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The
Ka-7 Rhönadler was designed by Rudolf Kaiser and built
by Alexander Schleicher Flugzeugbau Gmbh & Co.
Poppenhausen/Wasserkuppe Germany.
For a period of 10 years, beginning in 1956, they built
499 gliders of this type. A further 21 were built under
license. The Rhönadler is a development of the Rhönschwalbe,
the only significant difference being that it has a
steel tube fuselage instead of a wooden frame. In an
effort to preserve the aerodynamic qualities of the
wooden fuselage, the steel fuselage is covered with a
pre-formed plywood skin. Otherwise this aircraft is of
normal wooden construction and its dimensions and
performance are identical to that of the Rhönschwalbe.
The main feature of the glider is a slight sweep forward
of the wing, for the purpose of improving the view of
the second pilot.
Up until 1979 the club used the PH-314 mainly as a
trainer. Henk van der Heijden and Fred Docters flew the
first cross-country flight on August 3 1969. Distance 85
kilometres, from Venlo to Wenningfeld in Germany. In
order to practice a field landing they landed just one
mile north of airfield Stadlohn.
In 1979, the club decided to replace the Ka-7 and
ordered a K-13, a glider with a better performance and
more suitable for training.
Henk van der Heijden and his friends took over the Ka-7.
At that time the glider had made 13497 launches with
2420 hours of flight time. The intention of the team was
to fly as much as possible, especially cross-country
flights. Moreover flying with a two-seater is a lot of
fun for two. The first cross-country flight happened
only a few days after the purchase in 1979.
Unfortunately Murphy must have been along for the ride,
as they lost the left wing in Antwerp during transport
back home.
Believe me, during all those years the pilots have had
a lot of fun, flying a large number of long and exciting
flights. However, they have also made a lot of
outlandings due to he limited performance of the Ka-7.
But that is the challenge and adventure.
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