Brditschka HB-3

HB-3, HB-21, and HB-23
Brditschka HB-23
Role Motorglider
Manufacturer HB-Flugtechnik
Designer Heino Brditschka
First flight 23 June 1971[1]

The Brditschka HB-3, HB-21 and HB-23 are a family of motor gliders of unorthodox configuration developed in Austria in the early 1970s.

Design and development

The unusual design was based on work done by Fritz Raab in Germany in the 1960s. The pilot and passengers sit in a fuselage pod with the engine and propeller behind them. The pod also carries the fixed tricycle undercarriage and the high cantilever wing. The tail is carried on a pair of booms that emerge from the top and bottom of the fuselage pod, the upper of which passes through the propeller hub. The HB-21 has a conventional tail and has two seats in tandem accessed by a sidewards-hinged canopy, while the HB-23 has a T-tail and side-by-side seating accessed via gull-wing doors in the canopy.

The Militky MB-E1 was a modified HB-3 with an 8-10 kW (11-13 hp) Bosch KM77 electric motor. It was the first full-sized, manned aircraft to be solely electrically powered. Flights of 12 minutes duration at up to an altitude of 380 m (1,247 ft) were just within the Ni-Cd battery's capacity. Its first flight was on 23 October 1973.[2]

Variants

Brditschka HB-3
Single seat powered sailplane, powered by 31 kW (42 hp) Rotax 642 engine, 12.00 m (39 ft 4 in) wingspan.[1]
HB-Flugtechnik HB 21
Tandem two-seat derivative of HB-3 with longer span (16.24 m (53 ft 3 in)) wings.[3]
HB-Flugtechnik HB 21/2400
HB-Flugtechnik HB 21/2400 B
HB-Flugtechnik HB 21/2400 V1
HB-Flugtechnik HB 21/2400 V2
HB-Flugtechnik HB 23/2400
HB-Flugtechnik HB 23/2400 SP
HB-Flugtechnik HB 23/2400 Scanliner
HB-Flugtechnik HB 23/2400 V2
Militky MB-E1
electrically powered version.[2]

Specifications (HB-23/2400 Hobbyliner)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1990[4]

General characteristics

  • Crew: one pilot
  • Capacity: 1 passenger
  • Length: 8.00 m (26 ft 3 in)
  • Wingspan: 16.40 m (53 ft 9​3⁄4 in)
  • Height: 2.45 m (8 ft 0​1⁄2 in)
  • Wing area: 19.1 m2 (205 ft2)
  • Aspect ratio: 14:1
  • Empty weight: 560 kg (1,234 lb)
  • Gross weight: 760 kg (1,676 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Volkswagen air-cooled engine, 74.2 kW (98 hp)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 180 km/h (112 mph)
  • Range: 800 km (497 miles)
  • Endurance: 6 hours
  • Service ceiling: 5,000 m (16,400 ft)
  • Maximum glide ratio: 20:1
  • Rate of climb: 3.8 m/s (748 ft/min)
  • Rate of sink: 1.2 m/s (236 ft/min)

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

References

  1. 1 2 Taylor 1976, p. 548.
  2. 1 2 Taylor 1974 p.573
  3. ↑ Taylor 1976, p. 549.
  4. ↑ Lambert 1990, p. 8.
  • Coates, Andrew (1980). Jane's World Sailplanes & Motor Gliders new edition. London: Jane's. ISBN 0-7106-0017-8.
  • Taylor, John W R (1974). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1974-75. London: Jane's Yearbooks. ISBN 0 354 00502 2.
  • Taylor, John W. R. (1976). Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77. London: Jane's Yearbooks. ISBN 0-354-00538-3.
  • Lambert, Mark (1990). Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1990–91. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data. ISBN 0-7106-0908-6.
  • Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p. 195.
  • Simpson, R. W. (1995). Airlife's General Aviation. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing. pp. 87–88.
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