The Evolution of the Kaiser Ka-6 Series

Of the Ka 6 series over 1400 were Manufactured in Poppenhausen in the Rhoen and was, in it's time, the most popular glider produced. Still about 690 are certified in Germany. The first version of the Ka 6 was followed by the Ka 6 A, Ka 6 B, Ka 6 BR,CR and CR PE with flying stabilizer. During its develpoment the span was increased with intermediate step from 14,4 m to 15 m, so that it maximised fully the rules of the standard class at that time. Today it is assigned to the club class

This revolutionary airplane controlled the world standard class from ' 59 to ' 69 , achieving a whole set of new records, e.g. a height record of 10,075m (1967)

Ka-6

The first Ka 6 was a 14 meter wingspan conventional layout glider and was first developed in 1955 as a private venture by Kaiser. The Ka 6 consisted of an eliptical plywood fuselage and utilised a skid as the landing aide and had a one piece unit cockpit which was a totally removable for access. To help prevent stalls when up elevator was applied, the ailerons were linked to give an upward deflection and thereby increase the washout of the wing with the effect that the stalling speed was reduced.

Ka-6A

Alexander Schleicher quickly realised the merits of the glider for club use and decided to put the glider into production. To do so, the span was increased to 14.4 meters to enable a modest increase in performance and was to be known as the Ka-6A

Ka-6B

For this series the wingspan was increased to 15 meters

Ka-6BR

This was the first change to the fuselage by adding a wheel to comply with the standard class requirements. The 'R' in the type name simply stands for 'Rad' which is German for wheel.

Ka-6CR

Kaiser modified the wing root fairing and strenghtened the mainspar to craete this new variant

Ka-6CR/PE

This was to be the forerunner of the Ka-6E. The main modification was to be to the tailplane which now sported an all moving tailplane

Ka-6E

This is the variant as modelled by Cliff Charlesworth

The sleeker Ka-6E is the last matured variant and came on the market in 1965 and was produced concurrently with the Ka- 6CR for three years. The Ka-6E has, compared to the earlier Ka-6CR, a larger plexiglass area (better visibility out of cockpit), a lower fuselage (cross section reduced 10%), a modified leading edge profile and an all-moving tail. It is also approx. 7 cm lower than the predecessor, requiring the seat to be bent to fit. In addition the aerodynamics were improved by a flying tailplane. The canopy is now attached and the wing tip edges were made from GRP.

and this report from a Ka-6E pilot

"The Ka6E is is more sensitive to a given amount of movement of the control column and takes a bit of getting used to - but it is really not very difficult and one soon adjusts to it. The Ka6E is also slightly unstable - any attempt to fly it hands-off leads to gradually increasing variation in pitch, up, down, more up, more down etc. ("phugoids"). Again, it is not really a problem in flight unless you want to spend a lot of time folding your map or something.

I would tolerate a Ka6CR if I could not get anything better, but I can't imagine selling my E even though I now have a glass glider too - the E is just too nice."

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DATA	Ka 6 and Ka 6 A	Ka 6 B, BR,CR and CR/PE	Ka 6 E
Year of construction	1955	1958 and 1960 for 'CR"	1965
Span	14 m and/or 14.4 m	15 m	15 m
Length	6.66 m	6.66 m	6.66 m
Wing area	12.17 m2	12,4 m2	12,4 m2
Aspect ratio	17.04	18.15	18.1
Empty weight	180 kg	185 kg	210 kg
Max. Flight weight	300 kg	300 kg	310 kg
Wing Profile	Root: NACA 63-618 centre: NACA 63-615 Tip: Joukowsky 12.5%
Max. wing loading	24,65 kg/m2	24,19 kg/m2	25,54 kg/m2
Maximum speed	200 km/h	200 km/h	200 km/h
Lift/drag ratio	30 @ 85 km/h	30 @ 85 km/h	34 @ 84 km/h
Glide ratio	0.68 m/s @ 72 km/h	0.65 m/s @ 72 km/h	0.71 m/s @ 72 km/h

Cliffs Model and an example by Pete Russ
See Plans page for details

Schleichers Brochure

Below are example build pictures from Cliffs plan sent by Mark Stone from Australia
(click to enlarge)