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08 August 2006 |
 
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The history of s/n 002, 008, 009, 011, 016, and 019Very little is known of the 6 Sagitta's exported to the USA.
We know that one crashed without serious harm to the pilot. That was s/n
002, ex PH-280 from Holland. This one was exported from Holland together
with s/n 008, PH-310. All information regarding N6445 is welcome,
especially pictures, owners, and the cause of the accident etc. etc.
Latest discovery: Weight & Balance sheet from 1974 of the missing N6445. Signed off by Hans VanderVlugt (A&P 1678214). This document was sitting in between other paperwork of N6446... It appears Hans imported both Sagitta's at the same time. As more information will steadily become available when previous owners discover the website, these pages will be updated continuously. It is a delight to be in contact with at least 3 current owners of Sagittas in the USA at this point of time. These documents show in the following order (click
doc to
enlarge):
An email from Howard 18 August 2004: My Sagitta is heavy (564 lb (256 kg). This bothers me and I think it hinders the performance. I don't have any of the mods on the plane but have never had any problems. I have measured a polar for my ship but only get around 29/1 L/D at around 50 Kt." There is no lead at the ailerons, and no ballast in the nose. Actually as far as the logbooks show no particular mods have been done, except from a tail wheel. There was a nylon wheel boxed in once, but it got broken at a landing (when the plane was borrowed to someone else) and Howard closed up the box and mounted a foot with rubber tailskid and wheel. Another interesting detail: there are no electrics in N6446. The panel is aluminum with rosewood veneer and the pellet vario and Cook compass are put in for the vintage look.
s/n 009, the one and only 17 metre ship, originally registered in Belgium as OO-ZEV. Nothing is known about it's Belgian life, but as USA registered N12DC, it was for sale some years ago. Current owner is Dutchman Doedo Schipper, Colorado (ex member of Gliding Club Hoogeveen, Holland). Probably not airworthy as it needed a lot of wing work due to delamination. However, a previous owner, Harry Chittick, writes the following to us: "This is amazing. It never occurred to me when I flew the Sagitta that it would become a collectors item. Let's see what I can tell you off the top of my head. I purchased the plane from a retired USAF SMSgt in Sacramento California in about 1973. As I recall I paid about $3500 for it including the trailer (which was homemade from aluminum tubes and sheet metal). I had learned to soar at a glider port near Vacaville California and then had produced, directed and reported a television story on soaring for the station I worked at. That put me in touch with several national caliber competition pilots which led me to the fellow I bought the plane from. I flew the Sagitta at Vacaville, Calistoga and Minden Nevada. At Minden I got my gold badge in the Sagitta so it has a special place in my heart. About 1976 I moved to southern California. I stored the plane at Crystal Air Sailplane base near Mojave and hoped to keep it. But circumstances made I had to sell her. The plane was put on the market for $3000and was eventually purchased by a fellow in Phoenix. I lost track of her after that. She was in very good shape while I flew her. I added twin oxygen bottles and a diluter-demand regulator but those were the only modifications I made. She was a creamy brown and white with the air brakes in red. The cockpit was tight with seating in a semi-reclined position. In flight the visibility was superb and the wings seemed to come right out of your shoulders. She handled very smoothly in flight ( I never experienced the flutter problem but never took her to near red-line). I seem to recall that I could stay pretty close to a standard Lebelle and I think I could approach 39/1 L/D. Landings were another matter. It was critical to line up perfectly and land at or near stall speed since the rudder stopped working at about 30mph. That could lead to some interesting landings...ground loops and excursions into the weeds being the most common. The tail skid and landing wheel flaring took a real beating. I think I would have sold it soon anyway because the landings were just too tough...it was just going to be a matter of time before I really pranged it. Assembly and disassembly were easy once you got the hang of lining everything up and inserting the 2 (?) large bolts. Someone had constructed a nifty dolly arrangement for rotating the wing and lining it up to the fuselage. The construction was very nice and showed real craftsmanship. There was a bit of everything...fiberglass, metal, wood, cloth...a real hybrid and a bridge between generations. I hope this sheds a bit of light. I seem to recall the fellow I bought her from saying that there was at least one other 17...but I could be mistaken. Good luck with your project and do keep me informed."
s/n 019 N9121 It is registered by John Karlovitch and he
used to race it. A few years ago he claimed he didn't fly it anymore, but
his son did fly it. Rumour has it that one of the wings is warped. Thanks to
Mitch Deutsch we know the Sagitta is now owned by his son Jimmy, and it's
stationed at Jim's airfield, Etowah Bend, just northwest of Atlanta GA.
We're not sure if it's airworthy, but it hasn't flown for 10 years and is
currently stored in a closed trailer inside a hangar. John purchased it from
Brian Evans in the early 80's , after a repair of fuselage damage from a
ground loop landing roll at Chilhowee. Brian Evans of Evans Sailplane
Rep
Accident report to be found
here.
To sum it all up: of the 6 Sagittas exported to the USA, only two are still flying, one is in storage and the status of one is still unknown. The history of s/n 002 and the 17 meter one remains hazy for now as well - but we'll get to that in time to come. Since we have nothing more to report for now, here is a picture of Howards Sagitta i flight, taken by Neal Pfeiffer, Witchika KS, from his Ka-6E, N1342.
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This site was last updated 08-Aug-2006
airworthiness certificate and it wasn't flying. It was in
desperate need of refinishing but didn't seem to be damaged (see picture). The original
Dutch logs show it had mostly been flying at Teuge.
s/n 008 in 1963.
s/n
008 in 1979.
s/n 008 in 2004.
Hans
Leenaarts submitted some pictures of N12DC, obviously still in the colours
as described by Harry. Place and year unknown. More pictures in the
photogallery.
