Birmingham stockbroker Espin Hardwick was so
enthusiastic about his modified Falcon single-seater
that in 1934 he persuaded Slingsby, with promises of
financial support, to build a two-seat version. It is most
unlikely that Slingsby himself would have originated
such a project. The structure of the Falcon was not
straightforward, and even if he had conceived of a twoseater,
which he might have done, there were simpler
models that could be built under licence or copied,
such as the Kassel SK-3 Hercules, well known in
Yorkshire, or even Rex Stedman's homebuilt twoseater
TS-1, christened City of Leeds, which emerged
in July 1934 and soared successfully. But what
Hardwick wanted was, so far as either of them knew,
the first two-seater sailplane in the world with the seats
arranged side by side. Until this time two-seat gliders
all had tandem seats. The only exception was a biplane
which had been flown in 1922 by Anthony Fokker.
Slingsby admitted that the transformation of the
solo Falcon was a formidable job, for he had to work
on the drawings single-handedly and had no previous
experience of aircraft design. He pored over his
drawing board for several months, often late into the
night, and sent his plans to the BGA technical committee
for stress checking before the end of the year.
Unlike the Stedman project, BGA approval was given
without the need for any modifications. Work on the
Falcon 3 then began in the factory sheds in
Kirbymoorside, rented at very low rate from the owner,
Major J. E. D. Shaw, who also owned the adjacent agricultural
engineering works.
In almost every respect the two-seater was simply an
enlargement of the original Lippisch Falke, the wing
area and span being increased to retain a wing loading
not too much more than that of the single-seater while
keeping much the same general proportions. The profiles,
sweepback and washout angles, and even the
little 'gull' kink in the wing, were all the same as those
of the single-seater. The wingtips were rounded like
those of Hardwick's Falcon 2, but the prototype fuselage,
widened to take two seats under the wing, was
fabric covered aft of the cockpit. The only other substantial
change in layout was the addition of a rectangular
centre-section of wing on a cabane of four vertical
struts, cross-braced with wires, with carry-through
spars. The main wing panels were attached individually
with horizontal pins to this centrepiece. The gaps
on either side of the centre section were faired with
plywood strips.
Slingsby would probably have seen drawings of the
German Falke R Va, an improved version of the
Lippisch Falke which had adopted a similar layout and
rigging system. Also, in 1933 information was published
in the journal Sailplane and Gliding about the
German single-seat Superfalke, with a stretched
wingspan of 16.8m (55.4ft), nearly as much as the
Falcon 3 turned out to be. Evidently there was nothing
seriously wrong with the idea of an enlarged Falcon,
though it cannot have been reassuring to read, a few
months later, that the Superfalke had broken up in the
air while on aero tow. This, however, was explained by
pointing out that the elevator had been of the allmoving
or 'pendulum' type, sensitive to clumsy handling
by an inexperienced pilot.
There was nothing wrong with the Falcon 3 when
Hardwick took delivery of the prototype in May 1935.
All the safe stability and handling characteristics of the
Falcon 1 were retained, although the big sailplane was
heavier on all the controls. The performance was
surprisingly good, and Slingsby received orders for
more. The later ones had fuselages covered entirely
with plywood, and to improve the upward view transparent
plastic strips were used instead of plywood to
fair the gaps in the wing roots. The centre section, too,
was provided with celluloid transparencies, though
these did not last long in service and were usually
replaced by doped fabric like the rest of the wing.
Drop-off dolly wheels were fitted to facilitate ground
handling and take-off. After these and some other
minor modifications another eight Falcons were produced,
seven to orders from all the leading British
clubs, and one exported to Belgium. The last of the line
was added to the BGA register in December 1938.
Five British sailplanes, including a Falcon 3, went tothe first international championships, held on the
Wasserkuppe in July 1937. The Falcon pilots were W. B.
Murray and J. S. Fox. The Federation Aeronautique
Internationale (FAI) had only recently instituted a
special record category for two-seaters, and Murray
and Fox on 12 July made a flight of 9hr 48min which
was recognised as the first record in the new category.
(A solo duration record of more than 36hr had been set
by Schmidt in 1933, so no great fuss was made.)
Austrian and German pilots soon reclaimed the
record. By the end of June 1938 it exceeded 21hr.
Murray broke it again, with J. S. Sproule, during the
British national competitions at the London Gliding
Club site at Dunstable. The club Falcon 3 was launched
by winch just after 4 a.m. on 9 July to soar back and
forth in the slope lift all day and into the night. The
pilots took turns to fly and were helped by moonlight,
the sidelights of spectators' cars along the hill top and a
searchlight directed on to the windsock outside the
hangar. The landing, aided by car headlights, came
after '2'2\\r 13min. A great deal of public interest had
been aroused by radio news bulletins during the flight,
and Murray and Sproule were welcomed by a crowd
and subjected to interrogation by the press. As an
international record this, too, did not last long. German
pilots raised it to more than 50hr by the end of the year.
