One of the most beautiful sailplanes ever built was the German Göppingen 3 ''Minimoa'*. designed by the famous Wolf Hirth. The gull wings nf this all-wood sailplane were closely patterned after the wings of Hirths earlier "Moazagotl" sailplane. If thev were to look anv more like seagull wings they would have had to have feathers.
The prototype 'Minimoa", produced in 1935. was a high-wing type, and the whole front end of the fuselage above the center line and from wing leading edge to the tip of the nose lifted off to let the pilot to get in.
Production models dropped the wing In a middle position, a hinged canopy was added in place of the removable nose, and a landing wheel was installed. Beyond these changes, there was little difference between the pro- totype ami production models. One of the chief recognition fealures of the "Minimoa" , other than the distinctive gulled wings, was the position of the ailerons, which were installed with their trailing edges considerably behind the trailing edge of the wing itself. This feature was practically a Hirth trademark, having been used on the "Moazagotl and the Göppingen 1 "Wolf" and the later Göppingen 4 "Goevier .
Performance wise, the "Minimoa" was the finest production sailplane of its time. The glide ratio was 26 to 1 and the sinking speed was .65 meter per second. Cruising speed for minimum sink   was 60 Kilometers per hour and the speed for maximum L/D was 85 Km/hr. The airfoil varied from a Göttingen 681 al the rool to a Göttingen 693 al the mid-span, with a symmetrical section at the tip.
An interesting storv is told about Hirth and the use of gull wings on his designs. Il seems that he had attended a technical discussion of glider people, and one of the decisions reached was thai gull wings didn't actually improve the performance of a sailplane. Hirlh was asked why he had gone to the trouble to put the more complex structure on his ship when there was no performance justification for it. "Well." said Hirth. "The Gull wings didn't improve the performance any. but they sure sold a lot of Minimoas!"

L. B. Barringer flies the Minimoa
High Performance Sailplane
The idea for the writing of this article, and the whole series of which it is a part, originated in the cockpit of a Minimoa about a thousand feet over the Hornberg in Germany. Now, having owned one of these beautiful ships and, having put in a total of about twenty hours in three of them, I feel like sitting down and giving my impressions and opinions.
On first being shown a Minimoa fresh from the factory, I was struck by its distinctive beauty. Even if you never had an opportunity to fly one, you could not help but be impressed by its lines as well as its finish.
From the shape of its rudder, cockpit cover, sweepback beyond the gull point and its ailerons extending back of the trailing edge of its wings, this ship proclaims itself as an individual type of its designer, that past master of sailplane design, as well as soaring technique, Wolf Hirth.
When I drove out to the field with Wolf, I asked him what "Minimoa" meant. He said that the design was a smaller production version of his famed "Moazagotl", which we all know was named for a rare type of cloud, the origin of which Wolf discovered through his soaring research. Minirrfoa was his name for a small (mini) Moazagotl) .
Reaching over, he put his arm inside the small ventilation window on the left side of the cockpit, and turned the wooden knob which released the cover. It swung open to the right and came to rest, hanging down on a leather strap. Climbing in, I found ample and comfortable room for my six feet four inches, as I put my feet on the rudder pedals and found myself more lying down than sitting. Wolf and Martin Schempp gave much thought to this design for making the pilot as comfortable as possible, both well knowing from experience how much a pilot's efficiency can be reduced after four or five hours if he is cramped and uncomfortable. I had strapped on a back pack chute and found that it fitted behind me and helped support the small of my back. After snugly securing the four-way safety belt, I pulled the cockpit cover closed and snapped it in place. I found visibility forward and downward excellent, but I was at first disconcerted a bit by the fact that the gull of the wings made it impossible to look straight out sideways or see the wing tips.
This flight, like many I was to make later, was flown from airplane tow, so the start was nice and gradual. The very first impression I had as the ship left the ground was that she was steady as a rock. It was a sensation I had never had before in the sailplanes I had flown, and it was very pleasant. After releasing at four thousand feet, I soon discovered how remarkably stable she was, as well.
One of the first sensations was the additional feeling of stability, due to having a fixed horizontal stabilizer, which does away with having to "fly" the ship every minute. Diving and letting go of the stick, I found the corresponding occillations soon damped out as this shipwas so beautifully balanced that it would fly hands off.
On another occasion I did my first cloud flying with this ship. Entering the cloud base at 4,500 feet, I put it in a bank of about 30°, and, with the indicator of the .-, turn and bank slightly over, had no difficulty in keeping ..l." the ball centered and spiralling over 3,000 feet before straightening out and leaving the cloud.
The highest speed that I have ever dived this ship was around 90 m.p.h., and I discovered that the faster I flew, the more solid it felt. I understand that it will stand a dive and pull out of close to 200 and that, in Germany, they airplane tow it at over 100 m.p.h. When first diving it to 60 after "cruising" at 40 it is extraordinary the way the sinking speed will increase from 3 to 9 and then gradually drop back to 5-an indication of fast flying distance possibilities.
In pulling up into a stall, it gives you ample warning by a slight flutter of the tail surfaces. I have not put this ship into a spin, but there seems to be no tendency to fall off. I understand that it will recover very quickly from a spin, and that it can be put through all sorts of aerobatics with safety.
Coming in to land the first time, I felt that I had my hands pretty full, as the speed would pick up very fast as I dropped the nose. When I pulled the little wooden knob on the left and opened the spoilers, she dropped as if someone had chopped ten feet off the wing. The airspeed went up to 60 and the glide became so steep that I had no difficulty in landing where I wanted, and quickly came to a stop by pulling the metal brake lever on the floor. In summing up my opinion of the Goppingen III, as the Minimoa is officially designated, I can truthfuJly say that it is by far the finest sailplane I have ever flown -but then I haven't yet flown our new American Ross sailplane, now being built. It is going to be mighty interesting to compare the latest product of American ingenuity with the best that German experience and manufacturing thoroughness has produced.

