VALENTIN GMBH TAIFUN 17E motorglider N13BH 07

The Valentin Taifun is a two-seat

self-launching sailplane A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing Aircraft#Heavier-than-air – aerodynes, aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (M ...

designed and built by Valentin Flugzeugbau GmbH of Hasfurt, Germany.

Design and development

The Taifun is an all glass-fibre low-wing cantilever

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 ...

with a

T-tail A T-tail is an empennage wikt:configuration, configuration in which the tailplane of an aircraft is mounted to the top of the vertical stabilizer, fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs fr ...

and side-by-side seating for two occupants. It has a manually operated retractable

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

. The Taifun is powered originally by an 80 hp (60 kW) Limbach L2000EB (Volkswagen) engine with later production aircraft being fitted with 90 hp (67 kW) Limbach L2400EB engine. The wings fold back along the fuselage sides for transportation and storage. The prototype, registered ''D-KONO'', first flew on the 28 February 1981. The main production aircraft had a 17-metre wingspan and was designated the Taifun 17E. Two examples of aircraft with a 12-metre wingspan were built as the Taifun 12E which were classed as light-aircraft rather than a motor glider. An improved four-seat Taifun 11S was studied with a 115 hp (86 kW)

Lycoming O-235 The Lycoming O-235 is a family of four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed, piston aircraft engines that produce , derived from the earlier O-233 engine.Textron Lycoming: ''Operator's Manual, Textron Lycoming Aircraft Engines, Series O-2 ...

engine and fixed landing gear but the design was abandoned.

Variants

;Taifun 17E :Main production variant with a 17 metre wingspan and a Limbach flat-four engine. ;Taifun 17E II :Later production variant with a 17 metre wingspan and a Limbach flat-four engine or can be retrofitted with a

Rotax 914 The Rotax 914 is a turbo-charged, four-stroke, four-cylinder, horizontally opposed aircraft engine with air-cooled cylinders and water-cooled cylinder heads. It is designed and built by the Austrian company BRP-Powertrain, owned by Bombardier ...

, hydraulically operated landing gear, double panel

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 "Sport ...

type airbrakes on the upper wing surface. aka WI Taifun 17 EII ;Taifun 12E :Variant with a 12 metre wingspan, two built. ;Taifun 11S :Planned variant with four-seats, not built.

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 ...

, near Munich, Germany.

Specifications (17E)

References

Bibliography

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External links

European Aviation Safety Agency Type Certificate Data Sheet - Taifun 17E
{Dead link, date=July 2025 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes 1980s German sailplanes Motor gliders T-tail aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1981 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear Taifun Single-engined piston aircraft