By any standards the Falcon 3 was a remarkable
sailplane, well liked, spectacular in appearance, yet
based on a 1929 original design obsolescent, in
German eyes at least, before it was even built.
Nonetheless, it is a pity that more were not produced at
a time when the British gliding movement could and
probably should have used two-seaters much more
systematically for ab initio pilot training. The regular
use of these practical, soarable, safe if rather ponderous
two-seat sailplanes would have benefited the
British clubs greatly if the solo training system had
been less entrenched. Some fortunate trainees did
occasionally get some extended soaring experience
with an instructor, but the Falcons, though immensely
popular for joyriding, were rarely used as they mighhave been. It was said that the stability of the type was
such that a pupil could not gain as much as might be
learned from a less docile aircraft. Even so, most
pupils, given the chance, would surely have preferred
to fly safely with an instructor alongside rather than
beating Daglings to pieces in a seemingly endless
series of more or less shattering ground hops.
The Falcons remained in service with the clubs until
the Second World War. One was written off in a crash
before the rest were impressed, along with many other
gliders, for use by the ATC. It is not clear how many
survived, but in 1944 the BGA magazine Sailplane and
Glider reported that four or five remained serviceable.
One of the last was severely damaged in a groundlooped
landing at Bramcote Royal Naval Air Station,
near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in 1947. This was during
the first post-war national championships, although
the Falcon was not competing. Rumour has it that two,
or parts of two, were burned in South Wales in the early
1960s.
Falcon 3 data
Dimensions
Wingspan
Wing area*
Aspect ratio
Wing sections:
Root
Mid-aileron
Tip
Length o.a.
17.69m (58ft)
27.4m2 (294.8ft-)
11.4
Gottingen 535 modified
Special reflexed profile
Symmetrical
6.74m(22ftlin)
Weights
Tare 227kg (5001b)
Flying 408kg (8991b)
Wing loading 14.9kg/nr (3.051b/ft2 )
* The wing area given here was estimated from the
factory drawings. It differs from figures previously
stated, with consequent variations in aspect ratio and
wing loading.
28
enthusiastic about his modified Falcon single-seater
that in 1934 he persuaded Slingsby, with promises of
financial support, to build a two-seat version. It is most
unlikely that Slingsby himself would have originated
such a project. The structure of the Falcon was not
straightforward, and even if he had conceived of a twoseater,
which he might have done, there were simpler
models that could be built under licence or copied,
such as the Kassel SK-3 Hercules, well known in
Yorkshire, or even Rex Stedman's homebuilt twoseater
TS-1, christened City of Leeds, which emerged
in July 1934 and soared successfully. But what
Hardwick wanted was, so far as either of them knew,
the first two-seater sailplane in the world with the seats
arranged side by side. Until this time two-seat gliders
all had tandem seats. The only exception was a biplane
which had been flown in 1922 by Anthony Fokker.
Slingsby admitted that the transformation of the
solo Falcon was a formidable job, for he had to work
on the drawings single-handedly and had no previous
experience of aircraft design. He pored over his
drawing board for several months, often late into the
night, and sent his plans to the BGA technical committee
for stress checking before the end of the year.
Unlike the Stedman project, BGA approval was given
without the need for any modifications. Work on the
Falcon 3 then began in the factory sheds in
Kirbymoorside, rented at very low rate from the owner,
Major J. E. D. Shaw, who also owned the adjacent agricultural
engineering works.
In almost every respect the two-seater was simply an
enlargement of the original Lippisch Falke, the wing
area and span being increased to retain a wing loading
not too much more than that of the single-seater while
keeping much the same general proportions. The profiles,
sweepback and washout angles, and even the
little 'gull' kink in the wing, were all the same as those
of the single-seater. The wingtips were rounded like
those of Hardwick's Falcon 2, but the prototype fuselage,
widened to take two seats under the wing, was
fabric covered aft of the cockpit. The only other substantial
change in layout was the addition of a rectangular
centre-section of wing on a cabane of four vertical
struts, cross-braced with wires, with carry-through
spars. The main wing panels were attached individually
with horizontal pins to this centrepiece. The gaps
on either side of the centre section were faired with
plywood strips.
