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Manuel Condor
One of the pioneer British sailplane designers before the war, Mr W. L Manuel became concerned at the number of fatal accidents in hang gliding, and in the Condor has designed a simple two-seater sailplane intended especially for hill soaring and aimed at meeting the needs of those who would like to fly but who could not afford the price of a modern high performance sailplane, and who do not have the skills or the time to construct one of the homebuilt designs now on offer.
Resembling the primary trainers of the early 1930s in appearance, the Condor has a short boat-shaped fuselage nacelle of metal tube construction with comfortable side-by-side seating for two in an open cockpit; at the rear of the nacelle is a pylon on which the high constant chord wings are mounted, these being braced by V-struts on each side to a keel running under the cockpit. The tail unit is carried on an open girder-type rear fuselage of aluminium tubing, the tail surfaces being of generous area with fabric covered ribs and widechord elevators. The landing gear consists of a bow shaped ash skid under the fuselage nacelle, with rubber rollers as shock absorbers.
The prototype Condor made its first flight in August 1976 and in addition to local soaring has made a number of longer distance flights.
Span: 50 ft 2.5 in / 15.3 m
Length: 21 ft 0 in / 6.4 m
Wing area: 250.0 sq ft / 23.23 sq.m
Aspect ratio:10.0
Wing section: Gottingen 462
Empty weight: 492 lb / 223 kg
Max weight: 899 lb / 408 kg
Water ballast: None
Max wing loading 17.57 kg/sq.m / 3.6 lb/sq ft
Max speed: 86.5 mph / 75 kt / 139 km/h
Stalling speed: 32 kt / 59 km/h
Best glide ratio: 14:1
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