The Ka- 2b "Rhönschwalbe" (1955-1957)

In support of the Cliff Charlsworth plan available through the "Plans" link

The Ka 2 was the first two seater glider designed by Rudolf Kaiser. From it came the development of the Ka 2b and influenced later designs through the Ka 7 up to the ASK-13. The prototype, D-4310, was developed in the winter 1952/53 and 38 Ka 2's were eventually built between 1953 and 1955.

Canopy details

The wingspan of the Ka 2 was 15.00 m, with a forward sweep of 7 degrees and a dihedral of 3,5 degrees. It was fitted with Schempp Hirth type air brakes above and below the wing. The root profile of the wing was a Gottingen 533 modified 16% with Gottingen 532 used at the tip

The fuselage is built in a plywood shell construction, similar to the Ka 1 and is fitted with a long skid with a fairing made out of leather and one firm main-wheel. The canopy was often replaced by the owners for a one-piece blown canopy which offered a substantially better view.

The Ka 2 b differs from the Ka 2 mainly by the increase in span to 16,00 m. with the extra half metre being built outboard of the ailerons and the dihedral increased to 4 degrees. The Ka 2b flew for the first time irn Sumrner of 1955 and was produced up to 1957, 75 examples being built. During the later years, many of them were taken out of service due to their Kaseine glued joints having been exposed to atmospheric moisture. This has subsequently been proved incorrect and providing the joints have been kept dry, then they remain as strong as ever. Today there are still many Ka 2b's in airworthy condition.

The later Ka 7 was to use the same wing and tail sections, but the fuselage was built around a steel framework. This followed the same practice employed in updating the Ka-1 to the Ka-3. Because of this similarity, a Ka-2b and Ka-7 are very difficult to differentiate in the air.

DATA	Ka-2	Ka-2b
Wingspan	15m	16m
Wing area	16.8 m2	17.5m2
Aspect ratio	13.39	14.63
Fuselage Length	8 m	8.15m
Empty weight	253 kg	278 kg
Max. flying weight	460 kg	480 kg
Wing loading	27.38 kg/m2	27.43 kg/m2
Minimum Sink	0.96 m/s @ 71 km/h	0.85 m/s @ 65 km/h
Best Glide	24:1 @ 67 km/h	26 @ 80 km/h

Cliff Charlsworth writes........

"The Ka-2b was my last large project and was a mind blowing job. I managed to borrow all the full size drawings which took a lot of study and time to reduce to 1/4 scale. The method of construction is similar to that of my Olympia 2b and Ka-6e projects, with the fuselage being skinned using .04mm ply."

This method of skinning the fuselage can be found here

Cliff's Ka-2b takes to the air on an aerotow

Terry Hollands model showing cockpit detailing

Front seat (above) & Rear seat (below)

Front and rear instruments