Akaflieg Darmstadt D-9 Konsul
The Akaflieg Darmstadt D-9 Konsul, often shortened to Darmstadt D-9 Konsul, was a high performance, single seat, cantilever monoplane sailplane, designed and built by a German University student group in 1923 for hill soaring. Development The Akademische Fliegergruppe of the Technical University of Darmstadt was first formed in 1921. It was, and is, a group of aeronautical students who design and construct aircraft as part of their studies and with the help and encouragement of their University. The 1923 D-9 monoplane was named in honour of Karl Kotzenberg, sometime Consul General to Norway, who had provided financial support for the project. It was the most advanced glider of its day and had the highest aspect ratio (initially 16.66) of any existing aircraft. The Konsul was a wood-framed aircraft with a high, cantilever, single spar wing with stressed 3-ply covering from the spar to the leading edge and fabric covered aft. It was built in three parts, an 8 m (26 ft 3 in) inner section with a box spar and outer panels with an I-section one. The wing had a thick and strongly cambered profile, using the then new Göttingen 535 airfoil with its high lift to drag ratio that