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Arlington Susi 1A Photo: Robert Deering 10/23/2006 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Dulles International Airport (IAD) Chantilly, Virginia |
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The
Sisu 1A
is a competition sailplane built in
the United States in the late 1950s
and early 1960s. Originally designed
by
Leonard
Niemi as a homebuilt sailplane, its
first flight in 1958 showed such
promise that Niemi decided instead
to manufacture it in series
production. Niemi formed the
Arlington Aircraft Company for this
purpose. The Sisu 1A quickly proved
itself as the most competitive
American sailplane ever developed,
winning the 1962, 1965, and 1967
U.S. National Soaring Championships. In 1967, Bill Ivans (his Schempp-Hirth Nimbus II in NASM collection) set a national speed record flying a Sisu 1A at El Mirage, California, by skimming across the desert at 135 kph (84 mph) over a 100-kilometer (62-mile) triangular course. Alvin H. Parker took off from his hometown, Odessa, Texas, at the controls of the National Air and Space Museum's Sisu 1A and flew 1,042 km (647 miles) on July 31, 1964. This flight also shattered a symbolic and psychological barrier that had defeated sailplane pilots around the world for years. Joseph Lincoln called the 1,000-km milestone "for a good many years …the soaring pilot's four-minute mile on both sides of the Atlantic" in his soaring anthology, "On Quiet Wings," published in 1972. Dimensions: Wingspan: 15.2 m (50 ft) Length: 6.4 m (21 ft 2 in) Height: 1 m (41 in) Weights: Empty, 246 kg (546 lb) Gross, 349 kg (775 lb)
Source:
Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum |
