Rotter Nemere

{{Infobox aircraft | name = Nemere | logo = | logo_size = | image = Rotter Lajos-Nemere.jpg | alt = | caption = The Nemere after the Berlin-Kiel flight, on launch dolly | long_caption = | other_names = | aircraft_type = High performance sailplane | aim = | outcome = | related = | national_origin = Hungary | manufacturer = Royal Hungarian Repair Works | design_group = | designer = Lajos Rotter | builder = | issuer = | status = | owners = | primary_user = | more_users = | service = | major_applications = | proposals = | prototypes = | number_built = 1 | construction_number = | civil_registration = | military_serial = | radio_code = | requirement = | aircraft_carried = | flights = | total_hours = | total_distance = | construction_date = | introduction = | retired = | first_flight = 25 July 1936 | initiated = | in_service = | last_flight = | expected = | developed_from = Rotter Karakán | variants = | developed_into = | preservation = | fate = | predecessors = | successors = | concluded = }}

The '''Rotter Nemere''' or just '''Nemere''' was a Hungarian high performance, single seat sailplane designed and built for the 1936 ISTUS gliding demonstration held in 1936 alongside the Berlin Olympic Games.

==Design and development==

The ISTUS international soaring demonstration was held at the same time and in the same place as the 1936 Olympics to make the case for gliding's inclusion as an Olympic discipline at later Games. The proposition was accepted and there would have been gliding events at the 1940 Olympics had not World War II intervened.<ref name=SimonsIA/> Rotter, using his experience of designing the successful Karakán, was responsible for both designing and flying the Nemere, Hungary's representative.<ref name=SimonsIB/>

The Nemere's progression from the Karakán was most evident in the wing and its mounting. The modified pedestal mounting to the fuselage had gone and instead the Nemere had a shoulder wing mounted on a {{convert|1150|mm|in|abbr=on|1}} span centre section built as part of the fuselage. The wing was a cantilever structure, without the earlier lift struts, continuously tapered in plan from root to tip with no externally distinct centre section<ref name=SimonsIB/> and with 2° of dihedral.<ref name=Gabor/> There was continuous taper in wing section also; Rotter returned to Göttingen airfoils using Gö 646 with a thickness to chord of 19% at the root, varying through Gö 535 to a thinner, less cambered, tip.<ref name=SimonsIB/> Like the Karakán, the Nemere had a plywood covered D-box ahead of the main spar but, with the external struts absent, plywood covered more of the inner wing back to a diagonal internal drag strut. The wings were fabric covered aft. Broad chord ailerons occupied the outer 60% of the wings, which ended in elliptical tips.<ref name=SimonsIB/>

The fuselage was a ply-covered semi-monocoque, teardrop shaped in cross-section, which tapered markedly behind the wing. The canopy was a wood framed multi-transparency unit, similar to that on the Karakán, but with more panels, which preserved the contours of the upper forward fuselage back almost to the wing leading edge. The tail was conventional, with an all-moving tailplane, mostly fabric covered. The rudder, mounted on a short, narrow fin, was balanced, rounded and full. The Nemere took off from a small, two wheeled dolly and landed on a long skid under the forward fuselage, assisted by s steel tailskid at the rear.<ref name=SimonsIB/>

The Nemere flew for the first time on 25 July 1936<ref name=Gabor/> only a few days before the demonstrations held at Berlin-Staaken airfield on 4 August.<ref name=Olymp/> Sailplanes from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Yugoslavia flew alongside the Nemere. A week later, starting from Rangsdorf some {{convert|15|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip|0}} south of Berlin, Rotter made a flight to Kiel where the sailing events of the Games were based. He had nominated his objective the day before and covered the {{convert|326.5|km|mi|abbr=on}} in 3 hrs 53 min. It was the longest glider flight in Europe in 1936 and won Rotter an ISTUS Gold medal.<ref name=SimonsIB/><ref name=Gabor/>

On 13 June 1937 the Nemere was damaged in a bungee-cord launch and was rebuilt with Göppingen airbrakes, the aileron joint adjusting lever, previously behind the pilot's head, moved under the instrument panel<ref name=Gabor/> and the rear canopy oval side-opening replaced with a rectangular aperture.<ref name=SimonsIB/>

The Nemere continued in use until at least 1943, mostly slope soaring near its base at Toros, west of Budapest A few long-distance cross-country flights were made, including one of {{convert|230|km|mi|abbr=on|0}} from Hármashatár-hegy in Budapest to Ciucea in west Romania, though no more records were set. Later in World War II it was slightly damaged but was restored to flying condition. In 1948 it was ordered by political leaders to be burned and its metal parts to be melted. All design documents of known location were destroyed. The fate of the aircraft obviously could neither be included in the book about Hungarian sailplanes <ref name=Gabor/> because of censorship, nor to be spoken out publicly until 1990.

The replica of the plane is being rebuilt based on the original plans in Börgönd airport by enthusiasts.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVo8D2DlUZc |title=Újjáéled a történelem |date=2024-07-05 |last=Becsületesnepper |access-date=2024-07-31 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

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==Specifications== {{Aircraft specs |ref=Simons(2006) pp.194-5<ref name=SimonsIB/> |prime units?=met  |genhide=

|max speed kmh= |max speed mph= |max speed kts= |max speed note= |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= |ceiling m= |ceiling ft= |ceiling note= |g limits= |roll rate= |glide ratio=26:1 at {{convert|75|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on|0}}<ref name=Gabor/> |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin= |climb rate note= |time to altitude= |sink rate ms=0.63 |sink rate note=minimum at {{convert|55|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on|0}}<ref name=Gabor/> |lift to drag= |wing loading kg/m2=19.15 |wing loading note=

|more performance= }}

==References== <references>

<ref name=SimonsIA>{{cite book |title=Sailplanes 1920-1945 |last=Simons |first=Martin |edition=2nd revised |year=2006|publisher= EQIP Werbung & Verlag GmbH|location=Königswinter |isbn=3-9806773-4-6|pages=128}}</ref>

<ref name=SimonsIB>{{cite book |last=Simons|title=Sailplanes 1920-1945|pages=194–5}}</ref>

<ref name=Gabor>{{cite book |title= Magyar vitorlázó repülögépek|last= Gabor|first=Jareb|year=1988|pages=59–60, 252, 254 |publisher=Müszaki Könuvkiadó|location=Budapest }}</ref>

<ref name=Olymp>{{cite web |url=http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936spart2.pdf|page=479|date= |title=Official Report of the 1936 Olympic Games |publisher= |accessdate=12 June 2015}}</ref>

</references>   {{Lajos Rotter aircraft}}

Category:1930s Hungarian sailplanes Category:Shoulder-wing aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 1936