On Wed, 2005-05-18 at 12:10, Jon Stockill wrote: > Steve Hosgood wrote: > > > Disclaimer: > > This is a toy [...] I've never even *seen* the Colditz > > Glider replica (in the Imperial War Museum now, apparently) > > [...] assuming it's not been moved it's right up on the top floor. > There a few rather dark photos at the end of this collection: > > http://photos.stockill.org.uk/c1955.html >
Hmm - the thumbnails aren't displaying for me. It makes it very difficult to find the one I'm looking for. > If the original was anything like the rebuild then it really was a > remarkable achievement. (Obviously with the rebuild they tried to stick > to similar materials, but did have the advantage the > Unfinished sentence? They did have the probable advantage (not shown on TV) of flying the thing from a nice high tow launch with a radio control "pilot" and a sack of cement for ballast! That way they'd have known if it flew at all before risking the real pilot who flew it for the cameras. It was nice to see that some of the the surviving POW designers and builders (Best and Goldfinch) were there to see their plane fly at last. Sadly, Jack Best died only months later. > > Please try it and if you have any suggestions, I'll be happy to take > > them on board. I'm expecting complaints about the stall characteristics > > which are probably too savage, but then, hang-gliders stall hard, so why > > not this machine? > > > > There's no 3D model, sorry. Suggestions for how to do one, or (better) > > offers of help gratefully received! > > How much information do you have? Unfortunately I'm the other end of the > country, so can't easily drop in to the war museum again, but I suspect > they'll be the best source of info. I've got my copy of "Colditz: The Latter Days" that I've had since I was a teenager. It contains a basic plan and elevations of the plane, but no details of (say) airfoil shape. It does talk a bit about materials used though. I scrounged around the net and came up with some photos of the original machine and the replica both on the ground and in flight and one of the jubilant ex POWs jumping up and down in celebration. Nothing scientific though. I'll do it again and publish the URLs, but I've not got time right now. I've got just one URL to hand: http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraft/WWII/colditz/info/info.htm This shows the War Museum exhibit, and much more. ***************** A while ago, I did my own calculations of what would happen to a 250kg glider when thrown off a 20m runway by a bathtub full of a ton of concrete dropped over the side. However, later I found other estimates suggesting 1800lb of concrete would have been used (which is more like 800kg) and that the runway (the roof of the chapel) was probably nearer 18m long, not 20m as I'd estimated. Not sure what the truth was, but assuming the latter conditions, the glider leaves the roof dangerously close to stall speed in nil-wind conditions. They'd have needed a slight headwind to give them a fighting chance in the thing, I reckon. I suppose I ought to provide for a very short-lived and weak "rocket engine" for the Colditz Glider model, so you could try taking off from stationary on an elevated surface. Who knows how to set rocket burn-time and thrust? BTW: If any eastern German subscribers on this list could do a detailed scenery add-on for Colditz castle and the surrounding countryside, it would be appreciated (hint, hint) :-) How many people from tu-chemnitz.de have we got on here I wonder? Steve. _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@flightgear.org http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d
