| Type |
Single seat high performance glider |
| Dimensions |
Length 7,0 m , height 1,3 m , span 20,0 m , wing area 20 m2 ,Göttingen 535 root, modified Göttingen Middle, length derigged 10 m, width derigged without tailplane 0,6 m - with tailplane 3 m - height 1,35 m, aspect ratio 20 |
| Weights |
Empty 190 kg, loaded , max. take off weight 320 kg , ballast 50 kg -wing loading with ballast: 16.00 kg/m2 |
| Performance |
Max.. speed 150 km/h , best glide ratio 23 at 55 km/h, min. sink 0,58 m/sec. at 48 km/h, stall speed 45 km/h, maximum winch launch speed: 80 km/h , maximum aero tow speed: 120 km/h , g limits: +10 (ulitimate) without ballast +8 (ulitimate) with ballast |
| Type |
Werk.Nr |
Registration |
History |
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Participation in the Rhön 1933 competition, Hirth achieves the greatest distance of the competition, 180 km. The following year Hirth was the second pilot to achieve a flight of more than 300 km with his Moazagotl. Also in 1934, the Moazagotl took part (with a Grünau Baby II, D-Christian) in the expedition organized in Argentina by Walter Georgii with Wolf Hirth, Hanna Reisch, Peter Riedel and X. In 1937, Ludwig HOFMANN finished second in the international
competition of the Rhön (considered the first world championship) with this glider.
The glider was burned at Hornberg in 1945 so that it would not fall into American hands. |
Wolf Hirth was one of the first pilots to understand the glider characteristics necessary for cross-country flying on days with separated, strong thermals. It had to be equipped with a ballast tank to fly fast between thermals and be stable and efficient in the continuous, lift-gaining circling within the thermals, calling for high-aspect ratio wings with dihedral. He commissioned Edmund Schneider to build a one-off example, to be designed by Friedrich Wenk.[1]
The result was the Moazagotl. Moazagotl was the nickname of Motz Gottlieb, formed from a corruption of his name, who was a farmer in the Silesian countryside near the Schneider works. He had noticed that with the wind in a particular direction, cloud formed over a nearby valley remained stationary even though the wind was strong. The phenomenon was communicated to meteorologists at an observatory near Breslau and their director passed on the observations to the glider pilots at Grunau, who thus became the first to exploit wave lift]
The Moazagottl was a high gull wing glider. The inner third of the span carried a dihedral of about 8° and was rectangular in plan. Single, broad-chord faired lift struts on each side braced these sections from about 20% of the span to the lower fuselage. Outboard the wing had no dihedral and was strongly swept on the leading edge, resulting in marked taper. Long ailerons occupied the whole trailing edge of each outer panels; these were slightly tapered and projected behind the trailing edge of the inner sections. The wing was built around a single, swept main spar which was straight in plan, simplifying its change in direction between the inner and outer panels. Diagonal sub-spars ran inwards and rearwards from it between the lift strut attachment points and the fuselage. Plywood skinning forward of these spars around the leading edge formed a D-box; aft, the wing, including the aileron, was fabric covered.
Competed in the 1933 Rhön (Wasserkuppe) competition, where Hirth made the longest flight, a distance of 180 km (112 mi). The following year he flew it 300 km (186 mi), only the second plot to achieve this distance. In the 1937 competition, retrospectively recognised as the first of the World Gliding Championships, Ludwig Hofmann flew the four years old Moazagotl into second place. It also made a visit to Brazil. The sole example was preserved in the Hornberg Museum until the end of World War II, when it was deliberately burned to prevent it falling into allied hands.
