any ideas ?

[stumpjumper 3]

take a guess

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Hmmm... Bleriot?

[stumpjumper 3]

nope

[Hauksbee 103]

'Got a pylon...maybe a Taube?

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Easyjet's new fleet?

[stumpjumper 3]

'Got a pylon...maybe a Taube?

 

 

you got it m8

[Hauksbee 103]

you got it m8

It was a shot in the dark, but in my green years I had a fascination with Taubes. The central pylon suggested a wing-warper, and the steering wheel put it (perhaps) pre-joystick. Is there more to the photo?

[Rickitycrate 10]

Crimeney! Watch out for your fingers. Could us a guard for that chain sproket. Never saw a Taube pit before, thanks, well in color anyway.

[Hauksbee 103]

Never saw a Taube pit before, thanks, well in color anyway.

Me neither. What threw me for a bit, was how many gauges on the instrument panel. 'Thought that would put it much later than Taubes.

[carrick58 23]

Pilots office for a Albatross C-3?

[Gous 0]

Such an odd flying stick...seems more like a truck steering wheel. The Wages of Fear.

[Mr. Lucky 0]

Me neither. What threw me for a bit, was how many gauges on the instrument panel. 'Thought that would put it much later than Taubes.

Should've. Those are all modern gauges and certainly not original to the taube, which probably only had a tach, if that.

[Hauksbee 103]

Should've. Those are all modern gauges and certainly not original to the taube, which probably only had a tach, if that.

Interesting. So, do you think it's a replica Taube, or modern gauges fitted to an original? Stump? Is there more to the original photo?

[rabu 9]

VW EIII ?

Edited September 25, 2009 by rabu

[Bullethead 12]

Interesting. So, do you think it's a replica Taube, or modern gauges fitted to an original?

 

Well, having modern instruments means 1 thing: it's flying today or has in the recent past. You kinda need those things to get airworthiness certificates and such. AFAIK, there are no original Taubes left, but I know there's at least 1 flying replica--I saw it at an airshow once. So this is either that replica or another like it.

 

BTW, here's what I heard from talking to the pilot of the replica Taube:

 

The reason for the steering wheel was the wing warping. Having a wheel was almost required, at least if the fuselage wasn't much wider than the pilot. Wing warping involves bending many pieces of wood despite weathervaning forces trying to keep them in place, and the wood bits are stout enough to hold up the weight of the plane. You need some leverage for that. Part of the leverage comes from the center pylon and vertical struts out near the warping bigs of the wing, but that wasn't enough. The rest of the leverage had to be in whatever the pilot held. Having a long, tiller-like joystick with lots of travel wasn't an option in narrow fuselages, so instead they had steering wheels with low gear ratios. A pilot might have to turn the wheel a couple times to establish even a gentle bank, or so I've read.

 

Another interesting thing about the Taube was that it also had a warping horizontal tail instead of a hinged elevator. The only hinged control surface was the rudder. The pitch control was therefore pretty limited, because it was all arm strength with little help from back or legs (no gearing for pitch). You had to be a body builder to pitch up very much at all, and you couldn't pitch down much because the steering wheel was stopped by the instrument panel, plus you had even less leverage when pushing. Thus, the Taube couldn't do loops or even steep climbs, and didn't have much of a dive angle, either. The pitch control was mostly for getting the proper attitude for landing--you couldn't hold up "elevator" very long at all. If you wanted to climb, you increased throttle. If you wanted to descend, you throttled back. All in all, a beautiful but extremely unmaneuverable plane.

 

Or so I hears it.

[Hauksbee 103]

That's pretty much what I remember reading about Taubes. Igo Etrich based the wing design on a Zinonia tree seed pod sent to him by a naturalist working in SouthEast Asia. It resembled a maple seed with its two wings, but with up-turned tips that made it glide. The Taube was considered pretty placid to fly as long as you didn't ask too much of it, which, in 1910 was saying a lot. If you could nurse it to altitude and keep in there, you were flying, and who could ask for more? Interesting observation on the forces needed to make a wing-warper respond, Bullethead. The Wright Brothers must have been two very strong guys after their years of practice on gliders, and then the Flyers.

[stumpjumper 3]

ill see abot osme of the other photos reason ihad that one was sent to dangerous dave he dled my old source files and is trying to make it a reality for off

[OvS 8]

'60 Ford Edsel?

[Bullethead 12]

Interesting observation on the forces needed to make a wing-warper respond, Bullethead. The Wright Brothers must have been two very strong guys after their years of practice on gliders, and then the Flyers.

 

As I understand things, the Taube created a lot of its own problems in this regard. It was an attempt to merge wing warping with hinged ailerons. The warping bits of the wing were the rearward, outboard extentions of the trailing edge, making a sort of faux aileron, which is where the leverage problems came from. Same with the horizontal tail's faux elevator. The Wrights OTOH (and just about everybody else who built a wing-warper) twisted the whole wing box from end to end. This is mechanically rather easier for a variety of reasons, not least being that the "aileron" surface area = total wing area, so you don't have to move it very much to get the desired effect.