The Slingsby T.6/T.23 Kirby Kite was a single-seat sport glider produced from 1935, by

Fred Slingsby Frederick 'Fred' Nicholas Slingsby MM (6 November 1894 – 21 May 1973) was the founder of Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd (later Slingsby Aviation). Biography Slingsby was born on 6 November 1894 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, the son of Reube ...

Kirbymoorside Kirkbymoorside () is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is north of York; midway between Pickering and Helmsley, and on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The parish had a population of 3,040 in the 20 ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Design and development

During the early 1930s there was a dearth of high-performance gliders that could be flown by relatively inexperienced pilots. To remedy this shortcoming Fred Slingsby modified the Grunau Baby design with longer gulled wings and rounded fuselage formers skinned with plywood, resulting in the T.6 Kirby Kite. Later developments included spoilers to improve landing performance and an enlarged rudder which improved the harmony of the controls. Further re-design was carried out at the end 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 ...

, with a raised wing pylon, landing wheel and spoilers fitted as standard. The T.23 Kite 1A flew in December 1945 but did not enter production due to the limited improvement in performance, but further development was planned, as the Type 23A, with a new 1° dihedral straight wings, the production of which is uncertain. The final iteration of the Slingsby Grunau Baby derivatives was the T.26 Kite 2, which introduced an entirely new wing, an enclosed cockpit, straight tapered wings and other detailed improvements.

History

The T.6 Kirby Kite was immediately in demand for competition and club flying, but their performance was soon overtaken by newer gliders. Production continued until 1939 totalling 25, of which one was exported to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, one to Canada and one to

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

. One more was built from plans by Herman Kursawe in the USA. Almost all the Kirby Kites still flying at the outbreak of World War II were impressed into the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

for use as training aircraft for assault glider pilots. Kirby Kites were also used, along with other types of glider, to assess the ability of the

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal early warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

system to detect aircraft largely constructed of wood. These tests carried out over the English Channel were successful in showing that even gliders with very little metallic content could be detected, though the strength of return depended on how much metal was on board. After use by the Glider Training Schools the surviving Kirby Kites were passed to the

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...

. Eight Kirby Kites survive, one has new wings. Another is being built using some original parts.Kirby Kite owners club.

Operators

;

: No 1 Glider Training School ;

Variants

;T.6 Kite : the initial re-design of the Grunau Baby. Twenty-five built. ;T.23 Kite 1A :Improved T.6 developed after

. One built. ;Type 23A : A planned development of the T.23, with a new straight wing with 1° dihedral. ; T.26 Kite 2 :The final extrapolation, in 1946-7, of the Kite series with a completely different wing, enclosed cockpit and other detailed refinements. ;T.26 Kite 2A :Modified wash-out at the wing-tips. ;T.26 Kite 2B :As for the 2A, with air-brakes instead of spoilers.

Specifications (T.6 Kite 1)

Design and development

History

Operators

Variants

Specifications (T.6 Kite 1)

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading