Down Memory Lane - From the Log Books #5

DOWN MEMORY LANE – FROM THE LOGBOOKS #5.

Continuing the insight into the German trainer development we will move onto the other major club provider – Scheibe and his range of Bergfalke (Mountain Falcon) two seaters which directly competed with Schleicher’s Ka range of trainers.

Unlike the ‘boxed in at the back’ Ka2 and Ka7 types, the Bergfalkes got a lot of the utility of design done well right from the start. This was primarily because they were evolved from proven design layout trends manifested in the Kranich range – mid wing, tandem two seaters. Like, particularly the Kranich 3, they had wood wings, tube steel fuselages covered in fabric and swept forward wings (which allowed the wing roots to be positioned further aft so easing back seat access and improving visibility.

The actual forebearer of the Bergfalkes was the Mu13E which first flew in 1951. This was developed and built by the aviation section of the Munich university (most major German universities having such departments and these provided most of the cutting edge sailplanes and Germany’s leading post war designers).

The Mu13E appears to have been almost a heritage linking element with pre-war German gliding and the original Mu13. The Mu13 was a single seater and there was little if any similarity between this and the later two seater other than name and both of them having framework fuselages covered in fabric.

In this area Scheibe stole a march on it’s rival firm Schliecher by going from the outset for tube steel, fabric covered fuselages, while Schliecher started with the wood monocoque fuselaged Ka2 and then later switched to tube steel with the Ka7.

Another significant difference in approach was the Bergfalkes coming out with mainwheels a long way forward whereas the Ka two seaters had mainwheels aft and big front skids. The later caused more drag etc but made ground handling quite easy. On the other hand the BergFalkes all had very heavy tails which made them fatiguing in an intensive quick turn around launching situation.

MEETING THE BERGFALKES.

For the purposes of writing a story it is perhaps best to recount one particular episode where I was presented with four of this two seater range in one place, even though I had a fair bit to do with them over the years. The only one missing was the Bergfalke 1.

At the time I was on a week touring trip to Germany from UK. I had hired a Cherokee 140 and arranged to be put up by a German couple who I had a couple of months earlier had on a gliding course in UK. This gave me a base in the hinterland that I could operate from freely and a lovely little club type airstrip named Seigerland.

The purpose of the trip was to fly as many brand new designs as possible as I was leaving in just a few weeks to take up a flying job in Oz. I needed to be as up to date as possible with what may not get down there for some time.

The trip itself was eventful enough and full of stories that I may recount some time. Suffice to say that I am a vintage aircraft nut so was delighted on dropping into the circuit of Seigerland to spot a Heinkel 111 parked there in full markings. I was slavering before I landed but had not yet seen the Me109s in the hangars (They were all Spanish license built copies that had been used in the recent Battle of Britain film – but I am very liberal in outlook and having those virtually to myself for a week to go over was very extra cream)!

One of my trips that week was to Augsberg (once home of the main Messerchmitt factory) but now a nice dual airfield with GA on one side and a very active gliding centre on the other side. Down the middle the two airfields were separated by a row of administration buildings, restaurants, bars and club houses – all very nice.

My main purpose of the visit was to fly the newly released SF28 Tandem Falke (of which more in a later instalment). But things were a bit ‘tight’! The Scheibe factory is based at Dachau (which has less pleasant overtones) but was mainly rammed up against the ‘Iron Curtain’ and firmly within the ADIZ (Air Defence Information Zone) so getting there by air was grim at the best of times. To add to this the Munich Olympics were on and the Israeli team had already been hammered by terrorists so getting anywhere was a bit fraught.

As my co-pilot had out of date maps we had already been, on the trip out, through a Belgium restricted military control zone and used as interception practice by CF100s (who did not fire of course but thoroughly enjoyed themselves – the 140 can definitely out turn a CF100!!!!) so basically I had had enough drama!

Christian Gad, Scheibe’s Chief Designer agreed to fly an SF28 out for me to play with and had an SF25C available which I also wanted to take a look at. So Augsberg it was.

After a few hours of flying and heavy discussion with Christian we were free with time up our sleeve so naturally we gravitated to the gliding side – which was in a full swing operation – and a field full of Bergfalkes! So let us take a look at them.

Mu13E.

Yes, there was one of those there and there were never many of them – they are in fact as rare as hen’s teeth. This situation gave me one of the biggest challenges of my flying career. I knew what the Mu13E was and what it represented and I am a dedicated vintage aircraft fan – I had to fly it. But beside it was the recently released Bergfalke 4 and my trip was about flying the latest. The German club had welcomed us with open arms but could only spare us one winch launch each in their busy schedule. So which one?

I stuck with being a professional and chose the BF4 – and have regretted it ever since. So a word to the wise. If you are faced with something rare and old then fly it because it will be gone. If you are offered something new as a choice then be sure that the new one will be around in the future and there will be another opportunity.

