FVA 8 - Grunau Baby II

Just as with the FVA-7, the assignment of the project designation FVA-8 is not entirely certain. There are essentially two conjectures as to which aircraft might be meant:

The “MS II” of Hermann Mayer

The “Grunau Baby” of unexplained origin, with which the FVA appeared at the Rhön competition in 1934.

Since the above mentioned “Grunau Baby” but nothing else is known, but the “MS II” was designed by the “quasi-member” Hermann Mayer, this aircraft should be reported here.

The “MS II” had again been designed by Mayer on the principle of achieving good performance with the simplest possible means:

“It has performed excellently in various slope and cross-country flights under the guidance of the designer; above all, the maneuverability and the calm attitude of the machine in the air are surprisingly good, which can be explained by the long, angular fuselage, the large rudder and the amply dimensioned ailerons.

The fuselage, rudder and suspension have been taken over from the previous year’s machine (“M I”). Given the large wingspan of 20m, the wing could no longer be rectangular, but the outer wings decrease in a straight line towards the outside. The wing is single spar with torsionally stiff plywood leading edge and auxiliary spar. Empty weight 182 kg, wing area 20 m, length 8.5m. Aspect ratio l:20.”

(Flugsport 1930, No. 17)