Alexander Lippisch - Tailless Aircraft

Tailless Aircraft

Following the war, Lippisch worked with the Zeppelin Company, and it was at this time that he first became interested in tail-less aircraft. In 1921 his first such design would reach production in as the Lippisch-Espenlaub E-2 glider, built by Gottlob Espenlaub. This was the beginning of a research programme that would result in some fifty designs throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Lippisch’s growing reputation saw him appointed the director of the Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft (RRG), a glider research group.

Lippisch’s work led to a series of tail-less designs numbered Storch I – Storch IX (Stork I-IX) between 1927 and 1933 (these were not related to the successful Fieseler Fi 156 Storch STOL aircraft of World War II). These designs attracted little interest from the government and private industry. Nonetheless, it was during this time that Lippisch’s Ente (Duck) became the first aircraft to fly under rocket power.

Experience with the Storch series led Lippisch to concentrate increasingly on delta-winged designs. The Delta I was the world's first tailless delta wing aircraft to actually fly (in 1931). This interest resulted in five aircraft, numbered Delta I – Delta V, which were built between 1931 and 1939. In 1933, RGG had been reorganised into the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (German Institute for Sailplane Flight, DFS) and the Delta IV and Delta V were designated as the DFS 39 and DFS 40 respectively.