The Akademische Fliegeruppe Darmstadt also received some orders from individuals or club and these, built in ones or twos, were client named, received no D- number and brought welcome funds to the group. These, too, were sometimes also designed by student teams and often built by them.

The Württemberg was made for Wolf Hirth, who named it after his home state. The Württemberg was a high, cantilever wing aircraft. Its wing, like the rest of the aircraft was wooden and covered with a mixture of plywood and fabric. It was built around a single spar, with ply covering from it around the leading edge forming a torsion-resistant D-box. Behind the spar the wing was mostly fabric covered. In plan there was a rectangular centre section that filled about 40% of the span and tapered outer panels tapering to elliptical tips. The ailerons filled about 40% of the span from the tips.

The Württemberg’s wing was mounted over the fuselage on a low, ply covered pylon which sat on top of the fuselage and extended well behind the wing trailing edge, gradually decreasing in height. Its open, unscreened cockpit was partly under the leading edge. The fuselage was ovoid in cross section, tapering and becoming more pointed on its underside aft. It was entirely ply covered. All tail surfaces were built in a similar way to the wing. Both rudder and elevators were all-moving and balanced, with straight edges, rounded tips and with their short mountings faired into the fuselage. The rudder extended down to the keel, so a generous cut-out in the elevators was provided for its movement. The Württemberg had a short landing skid under the forward fuselage and a spring type tailskid.

A second Württemberg was completed in 1929 at the Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau GmbH (“Klemm Light Aircraft Company”) for the Württembergischer Luftfahrt-Verband (Aeronautical Association Württemberg) at Stuttgart, with slightly greater wing area and a shorter fuselage.

First flying in 1927, in 1928 Hirth flew the Württemberg in France at the International contest at Vauville, on the Channel coast near Cherbourg, with great success. Glider flight here followed the coast over sandhills and relied on slope lift from a West wind; the Württemberg was suited to the weak wind that blew during the competition. He won prizes for the greatest height gain (327 m (1,073 ft)), straight-line distance (29 km (18 mi)), height (1,244 m (4,080 ft)) and for the number of flights lasting more than 30 minutes (10).

Württemberg (1927)
Wingspan: 15.20 m (49 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 15.75 m2 (169.5 sq ft)
Aspect ratio: 14.6
Airfoil: Göttingen 535
Length: 6.465 m (21 ft 3 in)
Empty weight: 149.25 kg (329 lb)
Gross weight: 235 kg (518 lb)
Wing loading: 15 kg/m2 (3.1 lb/sqft)
Crew: One

The RFD Company constructed the Albatross to C.H. Latimer-Needham’s design, the first British-designed and built sailplane. It was a conventional wooden single-seat aircraft, its cantilever high wing having a constant chord centre section and outboard straight-tapered panels from about mid-span. Ailerons were fitted from the wing tips over most of the outboard sections but here were no flaps or air brakes. The wing was mounted with slight dihedral on top of the fuselage, which was rectangular in cross section and tapered only a little towards the tail. There were no fixed rear surfaces, both elevators and rudder being all moving. The elevator, mounted on top of the fuselage, had constant chord apart from a cut-out for rudder movement; the latter was tall, with a vertical leading edge and curved trailing edge.

The Albatross’s single-seat open cockpit was at the leading edge of the wing, with a fairing behind the pilot’s head reaching aft beyond the trailing edge. Originally it landed on a skid which was part of a V-shaped ventral extension of the fuselage, running from just behind the nose about half the length of the aircraft. Twin landing wheels were fitted later.

Only one Albatross was built, receiving its Certificate of Airworthiness in October 1930. It appeared at the Glider Show held at The Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington in May 1931.

One owner was A.E. Coltman of the Leicestershire Air Sports Club who did some soaring at Sutton Bank.

It was later sold to Edwin S Griffis, who was killed when the wing failed when it was being launched at the Furness Gliding Club site at Ireleth on 12 August 1936.

Wingspan: 42 ft 0 in (12.8 m)
Wing area: 180 sq ft (16.72 m2)
Length: 20 ft 8 in (6.3 m)
Aspect ratio: 10
Airfoil: Göttingen 535
Empty weight: 205 lb (93 kg)
Gross weight: 360 lb (163 kg)