The Akaflieg München Mü26 is a high performance single-seat glider designed and built in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 starting in 1970.

Development

After the success of the Akaflieg München Mü22

Akaflieg München Mü22

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, the students at Akaflieg München designed the Mü22d variant with a fibreglass fuselage, retaining the all-flying vee-tail and forward swept wooden wings of the earlier aircraft. Before the aircraft was completed it was given the new designation of Mü26. As with the Mü22 the closely spaced ribs and relatively thick plywood skin give the wings a high quality surface seldom found in other wooden aircraft. The supine seating position also reduced the cross-section of the cockpit to a minimum, reducing drag but resulting in cramped conditions in the cockpit.

First flight came in July 1971 at Oberpfaffenhofen

Oberpfaffenhofen

Oberpfaffenhofen is a village which is part of the municipality of Weßling in the district of Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is 20 kilometers from the city center of Munich....

, with the Mü 26 carrying out flight tests and
cross-country flying until a crash in 1984 forced the airframe to be stored in the roof of the gliding club hangar. Veteran Akaflieger Rainer

Rainer

The name Rainer comes from the Germanic name Reginar, composed of the two elements ragin and heri . The name was brought to Britain by the Normans.Cognates:*Dachine Rainer , British poet and anarchist...

, Till

Till

thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....

 and Skonz acquired the aircraft in 1987 and have restored it beautifully, after many years of painstaking work

To prove the competitiveness of the design it was enterred in the 2006 Austrian Federal Junior Gliding Championship, coming a very creditible fourth behind the Rolladen Schneider LS-3, fitted with the Akaflieg München automatic flap system, flown by Benz

Benz

- People :*Bertha Benz , German marketing entrepreneur who was the first to drive an automobile for a long distance*Derek Benz , American author of fantasy fiction for children*Julie Benz , American actress*Kafi Benz - People :*Bertha Benz (1849–1944), German marketing entrepreneur who was the...

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Specifications (Mü26)