science

Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher

Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher rather than just read about it. In short: The Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher is a low-cost, short-span Australian glider capable of respectable cross country soaring flights. It was produced in small numbers in the late 1950s.

Key takeaways

Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher is a low-cost, short-span Australian glider capable of respectable cross country soaring flights. It was produced in small numbers in the late 1950s.

Design and development The Kingfisher, with its 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in) span and simple construction, was designed to fill the need of Australian glider pilots for a small, low-cost aircraft capable of soaring and cross-country flying. It was designed by Edmund Schneider and built in his Australian factory, though a few were constructed by amateurs. Schneider had emigrated from Germany in 1950. The Kingfisher is wooden-framed and covered with a mixture of plywood and fabric. Its high wing is built around a single spar and is double-straight tapered in plan with zero sweep at the quarter chord line. There is 3° of dihedral. Ahead of the spar the wings are ply-covered, and the roots are reinforced with wider, rectangular plan, ply skin as are the blunt wing tips. The remaining 68% of the wing is fabric covered, including most of the aileron surfaces. Gapless upper surface spoilers are mounted at 44% chord and at about one third span. The fuselage is of frame and stringer construction and wholly ply-covered apart from the small, fabric-covered, double-curved region between cockpit and nose. It has a hexagonal section, with deep sides which slope inwards towards the fuselage bottom. The cockpit stretches aft to the leading edge, covered by a blown, side-opening perspex canopy. There are small side windows under the wing. The fuselage tapers aft to the tail, where a narrow, ply-skinned fin carries an angular, fabric-covered rudder which extends down to the keel. Originally the horizontal tail was mostly fabric-covered and mounted on top of the fuselage ahead of the rudder, but early flight tests led to it being raised out of the wing's wake on a short pillar. Its rigidity was increased with ply covering on the tailplane, its tips extended rearwards to contain shortened elevators. The Kingfisher had a short protective skid under the nose but landed on a single, unsprung, semi-recessed wheel aided by a rubber-sprung tail skid.

Operational history Its first flight was in 1956. A flight of 217 km (135 mi) flown by Harry Schneider, Edmund Schneider's eldest son, brought it attention; he later extended this to 300 km (186 mi). The aircraft was well received; eight examples were built in the factory and three more were produced by amateur constructors. They competed well against sailplanes of greater span and cost. One amateur builder finished his Kingfisher in 1964 and gained attention with his bungee cord self-launches, soaring in the mountains of the Great Dividing Range. Another amateur builder lowered the wing to a little above the mid wing position, at the same time replacing the cockpit side windows with a glazing extension rearwards above the wing. Two Kingfishers survive but only one is on public display, the other being under restoration in 2008.

Aircraft on display Aviation Heritage Museum (Western Australia), Perth: VH-GRE, cn 42.

Specifications Data from The World's Sailplanes (1963) pp.26-7General characteristics Crew: One Length: 5.75 m (18 ft 10 in) Wingspan: 10.50 m (34 ft 5 in) Height: 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) over cockpit Wing area: 9.4 m2 (101 sq ft) Aspect ratio: 11.75 Airfoil: Göttingen 549, tip M 12 Empty weight: 109 kg (240 lb) equipped Gross weight: 195 kg (430 lb) Wing loading: 20.7 kg/m2 (4.24 lb/sqft) Performance

Maximum speed: 200 km/h (120 mph, 110 kn) smooth air, placard Maximum speed, rough air: 144 km/h (89 mph; 78 kn) Stall speed: 54 km/h (34 mph, 29 kn) Rate of sink: 0.99 m/s (195 ft/min) minimum, at 67 km/h (42 mph; 36 kn) Lift-to-drag: maximum 21 at 83 km/h (52 mph; 45 kn) Winch launch speed: 104 km/h (65 mph; 56 kn) Aero-tow speed: 113 km/h (70 mph; 61 kn)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher

In research: Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1950s Australian sailplanes, Aircraft first flown in 1956, Edmund Schneider aircraft, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher in simple terms?

The Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher is a low-cost, short-span Australian glider capable of respectable cross country soaring flights. It was produced in small numbers in the late 1950s.

Why does Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Schneider ES-57 Kingfisher.