The Mu13E, even in those early days, was dated. Yet it had a magic about it. Certainly it was a bit squarish and slab sided – but it had graceful lines and the elegeant pre-war style deeply chorded and shaped rudder. Even the canopy which was made of Perspex panels had their own lines and big panels so visibility was great. The sides were a bit lower than what would follow so getting in was not so much of a strain. But I did not fly it so cannot comment further.

Bergfalke 2. This was the main initial production type and very similar in appearance to the Mu13E but with more modern overall lines. All of the BergFalkes are tall at the cockpit and stand high anyway as they are taildraggers. However this was even more accentuated by the canopy sill being much higher than the Mu13E as well.

This club had modified all of its BFs and exchanged part of the cockpit wall fabric with clear Perspex panels. This improved side and downward visibility from the cockpit no end rather than having to peer over the production window sill. On the other hand the cockpits were large and roomy if requiring a bit of a climb to get in.

The BF2 was something of a float box with not a lot of penetration but adequate glide angle and sink rates. So I rate it as an effective trainer for the early clubs when they came out. There was also plenty of aileron drag so good control co-ordination was a must to teach in them.

Bergfalke 3. This was very similar to the BF2 but the design had been refined – mainly in appearance. The somewhat slab sided ‘boxy’ look had been exchanged for a more rounded fuselage and cleaner lines plus a one piece bubble canopy. Performance was up a tad on the BF2 but once again the glider was not particularly outstanding in any department – it was just a good, solid, ordinary training machine that did it’s job very adequately.

Bergefalke 4. With this machine the Scheibe design and marketing department got it wrong in my opinion. Schiebe went for a laminar flow traditional style trainer and so developed the BF3 into the 4.

The design evolution is plain enough but a lot more care went into streamlining and a lot more wood went into the wings to get the laminar section. The machine was consequently heavy and while it had a more useful glide angle it also achieved a much higher sink rate. However it would soar quite well even in lightish conditions.

In consequence the machine was really neither fish nor fowl. It was a bit too heavy and clumsy for an ab-initio trainer, but could be readily used as one if you were prepared to work. It really was not very high performance to bridge the gap to the glass single seaters that were now becoming almost standard and especially as it was already plain that very docile versions would be appearing that could be used as first single seaters.

A situation was entirely forecastable that plastic basic trainers were bound to follow – as they did.

Scheibe had elected to take the wood and steel tube trainer probably to its limits in terms of a production trainer that was still affordable, but was really too late doing this. When Scheibe did make the move into glass trainers I believe more concept mistakes were made but that is a different story for later in this series.

Having said that, what was the BF4 like to fly? It may be too cheap, in view of the work that had been put into the design and production to say its was ‘ordinary’. But really it was! It was primarily a viceless training glider that, like it’s predecessors, did its job. And also like it’s predecessors was a bit of a mongrel on the ground for handling.

On the latter point I suffered a bit. It may also bei too cheap to say simply that the student can do the donkey work! They wound up with a dead arm and were not really fit for the next flight for a while. Meantime the instructor hardly touches the controls and there is time for the fatigue to wear off – so I generally elected to do the heavy bit.

Where the BF4 really scored was in spinning. It was excellent in this area and far better than my all-time favourite trainer the ASK13. There was nothing violent about the BF4’s spinning. It had to be provoked to spin but could be done so very realistically. In any of the stall/wing drop/incipient and full spin stages the machine was fully convincing and did what you wanted. It was absolutely excellent in this area!

On one morning I had five applicants for an instructor’s course and was giving them a ‘pre course’ course to tune them up a bit on low level emergency procedures (the worst height cable breaks that I could engineer that involved 360 degree turns off 300’ simulated breaks) and spinning (but not at the same time!). That morning I did a mix of 54 developed incipients and full spins. At the end of this I really had taken as much as I wanted but the BF4 had won a special place in my heart during the process.

Bergfalke Round –Up. Generally a more than adequate basic club trainer, that was steadily evolved over several models all of which stemmed from a world beating two seat design exercise.

Roomy, comfortable with good general visibility typical of mid wing tandem trainers they were solid club trainers for their successive times. They were a bit high to get into for easy club use, especially with their full ‘taildragger’ format. They were not so heavily air braked as were their Ka series counterparts but approach control was good and more encouraged the development of approach controls skills as opposed to ‘point it where you want to go and use as much brake as needed’! Particularly good in the stall/spin training area.

What Next? I will move onto the central European trainers and also France. May take a couple of episodes to cover. After that it will be down to Oz and our own home grown trainers – but then back to the world for the advent of the ‘plastic fantastic’ trainers, and some of the balancing act with the single s as manufacturer’ strove to make a quid.

By then you may all be bored witless about history and development – and I have not even started on the single seaters yet. Lot of tales there. Let us see how we go!

G'day Tony,

I'm enjoying this series immensely - can you please just turn them out quicker ;-)

"..I prised the little bastard off the controls..." (chapter 4) a classic, it will have me laughing all day.

Regards

Mike

Thankyou for writing up your recollections, I am really enjoying them, please keep them coming!

Cheers