Introduction to the Schulgleiter

---

The Schulgleiter SG-38 or School glider SG38 is probably one the most well-known primary gliding training aircraft ever built. Many beginner pilots learnt to fly in this remarkable aircraft. Today there are about a dozen airworthy examples of the originals remaining in Germany. Unlike yesteryear, primary flight training is not conducted on single-seat gliders. The Schulgleiter is very popular with aviation historians, and this will ensure that not only the preserved gliders will be maintained, but new replica's will be built. The other types of Schulgleiter as the "Hol's der Teufel" are often unknown.

The following side is dedicated to these Schulgleiter.

Demonstration dates to flight shows

---

Every year we would like to send our SG 38 to a tour, in order to demonstrate the flying of the glider as well as touching it.

The SG 38 was an attraction on most of the flight shows and a joy for visitors, who at that time had learned to fly on a Schulgleiter or had experience with it. The Schulgleiter could be observed during flight demonstrations and it leads to discussions among the pilots.

A further offer is the flying with our Schulgleiter SG 38. This is expressly possible. We will be happy to visit flying clubs for a few days and make an incomparable flight experience possible for the interested club members. Conditions for the SG 38 flying of club members of the associations are: a valid pilot license, a flight experience of 100 hours or more as a responsible pilot and a maximum personal weight of 90kg. Starts are possible with winch launch or presumably with aerotowing.


Die folgenden Termine erheben keinen Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit oder Gewähr. Über die genannten Termine hinaus sind die Oldtimer bei vielen weiteren Veranstaltungen präsent. Informationen dazu finden Sie bei den Flugveranstaltungen selbst und in der Tagespresse.

The history of the Schulgleiter SG 38

---

Mit dem Begriff Schulgleiter kann eine ganze Generation von Gleitflugzeugtypen bezeichnet werden, die alle etwas gemeinsam hatten: sie waren einfach und preiswert im Aufbau, leicht zu fliegen und damit ideal für die vorherrschende Einsitzerschulung geeignet, da im Falle eines Falles Reparaturen einfach zu bewerkstelligen waren. Und heute sind es alle Oldtimer. Zu den Schulgleitern gehören bekannte Typen wie "Hol's der Teufel", Schädelspalter, Zögling, SG 38, aber auch weniger bekannte Typen wie Besenstiel, Honza, Salamandra, T.38, ..

Hol's der Teufel

Der Urtyp der Schulgleiter-Familie ist wohl der Gleiter "Hol's der Teufel", konstruiert 1923 von Alexander Lippisch. Über seine Entstehungsgeschichte schreibt Fritz Stamer in seinen Erinnerungen "Zwölf Jahre Wasserkuppe" folgendes:

Es wurde wieder einsamer auf der Wasserkuppe. Nur Dr. Allasch und Bergwyk wollten mit uns überwintern (1922/23). Wir hatten noch eine Maschine hinzubekommen - Hangwind. Lippisch hatte sie entworfen, und die Schweden hatten eifrig daran mitgebaut. Sie schlugen sich bei der ungewohnten Beschäftigung des Nagelns häufig auf die Finger. "Djavlar - anamma" fluchten sie dann, und sie fluchten den ganzen Tag. Wir haben die Maschine dann so getauft. "Hol's der Teufel" oder so ähnlich hieße das, hatten uns die Schweden auf Befragen mitgeteilt. In Gesellschaft schwedischer Damen haben wir dann bald darauf ein peinliches Schweigen mit unseren schwedischen Kenntnissen verursacht. Dieser Kernfluch hieße übersetzt unaussprechlich anders, wurde uns jetzt gestanden, doch wie - das wissen wir leider immer noch nicht, so dass wir auch auf Nachfrage keine Auskunft geben können. Die Maschine aber, die wir nun vorsichtshalber "Hol's der Teufel" nannten, flog ausgezeichnet, segelte bei wenig Wind, war einfach und billig und leicht zu bauen. Sie wurde zur Stammesmutter einer ganzen Gruppe ähnlicher Maschinen. Wir glaubten in ihr ein Übungsflugzeug geschaffen zu haben.

Der "Hols der Teufel" ist einer der Urväter des Schulgleiters SG 38, von Alexander Lippisch 1923 konstruiert und als erstes Produkt von Alexander Schleicher ab 1927 gebaut. Nichtsdestotrotz sind erstaunlicherweise die Flugleistungen des "Teufels" erheblich besser als die des 10 Jahre später in großer Stückzahl gebauten und bekannteren SG 38.