Slingsby would probably have seen drawings of the
German Falke R Va, an improved version of the
Lippisch Falke which had adopted a similar layout and
rigging system. Also, in 1933 information was published
in the journal Sailplane and Gliding about the
German single-seat Superfalke, with a stretched
wingspan of 16.8m (55.4ft), nearly as much as the
Falcon 3 turned out to be. Evidently there was nothing
seriously wrong with the idea of an enlarged Falcon,
though it cannot have been reassuring to read, a few
months later, that the Superfalke had broken up in the
air while on aero tow. This, however, was explained by
pointing out that the elevator had been of the allmoving
or 'pendulum' type, sensitive to clumsy handling
by an inexperienced pilot.
There was nothing wrong with the Falcon 3 when
Hardwick took delivery of the prototype in May 1935.
All the safe stability and handling characteristics of the
Falcon 1 were retained, although the big sailplane was
heavier on all the controls. The performance was
surprisingly good, and Slingsby received orders for
more. The later ones had fuselages covered entirely
with plywood, and to improve the upward view transparent
plastic strips were used instead of plywood to
fair the gaps in the wing roots. The centre section, too,
was provided with celluloid transparencies, though
these did not last long in service and were usually
replaced by doped fabric like the rest of the wing.
Drop-off dolly wheels were fitted to facilitate ground
handling and take-off. After these and some other
minor modifications another eight Falcons were produced,
seven to orders from all the leading British
clubs, and one exported to Belgium. The last of the line
was added to the BGA register in December 1938.
Five British sailplanes, including a Falcon 3, went tothe first international championships, held on the
Wasserkuppe in July 1937. The Falcon pilots were W. B.
Murray and J. S. Fox. The Federation Aeronautique
Internationale (FAI) had only recently instituted a
special record category for two-seaters, and Murray
and Fox on 12 July made a flight of 9hr 48min which
was recognised as the first record in the new category.
(A solo duration record of more than 36hr had been set
by Schmidt in 1933, so no great fuss was made.)
Austrian and German pilots soon reclaimed the
record. By the end of June 1938 it exceeded 21hr.
Murray broke it again, with J. S. Sproule, during the
British national competitions at the London Gliding
Club site at Dunstable. The club Falcon 3 was launched
by winch just after 4 a.m. on 9 July to soar back and
forth in the slope lift all day and into the night. The
pilots took turns to fly and were helped by moonlight,
the sidelights of spectators' cars along the hill top and a
searchlight directed on to the windsock outside the
hangar. The landing, aided by car headlights, came
after '2'2\\r 13min. A great deal of public interest had
been aroused by radio news bulletins during the flight,
and Murray and Sproule were welcomed by a crowd
and subjected to interrogation by the press. As an
international record this, too, did not last long. German
pilots raised it to more than 50hr by the end of the year.
By any standards the Falcon 3 was a remarkable
sailplane, well liked, spectacular in appearance, yet
based on a 1929 original design obsolescent, in
German eyes at least, before it was even built.
Nonetheless, it is a pity that more were not produced at
a time when the British gliding movement could and
probably should have used two-seaters much more
systematically for ab initio pilot training. The regular
use of these practical, soarable, safe if rather ponderous
two-seat sailplanes would have benefited the
British clubs greatly if the solo training system had
been less entrenched. Some fortunate trainees did
occasionally get some extended soaring experience
with an instructor, but the Falcons, though immensely
popular for joyriding, were rarely used as they mighhave been. It was said that the stability of the type was
such that a pupil could not gain as much as might be
learned from a less docile aircraft. Even so, most
pupils, given the chance, would surely have preferred
to fly safely with an instructor alongside rather than
beating Daglings to pieces in a seemingly endless
series of more or less shattering ground hops.
The Falcons remained in service with the clubs until
the Second World War. One was written off in a crash
before the rest were impressed, along with many other
gliders, for use by the ATC. It is not clear how many
survived, but in 1944 the BGA magazine Sailplane and
Glider reported that four or five remained serviceable.
One of the last was severely damaged in a groundlooped
landing at Bramcote Royal Naval Air Station,
near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in 1947. This was during
the first post-war national championships, although
the Falcon was not competing. Rumour has it that two,
or parts of two, were burned in South Wales in the early
1960s.
Falcon 3 data
Dimensions
Wingspan
Wing area*
Aspect ratio
Wing sections:
Root
Mid-aileron
Tip
Length o.a.
17.69m (58ft)
27.4m2 (294.8ft-)
11.4
Gottingen 535 modified
Special reflexed profile
Symmetrical
6.74m(22ftlin)
Weights
Tare 227kg (5001b)
Flying 408kg (8991b)
Wing loading 14.9kg/nr (3.051b/ft2 )
* The wing area given here was estimated from the
factory drawings. It differs from figures previously
stated, with consequent variations in aspect ratio and
wing loading.
28