Handasyde glider

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Use British English|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox aircraft | name = Handasyde glider | logo = | logo_size = | image = Hadasyde glider during construction.png | alt = | caption = | long_caption = | other_names = | aircraft_type = single seat glider | aim = | outcome = | related = | national_origin = UK | manufacturer = Handasyde Aircraft Co. | design_group = | designer = George Handasyde | builder = | issuer = | status = | owners = | primary_user = F. P. Raynham | more_users = | service = | major_applications = | proposals = | prototypes = | number_built = 2 | construction_number = | civil_registration = | military_serial = | radio_code = | requirement = | aircraft_carried = | flights = | total_hours = | total_distance = | construction_date = | introduction = | retired = | first_flight = 1922 | initiated = | in_service = | last_flight = | expected = | developed_from = | variants = | developed_into = | preservation = | fate = | predecessors = | successors = | concluded = }}

The '''Handasyde glider''' was a single-seat monoplane glider, designed specifically for the first British gliding competition held at Itford Hill in 1922, an endurance event. It finished in second place to a French tandem-wing machine.

==Design and development== In August 1922 the ''Daily Mail'' newspaper offered a £1,000 prize for the longest duration flight by an unpowered, heavier-than-air aircraft. The competition was to be organized by the Royal Aero Club, who chose the site (Itford Hill, on the Sussex South Downs near Lewes) and the date (16–21 October). This gave competitors six weeks to design, build and transport their entries;<ref name=Ellison1/> 13 arrived in time and one of these was the Handasyde glider, competition number 2, to be flown by F. P. Raynham.<ref name=Ellison2/>

George Handasyde designed the glider for Raynham, assisted by his draughtsman Sydney Camm. The Handasyde Aircraft Co. had no manufacturing capability, so the aircraft was built by Louis Blériot's Air Navigation and Engineering Company (ANEC) of Addlestone, Surrey. It was an all-wood aircraft with a thick, high, cantilever wing with a slight straight taper and square tips. The unusual obtuse triangular ailerons reached to the wingtips, where they had their greatest chord.<ref name=Ellison2/> Control of the ailerons was also unusual; their control wires did not go to the base of the control column but instead ran into the cockpit, where the pilot worked them with his left hand.<ref name=Flight1922a/> The all-moving tailplane was rectangular, the fin triangular with a vertical hinge line for the quadrilateral rudder which sloped upwards on its lower edge to provide tailplane clearance.<ref name=Ellison2/>

The fuselage had flat, parallel sides which tapered in depth aft of the wings. The single-seat cockpit was just behind the wing leading edge; with the pilot in place, a rear-hinged, rectangular piece with an aperture for his head folded forward to complete the upper wing surface. In front, the flat fuselage sides curved inwards and were rounded at the nose. The glider sat on a pair of skids mounted on the lower fuselage longerons, with the wings protected by wire loops reaching from the main spar below the wing to the leading edge. It also had a small tailskid.<ref name=Ellison2/>

==Operational history==

Despite blustery conditions throughout the week of the competition, Raynham flew the Handasyde several times. After some practising over the weekend, he made two competitive flights on Monday 16 October, the better of which lasted 11 min 23 s.<ref name=Flight1922a/> Learning from the approach taken by Fokker, who had more gliding experience, he greatly improved his time the following day to 113 min and looked set for the ''Daily Mail'' prize. There was little flying on Thursday because of the winds, and the Handasyde team took the opportunity to fit a rudder extension and increase the aileron deflection. However, on the afternoon of the last day, Saturday 21 October, the French pilot Maneyrol stayed up for 201 min in his tandem-winged Peyret glider.<ref name=Flight1922b/><ref name=FlightObit1/> Raynham made another flight but this was brief and he had to be content with the £50 Ogilvie prize for the best British flight on the first day and another £10 prize, from the Seaford Chamber of Commerce, for the longest straight line flight. He was later awarded the Britannia Trophy for the most meretricious British flight of the year.<ref name=SP/>

