Es49 Kangaroo... Australia's first Schneider Sailplane

[winsor68]

I remember this sailplane... A very early memory was thinking it was strange that the Kookaburra that replaced it didn't have wing struts. It was the first aircraft I flew in.

 

Quoted from Noel Roediger...

 

The Kangaroo design was not brought to Australia with the Schneiders.

 

It came into existence as a result of John Wotherspoon, who also provided

 

the Schneiders with their original workshop at Rosewater S.A., asking them

 

to build him a high performance two seater. Apart from some work building

 

Grunaus and assembling part finished kits this was the first sailplane

 

designed and built in Australia by Schneiders.

 

John's support for Australian gliding in the late forties and early fifties

 

was considerable. He flew Swordfish off carriers during WW11 and brought,

 

on his return to Aus in the late forties, a Leopard Moth and Olympia. The

 

Olympia first flew here from Black Top Hill (the ETSA power distribution

 

station above the S/E extremity of Elizabeth). Knowing John pretty well, I

 

think the Kangaroo came into being not so much as a result of his need for

 

a high performance two seater but rather to demonstrate to Aus gliding in

 

general the credibility of the Schneiders and the huge resource suddenly

 

available to progress gliding in this country in the future.

 

Prior to leaving Germany Edmund Schneider Snr had designed the ES49. This

 

was the aircraft we know in Australia as the ES49b and was aimed at home

 

constructors. Schleichers built a number of this type under licence to ES.

 

The Kangaroo was a new type. Its wing span was more than 2m greater than

 

the ES49 and it had a larger tailplane, fin and rudder. Other differences

 

are noted in my earlier post. It also incorporated a shoulder release

 

system. This type of towline release was used by Schneiders up to and

 

including the Kookaburra prototype.

 

As mentioned earlier, the prototype flew out of Gawler and Parafield for a

 

relatively short period until an offer to purchase it from a farmer at

 

Boggabri was accepted by John.

 

A second Kangaroo was ordered by the Towoomba Gliding club. At that time

 

they were up amongst the leading soaring exponents in australia, spurred on

 

primarity by Dr Mervyn Hall.

 

Sometime after the delivery of the Kangaroo it seems the impetus of the

 

Towoomba club faltered - I think after the death of Doc. Hall. At Mount Isa

 

the Leichardt Club formed and immediately ordered a Kookaburra. At about

 

the same time the Towoomba club offered both their GB11 and Kangaroo to

 

Leichardt at a reasonable price and in a short space of time they had one

 

of the best fleets in Australia. From recall Niall Hart was a key player.

 

The ES50 was designed and built to GFA specs while the second Kangaroo was

 

being built. Schneiders in the meantime built the Kookaburra prototype as

 

the glider they thought Australia needed. The rest is history.

 

Meanwhile, the ASC under the leadership of Ron Adair, decided to build an

 

ES49 to replace their Munn Falcon. In fact,at the time, they manufactured

 

two of everything that required jigging for the ES49.

 

The first ASC ES49 (ES49 1) was such a success that construction of the

 

second (ES49 11) was completed as quickly as possible by utilising the

 

skills of Hans Zechner full time.

 

Because the Kangaroo had already been certified as the ES49 both of the ASC

 

aircraft were designated and certified as ES49b's.

 

The only noticeable diference between these two aircraft - from recall

 

VH-GDK and VH-GLL was the canopy. ES49b-1 had its canopy changed from the

 

single

 

lift-off unit manufactured from 1/4" steele tube and covered in 1/16"

 

perspex to a two piece canopy blown by Harry Schneider similar to that

 

later used on the K7. ES49b-11 utilized the rear of a P51 Mustang canop

 

for the forward canopy which resulted in somewhat sleeker lines. Handling

 

was noticeably different due to ES49b-11 being heavier than the original

 

but variance in performance between the two was always a constant

 

discussion point around the bar. No variance in performance was ever proven.

 

Sometime after the ASC ES49b's flew another ES49 was constructed, in

 

keeping with the original design, by Eric Hader and Klaus Leuffer at

 

Khancoban -so it varied considerably from the ASC aircraft.

 

Finally. it would not be out of order to say the ASC ES49b's - mainly due

 

to their use at early NGS' - played one of the most significant roles of

 

all aircraft in advancing soaring in Australia.

 

 

[winsor68]

The glide ratio was 27 to 1, making it a very advanced glider for its day. The construction began about October 1952 and the sailplane was test-flown at Gawler on 7 February 1953. It proved very successful and a number of good soaring flights were made during that month.

 

As part of the delivery of the prototype "Kangaroo", the sailplane was soared by Wotherspoon and Harry Schneider from Grawler to Mildura, a targetflight of 203 miles in only five-and-a-half hours.

 

The publicity received from this record flight brought the reputation of the Schneiders to the notice of the entire Australian gliding movement, and now their name as Australian manufacturers became truly established.

 

Edmund Schneider returned to Germany in 1960, where he found employment at the Schempp-Hirth glider factory. He died – far too young – on July 5, 1968 in Ravensburg in his home country. (Born on July 27, 1901 in Rottach/Tegernsee).

 

In Australia, the factory and other activities were continued by his son Harry. From that moment on, their own modern designs appear on the scene. The "Kookaburra", "Nymph", "Kingfisher" and "Arrow".

 

 

[winsor68]

And of course the Boomerang.

 

Note please... all of the above is quoted form numerous sources throughout the World Wide Web... I hope the original authors would forgive me the plagerism. I figured it was a good idea to try to collect this information together in once place before this history is lost.

 

 

[Coop]

The Boomerang was one of my favourite aircraft. Comfortable to sit in (I've got long legs), pleasant handling, good performance (for its day). It also taught me some lessons- it's the only aircraft I have accidentally spun- fortunately at a very safe height (9,000')- and it fell off and rotated in the opposite direction to where I had the ailerons! The second lesson came when I was approaching the finish line in a local competition at near red-line speed (118 knots) and happened to glance at the wingtips. I was horrified to see them twisted forward and down! After landing, I tried to move them to where they had been- nothing doing. This gave me a much greater respect for the magnitude of the aerodynamic forces generated in high speed flight.

 

The loss of one of our pilots in a stall/spin accident off the downwind to base turn was made even more poignant by the loss of the Boomerang as well.

 

Coop