Welcome to a piece of Dutch aviation and gliding history !
Check out these pictures below. The first one shows Sagitta s/n 013 in 2007 flying again in Holland, for the first time in many years, after restoration by Charles Munnig Schmidt. The other picture is s/n 014, a picture from 1965 taken by Graham Watts, showing the only Sagitta ever directly imported into Australia, at the other side of the world.
Fifty years of Piet Alsema's Sagitta Sagitta - this website shows you what became of them, spread all over the globe.
Designed by engineer Piet Alsema the Sagitta first flew in 1961,
after three years of planning. It has an all-wood fuselage and wooden wings with fabric cover.
The Sagitta was the first "standard class" glider design to appear from the
Netherlands. It was a modern high performance design with features like
automatic connecting control surfaces on assembly and a backward sliding
canopy that can be fixed open in flight at several positions.
As you will discover by exploring this site,
there are currently 6 flying Sagitta's left over in the world. For many years there were
only 5, but recently (in 2009) s/n 013 finished restoration and is flying
again. Only a few hundred pilots world wide have ever
flown a Sagitta, and historic information is scarse. So is video and/or film footage, but
every now and then a picture or two will be found - and published on
this site on a continuous base. Enjoy the site - and if you can
contribute with anything, let us know!
"Tradition is not in keeping the ashes, it's in
keeping the flame burning" - French proverb
Specifications
(Source: Jane's World
Sailplanes 1980)
Span 15.0
m. / 49.2 ft 2.5 in.
Length 6.47 m. / 21 ft 2.75 in.
Area 11.98
sq. m. / 129 sq.ft.
Aspect ratio
18.7
Airfoil NACA
63-618
Wing loading
26.71 kg. / sq. m. / 5.46 lb. / sq. ft.
Empty weight
217 kg. / 473 lb.
Payload 105
kg. / 232 lb.
Gross weight
320 kg. / 705 lb.
L/D max. 34
Min. sink
0.64 m/s / 2.1 fps / 1.24 kt
@ 75 kph / 41 kt / 47 mph
Quick guideline to this site:
For a detailed history
of every Sagitta ever made: follow the "History"
link and choose country. Alternatively choose the "Serial Number" link
and you will get there as well.
All pictures are to
be found in the "Photo
Gallery " , also sorted by country. Scans of ads and
magazine articles are spread throughout the site, but can be quickly
located by going to the "Sitemap".
Contributions from historians, writers, journalists,
owners, previous owners and pilots are sorted by country, and to be
found there (follow the "History" link).
All technical information, including modifications,
AD's, drawings and much more is to be found under "Technical".
From there you can acces all information you need as Sagitta owner
to maintain your ship.
Brochures, and
other historic publications are to be found under the "Brochures" link on the "History"
pages.
Picture: A great plane
in a great sky! Picture of ZK-GDO made by Marc Morley flying his
ASW-27 above Auckland, New Zealand.
Dutch / Nederlands Gemakshalve is deze website in het Engels. Als er toch behoefte
bestaat om e.e.a. in het Nederlands te publiceren, laat het even weten.
Ook zijn Nederlandse bijdragen welkom; die kunnen dan door ons vertaald
worden. Robert
Smits
WHAT'S NEW JULY
2010
Finally !!! After being on the web for over 6 years with this site, we finally have received some pictures from teh Aussie Sagitta VH-GQS. Thanks to Graham Watts - pictures to be found here.
WHAT'S NEW 2008
Real big news! Gerda Pieters
let us know that Hannes finally finished restoring s/n 017. Her
maiden flight was in April 2008. Pictures are added in the
photogallery (South Africa).
PH-319, s/n 013 is also flying again. Owned by
the Aviodome Museum in Hollland, but restored by Charles Munnig
Schmidt - and now flying at Hilversum. Pictures are
added.
Many
pictures of the Super Sagitta are added, thanks to Erik Munch. He
also found a colour picture of
the prototype, it's in the "history" section.
The "mods"
page is updated with photos as well, with pictures
of larger rudders and much more. You get there through the "technical"
section.
If you have
any news, drop us a line! Feedback & Webmaster
info This link
also shows what people previously
wrote about this site.
Sagitta video's -->
old and new!
Sagitta ZK-GDO taking off from Drury, Auckland
New
Zealand. Video from 2005; old colour scheme. Click to view or
Right Click "Save Target As..." to download (11 MB)
WHAT'S NEW JULY
2010