Das Oldtimerflugzeug Hol's der Teufel OK-A415

Das wieder auferstandene Gleitflugzeug der tschechischen Fliegerfreunde Leník, Krejcí und den Maleschka's ist mit Verstrebungen wie die meisten "Teufel" gebaut wurden. Erste Exemplare des "Teufels" hatten allerdings wie der SG 38 noch einen Spannturm und Seilverspannungen. Der Erstflug der Replika fand nach über 3000 Baustunden im Mai 2004 statt. Seitdem begeistert dieses Flugzeug mit häufigen Vorführungen und der Einladung zum Selberfliegen die Piloten und Zuschauer.

Schulgleiter SG 38

The Schulgleiter SG 38 was developed in 1938 and was by far the most common airplane of solo flight training in the forties. This glider was manufactured in large numbers both by amateurs and by the factories and used mainly for elementary training.

As designers of the school glider SG 38 Fritz Stamer and Alexander Lippisch are recognized. Further, the aircraft manufacturers and designers Scheider (Grunau-Baby), Hofmann and Rehberg of the aircraft plant Schneider in Grunau (Jezów Sudecki), near today's Jelenia Góra in Poland. By the way, the abbreviation SG refers actually not to the designation Schul-Gleiter, but to Schneider in Grunau.

The predecessor of the Schulgleiter is the glider "Hol's der Teufel", designed by Alexander Lippisch in 1923. Besides the school glider SG 38, Fritz Stamer and Alexander Lippisch were likewise considerably involved in designs of Zögling 31 and Zögling 35 as well as the Grunau 9 (the legendary Schädelspalter). This airplane was particularly suitable for then popular single-seater training, since it could stand harder landings easily. Thousands of pilots made their first jumps on a SG 38 and hardly more gliders were built and flown..

15 years development

At simple gliding flight witnesses 1938 brought the matured Schulgleiter out as type of unit for the beginner training. An improvement in performance was achieved by the modification of the Zögling profile. Beside the industrially manufactured approx. 8,750 copies, also in the following decades, they were produced in the gliding associations to a large extent and an unknown quantity. It flew in many countries and was also in the GDR until approximately 1960 as the standard training aircraft. In the 50's VEB Apparatebau Lommatzsch (Sachsen) and VEB Waggonbau Gotha built a large number of school gliders. In Great Britian the company Slingsby produced the glider T.38 (Grasshopper) based on the Schulgleiter.

Structure

The structure of the SG 38 was held simple to be suitable for standard production in airplane factories, in addition, building in the flying clubs.

The school glider SG 38 is a steel wire-braced high wing monoplane of wooden structure. The front fuselage, support tower and lattice tail form an even wood framework. The wing is in two-pieces and has a small dihedral. Rigging of wire ropes between the support tower above and below the front fuselage give the necessary support to the wings. The tail boom, designed as a lattice tail is attached to the supprort tower with pins. Linking the control surfaces is made by numerous steel cables and guide pulleys, which are attached in the bearing areas to the trunk, as well as lattice tail. The washout of the ailerons serve the purpose of lateral stability as well as preventing damage by the ground conact. Trimming for different pilot weights was achieved by detachable trim weights in front of the rudder pedals and/or at the rear end of the supprort tower. The spring equipped skid is made of ash wood.

The Oldtimer glider SG 38 D-7738 of the Aeroklub Hoyerswerda e.V. in Nardt

At present there are approximately 14 airworthy gliders in Germany, of which 3 copies are from the GDR time. The Schulgleiter SG 38 with present code plate D-7738 started to fly on 28.10.1953 and flew until 19.07.1967 under its certification number 269 at the airfield Bronkow. The glue used limited the life span of the aircraft to 15 years. After storage for many decades at the airfields Nardt and Bronkow the school glider was basically overhauled by the flier friends Aeroklub Hoyerswerda under the supervision of workshop manager Herbert Hansel between 1992 and 1994. In 05.08.1994 the airplane was again flown by the flight instructor Heinz Mehlhose.
Since 05.07.2006 the SG 38 D-7738 was certified for aerotowing.

The lacquer finish and the markings (except for the current code plate) are faithful to the original. The Schulgleiter serves today as an old timer and a flying witness of the aviation history.

