Schleicher Ka 3
{{Short description|German single seat training glider}}
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
| name=Ka 3 | image=1954_Egelsbach_Ka-3_Prototyp.jpg | caption=Prototype Ka 3 in 1954 }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Single seat training glider | national origin=Germany | manufacturer=Alexander Schleicher Segelflugzeugbau | designer=Rudolf Kaiser | first flight=1954 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=15 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Schleicher Ka 3 or Kaiser Ka 3, is a 1950s single seat training glider, mostly sold in kit form.
Design and development
The Ka 3 and its predecessor the Ka 1 were mostly sold as kits for home assembly. Apart from their fuselages the two types are very close in appearance, simplicity, weight and performance. They share a round tipped high wing with constant chord and no sweep, mounted with 2.5° of dihedral and braced with a single lift strut on each side from the lower fuselage to the wing at about one third span. Plain, constant-chord ailerons reach almost from the tips to about mid span and upper wing spoilers are placed at mid chord, inboard of the ailerons. Both have 37° butterfly tails with straight leading edges and round tips and trailing edges.
The Ka 1 has a ply-covered, rounded wooden-framed fuselage but that of the Ka 3 is more angular, steel tube-framed, fabric covered and slightly longer. Both have a simple, deep, sprung landing skid reaching from the nose to under the trailing edge of the wing, assisted by a tail bumper. Their cockpits are under the wing leading edge, into which the clear canopy extends.
The Ka 1 first flew in 1951 and ten were built; the Ka 3 followed in 1954 with fifteen eventually completed. One Ka 1 and two Ka 3s remained on the German civil aircraft register in 2010. One is one display at the Gliding Heritage Centre.
Variants
File:Kaiser Ka 1.jpg museum]]
;Ka 1 Rhönlaus: Original version with rounded, wooden fuselage. First flown 1951. 10 built.
;Ka 3: Development with a slightly longer, fabric-covered steel-tube fuselage. Performance and weights as Ka 1. First flown in 1954. 15 produced.
Specifications (Ka 3)
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=The World's Sailplanes pp.83-5
|prime units?=met
|genhide=
|crew=One
|length m=5.45
|length note=
|span m=10.00
|span note=
|height m=
|height ft=
|height in=
|height note=over tail
|wing area sqm=9.9
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=10.1
|airfoil=Göttingen 549
|empty weight kg=100
|empty weight note=equipped
|gross weight kg=
|gross weight lb=
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=195
|max takeoff weight note=
|more general=
- Wing loading: 19.7 kg/m2 (4.04 lb/sq ft) maximum
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=160
|max speed note=placard, smooth air. All performance figures at a flying weight of {{convert|180|kg|lb|abbr=on|0}}
- Maximumun speed, placard, rough air: {{convert|100|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on|0}}
- Maximumun aero-tow speed: {{convert|100|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on|0}}
- Maximumun winch launch speed: {{convert|90|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on|0}}
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=
|cruise speed kts=
|cruise speed note=
|stall speed kmh=53
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed mph=
|never exceed speed kts=
|never exceed speed note=
|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=
|ceiling note=
|g limits=
|roll rate=
|glide ratio=best, 17.5:1 at {{convert|75|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on|0}}
|sink rate ms=1.0
|sink rate note=at {{convert|65|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on|0}}
|lift to drag=
}}
{{aircontent
|see also=
|related=
|similar aircraft=
|lists=
}}