Grade monoplane
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
| name=Grade monoplane | image=Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1979-081-13, Berlin, Hans Grade bei seinem Geburtstagsflug.jpg | caption= }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=sports aircraft | national origin=Germany | manufacturer= | designer=Hans Grade | first flight=17 August 1909 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=~80 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Grade monoplane was a single-seat aircraft constructed by Hans Grade in 1909. It was the first successful heavier-than-air aircraft produced in Germany, and around 80 were eventually built.{{cite web|url=http://www.technikmuseum-magdeburg.de/en/ausstellung_exponat_detail.html?id=87&page=0|publisher= Magdeburg Museum of technology |title=Hans Grade monoplane |access-date= 31 January 2014}}
Design and development
The aircraft was a high-wing monoplane, with the pilot sitting below the wing. A pair of inverted V struts formed the fabric-covered cabane structure which carried the upper bracing wires: the front struts were continued below the wing, with the forward struts bearing the mainwheels. An elongated cruciform tail unit was attached to the end of a single boom by a universal joint immediately behind the single tailwheel. Lateral control was effected by wing-warping. It was powered by a 12 kW (18 hp) two-stroke air-cooled V-4 engine, also built by Grade, which drove a two-bladed aluminium bladed propeller.{{cite journal|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1909/1909%20-%200789.html|journal=Flight|date= 11 December 1909 |title=The Grade Monoplane |page=791 }}
Operational history
The aircraft was first flown on 17 August 1909 A series of longer flights were made in September, and on October 30 Grade won the Lanz prize of 40,000 marks for the first German-built aeroplane to fly in a figure 8 round two markers a kilometre apart.
Grade used the money from winning the Lanz prize to establish an aircraft manufacturing business and flying school at Bork, near Magdeburg. The aircraft were sold for 12,000 marks, the price including a course of flying instruction.
Grade competed with some success at the Heliopolis aviation meeting held in Egypt in January 1910, when he won one of the daily speed and distance competitions by flying {{convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} in 22 m 57 sec.{{cite journal|journal=Flight|date= 12 February 1910 |title=The Heliopolis Meeting |page= 111}}
Charlotte Möhring, from Pankow near Berlin, was the second German woman to obtain pilot's licence (no. 285 issued 7 September 1912) flying a Grade monoplane
An example was bought by the Japanese army, and was the first aeroplane to be flown in Japan.
Survivors
- A restored aircraft is on display at the Magdeburg Technikmuseum.
- A restored aircraft is on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, with the original engine displayed separately.{{cite web|url=http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/collections/transport/aeronautics/propeller-planes/up-to-1918/grade/|publisher= Deutsches Museum |title= Grade-Monoplane, 1909|access-date= 31 January 2014}}
- A replica is displayed at the Kakamigahara Aerospace Science Museum {{cite web|url=http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/e/archives/7057|title=Kakamigahara Aerospace Science Museum | publisher=Nagoya International Center}}
Specifications
{{Aircraft specs
|ref= Deutsches Museum, Munich
|prime units?=met
|genhide=
|crew=1
|capacity=
|length m=
|length ft=
|length in=
|length note=
|span m=10.2
|span ft=
|span in=
|span note=
|height m=
|height ft=
|height in=
|height note=
|wing area sqm=25
|wing area sqft=
|wing area note=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=125
|empty weight lb=
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=200
|gross weight lb=
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight lb=
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|lift note=
|more general=
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Grade
|eng1 type=air-cooled V-4 two-stroke piston engine
|eng1 kw=12
|eng1 hp=
|eng1 note=
|power original=
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=
|prop dia m=
|prop dia ft=6
|prop dia in=0
|prop dia note=
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=60
|max speed mph=
|max speed kts=
|max speed note=
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=
|cruise speed kts=
|cruise speed note=
|range km=
|range miles=
|range nmi=
|range note=
|endurance=
|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=
|ceiling note=
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude=
|lift to drag=
|wing loading kg/m2=
|wing loading lb/sqft=
|wing loading note=
|power/mass=
|thrust/weight=
|more performance=
}}