First flight 1922 | ||
The FVA-3 Ente was a canard two-seat glider built in Germany in 1922.
Contents
Development
After the relative success of the FVA-1 Schwatze Düvel and FVA-2 Blaue Maus, Wolfgang Klemperer designed and built the canard FVA-3 Ente. Using similar construction methods to the earlier gliders, Klemperer built the FVA-3 from wood with fabric covering, the thick cantilevered mainplane supporting a wide fuselage, extending forwards from the centre section, enclosing the side-by side cockpit forward of the mainplane and supporting the forward plane which was mounted on spherical bearings to provide control in pitch and yaw. On the ground the FVA-3 was supported by two fixed skids faired by large trousers similar to the FVA-1 and FVA-2.
The control system used the foreplane and 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) span slotted ailerons at the tips of the mainplane. Fore and aft movement of the stick altered the angle of attack of the whole foreplane raising or lowering the nose. Side to side movement of the stick operated the mainlane ailerons in a conventional fashion to control the bank angle (i.e. stick left -left aileron up right aileron down and vice versa). The sole yaw control, as the aircraft had neither fin nor rudder, consisted of applying left or right foot operated rudder pedal deflected small servo flaps on the trailing edge of the foreplanes to tilt the foreplanes;left plane low for the nose to yaw left and right plane low for the nose to yaw right.
Flight tests revealed a poor weight distribution requiring the aircraft to be dismantled and the centre of gravity adjusted.
Specifications
General characteristics
Performance