring Societ ...

and ASK 16. Kaiser then designed two glass-fibre gliders: the two-seat Schleicher ASK 21 trainer, which first flew in 1978, and the single-seat Schleicher ASK 23 which filled the role of the K 8. The ASK 23 first flew in 1983. When the certification process of the ASK 23 was complete Rudolf Kaiser retired at the age of 61.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiser, Rudolf 1922 births 1991 deaths German aerospace engineers People from Coburg Engineers from Bavaria