Technical data of the Schulgleiters

	Schulgleiter SG 38 D-7738	Hol's der Teufel OK-A415	Z-23 Honza OM-5619	T.38 Grasshopper WZ795
Origin Manufacturer:	NSFK	Alexander Schleicher	Zlin	Slingsby
Year of construction:	1938	1923-1928
Manufactoring time area:	1938-1956	1927-1931	1946-1949
Manufacturer:	VEB Waggonbau Gotha	Leník, Krejcí, Maleschka
Manufacturer’s country:	DDR	Tschechien/ Deutschland
Year of building:	1953	2004
Factory serial number:	1310/585
Code plate:	D-7738	OK-A415	OM-5619	WZ795
License number:	269
Empty weight:	125 kg	95 kg	95 kg	130 kg
Maximum payload:	90 kg		85 kg
Maximum payload with cowling:	80 kg
Gross weight:	210 kg	170 kg	180 kg	250 kg
Wing loading:	13,1 kg/m²	8,4 kg/m²	12,0 kg/m²
Wing span:	10414 mm	12700 mm	10000 mm	11890 mm
Length:	6283 mm	6450 mm	6370 mm	6300 mm
Height:	2430 mm	2150 mm		2430 mm
Wing area:	16,00 m²	20,21 m²	14,60 m²
Angle of attack:	+1,5°
Flügelschränkung:	0°
Aspect ratio:	6,52	7,98	7,0
Speed range:	42-115 km/h	41- km/h	40-90 km/h	48-130 km/h
L/D:	10 bei 52 km/h	15	10	7 bei 54 km/h
Minimum rate of descent:	1,3 m/s bei 48 km/h			1,5 m/s
Manoeuvering speed:	60 km/h
Winch launch speed:	max. 60 km/h
Aerotow speed:	max. 90 km/h
Autotow speed:	max. 60 km/h
Permissible g-load factor:	+3g
Breaking g-load factor:	+6g

Flight characteristics of the Schulgleiter

---

Das Fliegen mit den Oldtimern selbst ist schon eine aufregende Sache, die gern von Piloten genutzt wird. Dazu kommen aber auch noch einige seltene Startarten, die schon lange nicht more gebräuchlich sind, aber mit den Schulgleitern leben und überleben.

Ausbildung von damals

About the flying with the Schulgleiter or one of its predecessor, the Zögling, there is an interesting video.


Unbedingt sehenswert, da auch Aufnahmen während des Fluges mit dem Schulgleiter enthalten sind.
Leider sind mir über den genauen Inhalt, die Aufnahmetechnik und den Zeitpunkt der Aufnahme keine weiteren Informationen bekannt.

Winch launch

Today winch launch is most commonly used with the Schulgleiter.
The Schulgleiter SG 38 behaves somewhat differently during winch launch from gliders with belly (c of g) hooks due to its nose hook. Applying full up elevator after a short ground run the SG 38 takes off relatively fast. With the pull applied to the nose hook and because of the weight of the winch cable the climb angle is limited. However, fast and relatively shallow climb begins. Automatic or manual disengaging is usually followed by a strong rotation upwards. The reason is the weight of the winch cable disappearing abruptly.

Aerotowing

Aerotow is nowadays less common with the Schulgleiter SG 38. Since 05 July 2006 the SG 38 is aerotow certified after a successful tensile load test. The permitted maximum aerotow speed of 90km/h limits the selection of possible tractor airplanes. As proven tractor airplanes, the Motorglider Falcon SF-25 and the UL-airplane ICARUS C42 are known. Pulling with a Super Dimona is possible, but particularly with thermionics genuinly sportily, since the forces at the long control stick are nevertheless substantial.
In Czech Republic the Moravan aero L-60 Brigadyr, a successor of the Fieseler Storch Fi156 is also used. With school gliders, which are certified as UL-gliders like the OK-A910, successful tows were also made with Drag-Trikes.

Strange way could not however the restriction on a maximum flight altitude of 300m be waived.

Rubber ropes launch or bungee

Today the bungee launch is rarely used. In addition the stress of a taken off rubber ropes is used, in order to give to the school glider for the start an initial speed. Thus the school glider can take off and fly small distances. Power thereby terribly much fun!
The bungee cord start is possible also in level terrain, but first it served for the start with sail flies at the slope. "Rubber dogs" run, thus the rope extractors, downhill and stretch the bungee cord up to 12. When the necessary tension is reached, the anchorage of the airplane is released and the SG 38 "shoots" forward. If the slope wind blows at the same time under the wings, even a longer flight can follow, after which landing at the starting place can be made. If the slope wind does not carry, then one must land in the valley and a tiring return journey to the starting point begins.

A detailed description of the application and flight training can here be found.

