Antonov A-11 Explained

The Antonov A-11 is a single-seat, high performance, all-metal sailplane built in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. 150 were produced.

Design and development

The almost all-metal A-11 was Antonov's first non-wood framed sailplane.[1] It is a cantilever mid-wing monoplane, with straight tapered wings mostly swept on the trailing edge and set with 1.5° of dihedral but no washout. A single spar with a metal-skinned leading edge forward of it and fabric covering aft forms most of the span but the curved tips are supported by twin spars. The fabric-covered ailerons are slotted, with set-back hinges and mass balances. They can be drooped together through 8° to act as flaps. Inboard, there are slotted flaps on the trailing edges and spoilers, mounted at mid-chord and quite close to the fuselage, of the gapless kind opening upwards only.[2]

The fuselage of the A-11 is a metal monocoque of pod and boom form, with a gradual transition between the two. It carries an all-metal, straight edged 90° V- or butterfly tail, its control surfaces mass-balanced with external weights. The three-piece canopy stretches smoothly from the nose to above mid-chord without a stepped windscreen. There is a retractable monowheel undercarriage, sprung but without brakes, assisted by a rubber-mounted skid forward of the wheel and a tail bumper aft, formed by a short, shallow ventral fin[2]

The A-11 first flew on 12 May 1958. It was approved for aerobatics, spins and cloud flying.

Aircraft on display

Information from Ogden[3]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Book: Simons, Martin . Sailplanes 1945–1965 . 2nd revised . 2006. EQIP Werbung & Verlag GmbH. Königswinter . 3-9807977-4-0. 135.
  2. Book: Taylor, John W R . Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1962–63. 1962. Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. London. 342 .
  3. Book: Ogden, Bob. Aviation Museums and Collections of North America. 2011. 2. 357, 464. Air-Britain (Historians) . Tonbridge, Kent . 978-0-85130-385-7.