Series production of the Kranich (Crane) took place in the aircraft division of Karl Schweyer AG in Mannheim. The two-seater was, in its version 2, the most widely built two-seat glider in Germany from 1935 to 1939. Several hundred examples were built; exact numbers are not known.
On 11 October 1940 Erich Klöckner in a Kranich achieved the record height in a glider of 11,460 m (37598 ft). Because it occurred in wartime, the altitude record was not recognized by the Allied occupying powers, and Klöckner only received official recognition by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in the late 1990s.[1] This record height was only exceeded ten years after the flight by the American Bill Ivans during a similar scientific program in the Sierra Nevada.
In 1942 30 Kranichs were built by the Swedish manufacturer AB Flygplan in Norrköping, and delivered to the Swedish Air Force for training purposes. These machines were given the military designation Flygplan Se 103.
Between 1950 and 1952 50 examples of a slightly modified copy of the Kranich II were built in Poland, known as the SZD-C Żuraw (żuraw is Kranich in Polish = "crane").
Between 1947-48 10 examples and until 1957, 17 more of a slightly modified copy of the Kranich II were built in Yugoslavia, they have also repaired two war trophy left by the Germans. They were known as the UTVA Ždral LIBIS Žerjav (ždral-žerjav is Kranich in Serbian and Slovenian = "crane").
After the war, Jacobs designed the Kranich III, a new development very different from its predecessors. It was developed and produced at the Focke-Wulf aircraft factory in Bremen. The first flight was on 1 May 1952, piloted by Hanna Reitsch. Thirty-seven were built.
Variants
Kranich II
Kranich
The initial prototype designed by Hans Jacobs for the DFS.
Conversion of Kranich II with an additional cockpit in the glazed nose for a prone pilot. Several built. First conversion in Trebbin in the middle of World War II for the purpose of testing prone flying. Also used for training to fly new German types (BV 40, DFS 228 and DFS 346).
Flygplan Se 103
License production of 30 aircraft in Sweden for the Swedish Air Force
Maximum glide ratio: 23.6 at 70 km/h (43 mph; 38 kn)
Rate of sink: 0.7 m/s (140 ft/min) at 60 km/h (37 mph; 32 kn)
Wing loading: 19.4 kg/m2 (4.0 lb/sq ft)
Notes
^aerokurier magazine 1/1999: Erich Klöckners Vorstoß zur Tropopause, Motor Presse 1999
^Shenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson; Peter Brooks (1958). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs dans Le Monde (in English, French, and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 91–94.
References
Shenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson; Peter Brooks (1958). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs dans Le Monde (in English, French, and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 91–94.
Further reading
Horst Lommel: Vom Höhenaufklärer bis zum Raumgleiter 1935 – 1945, Geheimprojekte der DFS, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN3-613-02072-6
aerokurier magazine 1/1999: Erich Klöckners Vorstoß zur Tropopause, Motor Presse 1999
Georg Brütting; Die berühmtesten Segelflugzeuge, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN3-613-02296-6
Horst Lommel: Zeitschrift Luftfahrt History Nr. 4: Der Flieger Erich - ein Nachruf auf Erich Klöckner, Lautec Software und Medien GmbH, Siegen 2004
Peter F. Selinger (2004), Segelflugzeug-Geschichten: die Gleit- und Segelflugzeuge des Deutschen Segelflugmuseums mit Modellflug auf der Wasserkuppe (in German), Gersfeld/Rhön: Stiftung Deutsches Segelflugmuseum Wasserkuppe mit Modellflug, ISBN3-00-011649-4
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to DFS Kranich.