Autotowing

To my experience autotowing is rather uncommon Europe. It can be practiced in two ways:
First the towing vehicle can forward-pull the school glider on a firmly fastened rope similar to a kite start, whereby the airplane gains height. Also pulling over a guide pulley is practicable, in order to reduce the necessary space. Since the length rope is relatively short, the attainable releasing height is rather low. This is no longer certified in Germany.
In order to be able to adapt to the forces and speeds of the airplane and towing speed, an additional hoist can be installed on the towing vehicle, which releases rope slowly during launch when necessity.

Flying and Landing

The L/D of the Schulgleiter is nearly 1:6 at 52 km/h, optimistics Schätzungen using the cowling assumes a L/D up to 1:10. This glings behaviour is the point while flying the Schulgleiter. The winch launch ending height nearly 200 meters allows often a short Platzrunde, in some cases only a return path with a rücken wind landing.

Da es keine Landehilfen gibt, ist eine wohl überlegte Platzrundeneinteilung unbedingt notwendig. Besondere Beachtung sollte die letzte Kurve zum Eindrehen in den Endanflug finden. Diese darf nicht zu spät geflogen werden, damit ein Aufsetzen im Schiebeflug vermieden wird. Um den Gleitwinkel wenigstens ein wenig steuern zu können, kann man schneller fliegen, um noch schneller zu sinken. Allerdings kann man den Schulgleiter nicht more "hochziehen", um die Energie wieder in Höhe umsetzen, weil nach dem "Nase hoch nehmen" die Fahrt mit dem großen Anstellwinkel aufgrund des hohen Widerstandes gleich wieder weg ist. Somit ist das zielgenaue Landen am T schon recht anspruchsvoll.

The speed for Abfangen should be 60-65 km/h,so that a Ausschweben will be possible. Else the Schulgleiter would nach dem Abfangen sofort hinsetzen.

Distance gliding

With oldtimer gliders distance gliding is still possible. Following flight report from Grunau, today Jezów Sudecki in Poland, over a flight distance of 50 km made by Ulf Kern show, that the oldtimer are not an old iron.

Engineering drawings and documents of the SG 38

---

On the following page engineering drawings, documents and structural drawings for the SG 38 in digital form are made available free of charge. Please note, that the drawings are performed in german language only. Due to the abundance of material and the volume of data it is not yet complete. One does without for the time being, all designs, to build documents and structural drawings up again as A0-drawings.

The drawings are supplemented with drawing number and a current scan number. A HTML Framework ties the single sides together again. Around the complete Zeichnungsatz for the school glider SG 38 to call up I recommend the use of a Tools such as HTTrack or WGet. In the future the drawings will also be available as CD-ROM.

With friendly support by Semih Oksay, Gerhard Maleschka, Jirí Leník and the Czech Plachtarský Old Timer Club and the Aeroklub Hoyerswerda e.V.

Terms of utilization: These drawings are expressly intended for free distribution and may not be sold. Exceptions are postage and copying costs, if these arise. In order not to support the abuse, the entrance to the drawings area is password protected. To receive a user name and a password please email with the subject SG 38, a short description of your project , your postal address to and open the SPAM filter for the domain web.de. With the entire transmission of the data you recognize the Terms of utilization, without these data and the acceptance of the Terms of utilization no transmission of access data occurs. Protected Documents area of the technical drawings and instructions

Content

• 4/4 Technical description, operating instructions and maintenance manual
  
• 48/50 Drawings
• CAD Drawings
• 86/87 Parts lists
• 16/16 Changes.
• 1/1 Dictionary german-english
• 5/5 Books and Literature about the glider building (Deustchlanf, DDR, GST).

The original drawings are probably 50 years old. If parts of drawings are not readable, please ask. I will try to improve the drawings and make them readable.

Schulgleiter SG 38 Gallery with Details

For support there is a gallery of photos with detail photographs of SG 38 by building groups. If details are missing, these can be supplied on demand.

Cardboard model of Schulgleiter SG 38

---

The Schulgleiter SG 38 can also be built more easily. For example as a cardboard model of a scale 1:33. The pretty Schulgleiter model made of paper is available from the following manufacturer:

Manufacturer:	Atelier GAG
Design:	Klaus Blechschmidt
Measure:	1:33
Dimension:	190mm x 310 mm
Material:	Cardboard, Paper
Part count:	42
Sheets:	2
Difficulty:	2 (medium)

The necessary tools for the reproduction consists of paper glue, thread, knife and ruler, instructions, different paints and brushes. Here is a picture of my still incomplete work.

Contacts

---

or via phone 03571 / 42 87 58 (Aeroklub Hoyerswerda e.V. - Flugplatz Nardt) - in german language only.

Partner

---