General Aircraft GAL.48 Hotspur

General Aircraft GAL.48 Hotspur


Rien de satisfaisant en langue française, à moins que j'ai raté quelquechose.

Voici donc sur Wikipedia, in english, le chapitre dédié au planeur Hotspur :

1 /

The General Aircraft GAL.48 Hotspur was a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] designed and built by the British company [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

When the British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was formed in 1940 by the order of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien],[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], it was decided that gliders would be used to transport airborne troops into battle.

General Aircraft Ltd were given a contract by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in June 1940 to design and produce an initial glider for use by the airborne establishment which resulted in the Hotspur.

Although originally conceived as an "assault" glider which necessitated a compact design, a change in tactical philosophy predicated against the use of small numbers of troops being sent into battle aboard gliders.

Due to limitations in its design, the Hotspur was mainly relegated to training where it excelled and became the
basic trainer for the glider schools that were formed.

The German military was one of the pioneers of the use of airborne formations, conducting several successful airborne operations during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1940, including the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Impressed by the success of German airborne operations, the Allied governments decided to form their own airborne formations.
This decision would eventually lead to the creation of two British airborne divisions, as well as a number of smaller units.
The British airborne establishment began development on 22 June 1940, when the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien],[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], directed the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in a memorandum to investigate the possibility of creating a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of 5,000 parachute troops.

When the equipment to be used by the airborne forces was under development, it was decided by War Office
officials that [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] would be an integral component of such a force; these would be used to transport troops and heavy equipment.

On 21 June, 1940, the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was formed at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] near [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]; although tasked primarily with training parachute troops, it was also directed to investigate the possibilities of using gliders to transport troops into battle.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

It had been decided that the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and the Army would cooperate in forming the airborne establishment, and as such Squadron Leader L.A. Strange and Major J.F. Rock were tasked with gathering together potential glider pilots
and forming a glider unit; this was achieved by searching for members of the armed forces who had pre-war experience of flying gliders, or were interested in learning to do so.

The two officers and their newly-formed unit were provided with four obsolescent [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bombers and a small number of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] biplanes for towing purposes.

As this new unit was in the process of being formed, in June the Ministry of Aircraft Production contracted
[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to design and produce an initial glider type for use by the airborne establishment.

It would be used for both assault and training purposes, and would be capable of transporting eight airborne troops.

The glider had to be capable of a long approach during landing, due to the prevailing belief at the time that gliders
would have to be cast off from a considerable distance from the target and glide in to ensure the sound of the towing aircraft did not alert the enemy.

It therefore had to be aerodynamically stable, but also cheap and easy to construct as it would only be used once.

The Hotspur was intended to have an operational range of 100 miles (160 km) when released at high altitude, although in practice this was reduced to 80 miles (130 km) when released from a height of 20,000 feet (6,100 m).

Un clip sur ce planeur :



[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

2 /

The GAL.48 was primarily designed by F.F. Crocombe (team leader) to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and was to be similar in design to the German DFS 230 assault glider which had been used during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The first prototype of the glider, built under the company designation GAL.48 and which would receive the service name Hotspur Mk I, flew in November, only four months after General Aircraft Ltd had been given the requirement for the glider.

An initial order of 400 Hotspurs was placed with General Aircraft Ltd in September by the Ministry of Aircraft Production, a month before the prototype first flew.

The Hotspur Mark I was constructed from wood and was designed to accommodate eight fully-armed airborne troops.

It possessed a wingspan of 62 feet (19 m) and was 39 feet 3.5 inches (11.976 m) in length.

With a full load, which was approximately 1,880 pounds (850 kg), it weighed approximately 3,600 pounds (1,600 kg).

The Mk I was distinguished from its other variants by the addition of cabin [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] along its fuselage, as well as the addition of hooks on the nose and tail to allow multiple Hotspurs to be towed together.

The two pilots, and later the pilot and instructor when the Hotspurs were used as training gliders, sat in tandem
next to each other in the cockpit.

It also possessed a jettisonable undercarriage, as well as an unusual fuselage that functioned like a lid; once the Hotspur had landed, the troops inside would throw off the top half of the fuselage and then climb out of the lower half, much like leaving a small boat.

A total of 18 Hotspur Mk Is were produced, 10 by GAl and eight by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The first operational Hotspur arrived at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] between February and April 1941, with 15 being delivered by 22 August.

Towing trials began in February 1941 with a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bomber.