The Schempp-Hirth Nimbus 3 is a
glider built by
Schempp-Hirth
Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH is a glider manufacturer based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany.
History
Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935, with the assistance of Wolf Hirth.
The company was initially called "Sportflu ...
.
Design and development
The Nimbus-3 uses
carbon-fibre extensively and has a new
wing profile
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expr ...
compared with the
Nimbus-2. It has a four-piece carbon-fibre wing with a 22.9 metre span but may be increased to 24.5 or 25.5 metres with tip extensions. The outer wing panels are slightly modified
Ventus wings. When rolling at large aileron deflection, small spoiler flaps deploy at the inner wingtip to compensate for lack of rudder power. It was first flown on 21 February 1981 by its designer Dipl.-Ing
Klaus Holighaus. A
glide ratio of 60:1 has been claimed. The Nimbus-3T version has a sustainer engine.
Nimbus-3s took the first three places in the Open Class in the 1981
World Gliding Championships although there were only 12 entrants. In the 1983 World Championships it took the top six places, and it won again in the 1985 Championships.
The D-model (Nimbus-3D) is the two-seater version. There is also a self-launched two-seat version (Nimbus-3DM) and a two-seat sustainer version (Nimbus-3DT). The first flight of the D-model was in May 1986.
The Nimbus-3 was succeeded by the
Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4.
Specifications (Nimbus 3)
See also
References
Further reading
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*
External links
Johnson R, A Flight Test Evaluation of the Nimbus-3, Soaring, December 1982Sailplane DirectorySchempp-Hirth homepage
{{Schempp-Hirth
Nimbus-3
1980s German sailplanes
Motor gliders
T-tail aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1981