The Antonov A-11 is a single-seat, high performance, all-metal sailplane built in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. 150 were produced.
Design and development
The almost all-metal A-11 was Antonov's first non-wood framed sailplane.[1] It is a cantilevermid-wing monoplane, with straight tapered wings mostly swept on the trailing edge and set with 1.5° of dihedral but no washout. A single spar with a metal-skinned leading edge forward of it and fabric covering aft forms most of the span but the curved tips are supported by twin spars. The fabric-covered ailerons are slotted, with set-back hinges and mass balances. They can be drooped together through 8° to act as flaps. Inboard, there are slotted flaps on the trailing edges and spoilers, mounted at mid-chord and quite close to the fuselage, of the gapless kind opening upwards only.[2]: 342–3 [3]
The fuselage of the A-11 is a metal monocoque of pod and boom form, with a gradual transition between the two. It carries an all-metal, straight edged 90° V- or butterfly tail, its control surfaces mass-balanced with external weights. The three-piece canopy stretches smoothly from the nose to above mid-chord without a stepped windscreen. There is a retractable monowheel undercarriage, sprung but without brakes, assisted by a rubber-mounted skid forward of the wheel and a tail bumper aft, formed by a short, shallow ventralfin[2]: 34–6 [3]
^Most sources refer to P III; Simons refers to R III for the airfoil of the A-9 glider. The difference is generated by transliteration between Cyrillic script and Roman where p in Cyrillic is R in Roman script.
References
^Simons, Martin (2006). Sailplanes 1945–1965 (2nd revised ed.). Königswinter: EQIP Werbung & Verlag GmbH. p. 135. ISBN3-9807977-4-0.
^ abcdShenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson (1963). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs du Monde Volume II (in English, French, and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue.
^ abTaylor, John W R (1962). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1962–63. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. p. 342.
^Ogden, Bob (2011). Aviation Museums and Collections of North America (2 ed.). Tonbridge, Kent: Air-Britain (Historians). pp. 357, 464. ISBN978-0-85130-385-7.
Bibliography
Ogden, Bob (2011). Aviation Museums and Collections of North America (2 ed.). Tonbridge, Kent: Air-Britain (Historians). pp. 357, 464. ISBN978-0-85130-385-7.
Shenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson (1963). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs du Monde Volume II (in English, French, and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 242–243.
Simons, Martin (2006). Sailplanes 1945–1965 (2nd revised ed.). Königswinter: EQIP Werbung & Verlag GmbH. p. 135. ISBN3-9807977-4-0.
Taylor, John W R (1962). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1962–63. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. p. 342.