The Akaflieg München Mü5 Wastl is a glider

Glider aircraft

Glider aircraft are heavier-than-air craft that are supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against their lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Mostly these types of aircraft are intended for routine operation without engines, though engine failure can...

 that was designed and built in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1924

Development

Tail-less aircraft have been the dream of many aircraft designers in their quest for reduced drag and greater aerodynamic efficiency, with the students and faculty at Akaflieg München equally fascinated by aircraft without tails. To research the performance and handling of tail-less aircraft the students designed and built the Mü5 Wastl, consisting of a highly swept wing, mounted on a pylon above a streamlined fuselage pod, and wingtip panels mounted with marked anhedral.

Nicknamed “Fliegendes Ei” – “Flying Egg” the Mü5 Wastl was not very successful with a longest flight time of only 15s before the aircraft crashed due to the starboard wing dropping and contacting the ground, which had been a persistent problem in all flight attempts before the final hop.

Egon Scheibe, a notable glider designer of later years, who was one of the students at Akaflieg München at the time of the Mü5 Wastl, is quoted as saying “Unser einziger Trost war daß es anderen Leuten mit schwanzlosen Flugzeugen ähnlich erging.“ – (The only consolation is that other flying wings have had similar problems).

Variants

Akaflieg München Mü7

To investigate the properties of the Mü5 Wastl's wing and develop a sailplane for weak thermals, it was proposed by Egon Scheibe to fit a conventional fuselage to the Mü5 Wastl wing, but lack of time meant that hardware was not forthcoming.

Specifications (Mü5 Wastl)