Fiche biographique n° 262

Nom LINDNER, Rudi
Année de naissance --
Pays Allemagne
Activité(s) Pilote
Biographie Soon after his double Nordic World Chanpionship win, Lindner became heavily involved in the design and construction of the first glass reinforced plastic composite gliders. This was at least partly due to his modelling connections.
The first glass glider, the FS-24 Phönix, was designed by Herman Nägele and Richard Eppler (both modellers). Rudi Lindner joined the team during construction but probably had no hand in the design. It first flew in 1957 and was an immediate success. It had the then unheard of glide ratio of 40:1. Eight examples were built. Most were still flying in 2000.
The second glass glider to be built was the Hirth Hi-25 Kria. It was designed by Wolf Hirth, who had been involved in sport gliding since 1921. He was one of the true pioneers and a founder of the well-known Schlemp-Hirth firm. Lindner was probably involved in building the Kria and was the test pilot.

The Phoebus, one of the first designs specifically for the Standard Class, was a joint effort by Nägele, Eppler and Lindner, with Rudi doing the test flying and scoring its first competition placings. It's first flight was in 1964. Production ceased in 1970 after a total of 253 (A,B and C models combined) had been made. A number of these are still flying.

Lindner's activities during the second half of the 1950s are documented in much greater detail in Sailplanes 1945-1960 by Martin Simons (Eqip, 2002).
Lindner then founded Fiberglas-Technik Lindner GmbH & Co. KG, which is currently run by his son. It provides repair and post-sales modification services to composite glider pilots. The firm designs, makes and sells winglets for the Phoebus, ASW-20 and Grob Twin III Acro. They also make a tail wheel that fits all Schlemp-Hirth and Grob single seaters.
Sources bibliographiques
Autres sources
Planeurs associés
Liens sur la Toile Martin Gregorie (dernière visite du site : 2009-12-31 CL)

Fiche n° 262 [Dernière mise à jour : 2009-12-31]