Année du premier vol (ou de design, si seul projet)
1920
Pays
Allemagne
Designer(s)
ZEISE, Alfred & NESEMANN, August
Premier constructeur
Alfred ZEISE & August NESEMANN (DE)
Type d'appareil
Hyper-léger
Fonction
Expérimental
SPÉCIFICATIONS TECHNIQUES
Envergure
--
Longueur
--
Hauteur
--
Allongement
--
Surface alaire
--
Profil aile
--
Masse à vide
--
Masse maxi
--
Charge alaire
--
Vitesse mini
--
Vitesse maxi
--
Finesse maxi
Taux de chute mini
--
Nb sièges
1
Structure
Bois et toile.
Le Bird au décollage [Soaring Magazine novembre 1959] [Pas de plan 3 vues connu]
AUTRES INFORMATIONS
Constructeur(s)
Constructeur
Construits
Alfred ZEISE & August NESEMANN (DE)
1
Nombre total de constructions
1
Infos techniques
It was similar to a hang glider in that the take-off gear was the pilot's legs. Skids, however, were provided for landind, a most sensible precaution. It flouted normal aerodynamic convention in that no vertical tail surface was provided. The most radical feature was the "auxiliary" power that was supposed to be provided after take-off by the pilot through his legs. A set of flippers was installed on the fuselage just aft of the wing. The purpose of these was to beat up and down like the wings of a bird to propel the machine forward. Take-off was to be made with the pilot's legs serving as the "running" gear, assisted by a towrope and after the ship was airborne, the pilot was supposed to pull his legs up, place his feet on pedals connected to the flippers and pedal like mad to keep the ship airborne.
The bird made some very short hops, being flown more like a kite than a glider and then crashed.
The upper photo shows builder Zeise on the ground and the second shows Lt. Suchla airborne. Note that the glider has heen pulled into the air by two ground helpers by means of rope-attached to the wings. The well·known method of shock-cord launching had not been introduced at this time and with no method of releasing the ropes, they were left trailing from the wings after the ship was in free flight.
Histoire résumée
In some respects, such as streamlining, it was far ahead of most of the boxkite types that appeared at the first Rhön contest on the Wasserkuppe in August of 1920, and showed heavy influence of the prewar German "Taube" powered airplanes in wing and horizontal tail shape. The single strut wing bracing anticipated what was to become the standard glider configuration by several years. In other respects, it was an out-and-out radical.
