The Schweizer SGU 1-7 is an American Open
Class
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, single-seat, high-wing strut braced glider built by
Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company of
Elmira, New York
Elmira () is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. ...
.
[Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine'', page 26. Soaring Society of America, November 1983. USPS 499-920]
The first 1-7 was built in 1937 and the second one was completed in 1939.
The 1-7 was the first Schweizer aircraft which was produced as more than a single example and it was the first aircraft that the company sold.
Design and development
Schweizer Aircraft started construction of the 1-7 prototype 1937, shortly after the
SGU 1-6 came in third in the
1937 Eaton Design Contest. The intention was that the winning design would be made available as drawings and kits for
amateur construction and that
Bureau of Air Commerce certification would be sought.
The 1-6 had not fared well in the competition and none of the winners in the contest had proven as easy to construct as the contest organizers had hoped. As a result of the lessons learned in the Eaton contest a new clean-sheet design was started by the
Schweizer brothers
Paul, William (Bill), and Ernest Schweizer were three brothers who started building gliders in 1930. In 1937, they formed the Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company. Their first commercial glider sale was an SGU 1-7 glider to Harvard University's Alt ...
.
The resulting single seater-seventh design (1-7) was quite different from the 1-6. The 1-6 had been an all-metal design including
aluminum
Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
-covered wings and was the first all-metal glider ever built.
The 1-7 was designed to use more traditional methods and has a steel-tube fuselage frame covered in aircraft fabric. The wing is a constant
chord, single
spar,
strut
A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension.
A stay is sometimes used as a synonym for ...
-braced type, including
jury struts. The wing and horizontal tail are built from aluminum with fabric covering. The aircraft was designed to be as simple and inexpensive as possible to construct, even at the cost of higher performance.
The 1-7 design was never certified and both aircraft completed were registered as experimental
amateur-built aircraft.
While only two Schweizer SGU 1-7s were built the type was the beginning of a long line of Schweizer gliders based upon this design. The 1-7 lead directly lead to the improved single place
Schweizer SGU 1-19 and long-wing
Schweizer SGU 1-20. With two seats installed the basic design became the
Schweizer SGU 2-22 trainer and finally evolved into the
Schweizer SGS 2-33.
Operational history
SGU 1-7 serial number 1 was completed in 1937.
It was later destroyed by mistake as scrap.
SGU 1-7 serial number 2 was completed in 1939 and registered as N23026.
It had a long and storied career,
until its flight certificate expired in 2017.
The aircraft was originally sold to the Altosaurus Soaring Club of
North Conway, New Hampshire for
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
$595.
This club was formed by a group of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
skiers from the Schussverien Ski Club. They used the single-seat 1-7 to teach themselves to fly by auto tow and winch launch. The aircraft was thought by the club members to resemble a
pterodactyl
Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earlie ...
in flight and was painted with one on both sides of the aircraft's nose.
The aircraft was sold in the 1950s to
Lloyd Lichner then general manager of the
Soaring Society of America
The Soaring Society of America (SSA) was founded at the instigation of Warren E. Eaton to promote the sport of soaring in the USA and internationally. The first meeting was held in New York City in the McGraw–Hill Building on February 20, 193 ...
, who flew it often in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, including at the cliff-soaring site at
Torrey Pines.
The aircraft was later owned by Ralph Heide of
El Segundo, California
El Segundo ( , ; ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments. The population was 17,272 as of t ...
in the 1980s. He carried out a complete restoration of the aircraft in the mid-1980s.
Today 1-7 serial number 2 belongs to the
National Soaring Museum
The National Soaring Museum (NSM) is an aviation museum whose stated aim is to preserve the history of motorless flight. It is located in Big Flats Town, New York, on top of Harris Hill near Elmira.
The NSM is the Soaring Society of America's ...
.
Specifications
See also
References
External links
Photographs of SGU 1-7 Serial 2 in the NSMPhoto of an SGU 1-7 on tow
{{Schweizer aircraft
1930s United States sailplanes
Schweizer aircraft
High-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1937