Slingsby Falcon

(British Falcon)

 In the 1920`s Fred Slingsby decided there was a lack of an intermediate glider In England and brought the Alexander Lippisch designed Falke plans from Germany. He built 10 aircraft the Falcon and Falcon 2 the first of which first flew in 1931

In 1984-5 Southdown aero services built a reproduction on which this model is based.

 The plans were drawn by John and Ivan to a scale of 1:2.5 for practicality and transportation. The wing section was also changed to a more modern section for improved flying characteristics, The 6 meter span was to be built into 4 pieces and the tailplane and fin were to be made removable to make the model practical to transport.

 The formers and ribs were cut on the team's CNC cutter by Al. Construction is conventional using Douglas fir for the spars and longerons. The model is covered in 1/32 ply and the open structure is covered in Diatex and the complete model was then brushed with dope.

 Tony built the first model and it first flew in May 2013 and enjoyed the model for several years but unfortunately lost the model in 2018 due to a freak dual battery failure on one flight.

John decided to build a new and improved version in 2020. The plans were revisited and the scale outline improved, especially in the area of the nose. The structure was also refined to lighten it without any loss of structural integrity.

Outer wing under construction

Rigging the wing onto the fuz

Covering all the open structures with Diatex 1000

Assembly in the garden for final checks

All finished and ready to fly