Design and Development
By the end of the 1970s the company decided to end manufacture of the SGS 1-26 one-design class sailplane, which had been in production since 1954. The 1-26 had proven the concept and popularity of one-design soaring competition and the company felt that a similar aircraft, but with more performance, would be popular.
The prototype SGS 1-36 first flew in August 1979 and the Sprite was certified under type certificate G5EA on 15 October 1980.
The first customer delivery was made on 16 October 1980 to Al Freedy of Hinckley Soaring, Schweizer's dealer in Chicago, where it was employed as a rental aircraft. In late 1980 Schweizer had 32 dealers listed and each one was required to order an SGS 1-36.
The 1-36 is an all-metal aircraft with a monocoque fuselage. The wing is covered in aluminum sheet and the aircraft's elevator and rudder are fabric covered. The Sprite's wing has balanced top and bottom divebrakes set well aft near the trailing edge. The 1-36 is not equipped for water ballast.
The SGS is equipped with a 13-inch (330 mm) diameter X 5-inch (130 mm) main wheel. The wheel has a hydraulic brake that is actuated by full application of the spoilers.
The pitot tube is installed in the nose air intake, which gives it good protection during ground handling. The static ports are located 14 inches (35.6 cm) aft of the nose and the fuselage sides. Their location provides accurate indicated airspeed above 56 knots (64 mph, 104 km/h) but provide increasing errors below that speed, up to 4.5 knots (5.2 mph, 8.3 km/h) at the stall.
Assembly of the 1-36 is accomplished by inserting the wings and installing the main spar pins and fore and aft drag pins. The T-tail has a fixed section and the two horizontal stabilizer and elevator sections are inserted in that and retained with one pin. The elevators and divebrakes hook up automatically on assembly, but the ailerons require the manual insertion of pins.
The Sprite was built in two different versions, differing only in main wheel placement.
The 1-36 type certificate is currently held by K & L Soaring of Cayuta, New York. K & L Soaring now provides all parts and support for the Schweizer line of sailplanes.
Read more about this topic: Schweizer SGS 1-36 Sprite
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