After the Itford competition the Handasyde took part in filming around the Devon coast and was lost after ditching.<ref name=Ellison2/>

A second Handasyde glider was sold to the Canterbury Aviation Company of New Zealand in 1923.<ref>http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz: Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 95, 21 April 1923</ref>

==Specifications== thumb {{Aircraft specs |ref=British gliders and sailplanes<ref name=Ellison2/> |prime units?=imp  |genhide= |crew= |capacity=one |length m=5.06 |length ft= |length in= |length note= |span m=10.97 |span ft= |span in= |span note= |height m= |height ft= |height in= |height note= |wing area sqm=14.59 |wing area sqft= |wing area note= |aspect ratio=8.3 |airfoil={{cite web |url=http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/ads/afplots/goe441.gif |title=Göttingen 441 }} |empty weight kg= |empty weight lb=160 |empty weight note= |gross weight kg= |gross weight lb=320 |gross weight note= |max takeoff weight kg= |max takeoff weight lb= |max takeoff weight note= |fuel capacity= |lift kg= |lift lb= |lift note= |more general=

|perfhide=Y |max speed kmh= |max speed mph= |max speed kts= |max speed note= |max speed mach= |cruise speed kmh= |cruise speed mph= |cruise speed kts= |cruise speed note= |stall speed kmh= |stall speed mph= |stall speed kts= |stall speed note= |never exceed speed kmh= |never exceed speed mph= |never exceed speed kts= |never exceed speed note= |minimum control speed kmh= |minimum control speed mph= |minimum control speed kts= |minimum control speed note= |range km= |range miles= |range nmi= |range note= |combat range km= |combat range miles= |combat range nmi= |combat range note= |ferry range km= |ferry range miles= |ferry range nmi= |ferry range note= |endurance= |ceiling m= |ceiling ft= |ceiling note= |g limits= |roll rate= |glide ratio= |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin= |climb rate note= |time to altitude= |sink rate ms= |sink rate ftmin= |sink rate note= |lift to drag= |wing loading kg/m2=10.05 |wing loading lb/sqft= |wing loading note= |more performance= |avionics= }}

{{aircontent  |see also= |related= |similar aircraft= |lists= }}

==References== <references>

<ref name=Ellison1>{{cite book |title= British Gliders and Sailplanes|last=Ellison|first=Norman| year=1971|publisher=A & C Black Ltd|location=London |isbn=0-7136-1189-8 |page=16}}</ref>

<ref name=Ellison2>{{cite book |last=Ellison| year=1971|title= British Gliders and Sailplanes|page=65}}</ref>

<ref name=Flight1922a>{{cite magazine |title= The British Gliding Competition|magazine= Flight|issue=19 October 1922 |page=606 |url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1922/1922%20-%200606.html }}</ref>

<ref name=Flight1922b>{{cite magazine |title= The British Gliding Competition|magazine= Flight|issue=26 October 1922 |page=629 |url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1922/1922%20-%200629.html }}</ref>

<ref name=FlightObit1>{{cite magazine |title= F.P.Raynham|magazine= Flight|issue=21 May 1954 |page=636 |url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1954/1954%20-%201463.html }}</ref>

<ref name=SP>{{cite journal|last=Slater|first=A.E.|date=October 1962|title=First British Soaring Contest|journal=Sailplane and Glider|volume=13|issue=5|page=310|url=http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpages/Sailplane%20&%20Gliding%201961%20to%201970/Volume%2013%20No%205%20Oct%201962.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324142549/http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpages/Sailplane%20%26%20Gliding%201961%20to%201970/Volume%2013%20No%205%20Oct%201962.pdf|archive-date=24 March 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

</references>

==External links== {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd-2RGM0SG8 |title=Raynham's 113 min flight |work=at 3:42 min |publisher=YouTube |accessdate=2011-05-23}}

Category:1920s British sailplanes Category:Glider aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 1922 Category:High-wing aircraft

Handasyde glider

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