During 1935, Wolf Hirth based on the "Moazagotl" designed the "Minimoa" , the "Moazagotl" was too big for a manipulation with some comfort on the ground and in the air, with the "Minimoa" , which was smaller, were improved these difficulties.
Wolf Hirth thought of making a robust glider in its structure, which could be modified and made in different versions:
With a wingspan of 18 meters (a 16 meter version could also be made).
With capacity to carry ballast for sport flights.
With an engine behind the pilot, as a motor glider.
With a second seat, between the wings, for a second pilot or a passenger.
Only the fourth possibility was realized. A two-seater "Minimoa" was built in 1937.

The wings had a pronounced "gull-wing" dihedral angle, which, combined with the positive arrow of the wingtips, ensured good lateral stability. In the prototype glider the speedbrakes were formed by a split fin in each wing located on the trailing edge and hinged, opening downwards, in the series gliders they were of the "Schempp-Hirth" type.
The fuselage was oval in shape, the landing gear was formed by a long skid, and in some models by a fixed ventral wheel that was optional; the empennage was of the conventional type.
The construction of the entire glider was entirely of wood and covered with cloth and dope.

Different versions of "Minimoa"
During the construction period there were many alterations from the original design, to simplify we separated them into six different versions.
1- Three prototypes with high wings. (1935)

Serial No. 6. "D-Göppinger Industrie" , its construction was completed on August 1, 1935, in time to enter the Rhön competition. The command column was suspended. The DLV Göppingen was its first owner, then it was exported to Japan .
Serial No. 11. With landing wheels and a normal control column. It was exported to Japan on November 17, 1935.
Serial No. 14. Construction was completed on April 3, 1936. Like serial No. 11, It was exported to Romania , its owner was Valentin Popescu . It was registered with the registration YR-AVP and was probably painted blue and white.
It appears that at least one of the prototypes had a split fin on the trailing edge as airbrakes for the approach to landings.

2- The 2nd version of the "Minimoa" was a mid-wing version with an increased rudder surface and a fixed-plane stabilizer-elevator and mobile control flap.
Serial No. 20. It was completed on May 9, 1936, it also had a split fin on the trailing edge as airbrakes for the approach to landings. It was registered "D-Stadt Neckargemünd" and later in 1937 it was owned by the NSFK , it was registered with the registration D-14-790 .
It ended up destroyed in a flight in a cloud on March 5, 1938 during the Rhön contest, its pilot, Günther Lemm lost his life.
It is not known how many gliders of this version were manufactured. The "D-Chemnitz 3" , then "D-Argentina" and finally in Chile registered with the registration CC-PIA is preserved in the Aeronautical Museum of Santiago de Chile .

3- Definitive version of the "Minimoa"
This was the definitive and mass-produced version, with improvements to the underside of the fuselage to prevent damage from contact with the ground.
The airbrakes were located in the upper part of the wing. The first "Minimoa" of this version was completed on August 11, 1939, (approximately 312 gliders were built).

4- Minimoa Mo 2a (1937) - Two-seater version
Registered as D-15-923 , this was a two-seater glider. The second seat was located between the wings, behind the main wing spar; the nose was lengthened to adjust the center of gravity, the fuselage was 36 centimeters longer than the standard "Minimoa" . This glider participated in the 1937 Rhön competition , but had to abandon the tournament because its pilot, Wolf Hirth , injured his leg.
They later visited England behind a Klemm 26 . The pilots of "Minimoa" were Hanna Reitsch and Eva Schmidt , while Wolf HirthHe piloted the Klemm tug plane .

5- Minimum 38 (1938)
Its empty weight was reduced and the underside of the wing profile (intrados) was modified to reduce the minimum descent speed
.
6- Minimoa 39 (1939)
Serial No. 315 was the first to be finished, a task that occurred on June 6, 1939. The wing plane was modified, the control fins were increased in surface, the rudder was also increased in surface; the fuselage was modified.
Only one was manufactured due to the beginning of the war.
In all versions of the "Minimoa" , the landing wheels were optional. Between 1938 and 1939, the "Minimoas" were manufactured with the first "DFS" or "Schempp Hirth" type speedbrakes (in those days the latter were called "Hütter" or "Göppingen" system).
Balancing masses or static balances began to be installed on the leading edges and the base of the rudders to prevent a possible flutter above 200 km / h.
Between May 9, 1936 and June 1939, 110 "Minimoas" were manufactured .

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