RRG Fafnir RRG Fafnir The RRG Fafnir, named after the legendary dragon, was a single seat German high performance glider designed by Alexander Lippisch. It won the Rhön competition in 1931 and made several outstanding flights as well as setting a fashion for gull wings. Lippisch began the design of the influential Fafnir in 1929. Its refined design proved difficult to construct and the aircraft was only just ready for flight tests at the start of the 1930 Rhön competition on the Wasserkuppe. The Fafnir was not the first glider with a cantilever wing, for the Darmstadt Konsul had been built seven
RRG Fafnir covered ahead of the spar, with fabric covering aft. Laterally stabilising dihedral was not common on gliders in 1929 but Lippisch applied it to about 40% of the inner span on the Fafnir, producing a gull wing. Many later gliders followed this form, though it is harder to build and has no solid aerodynamic justification. The trailing edges of the outer part of the wing carried broad and constant chord ailerons. The Fafnir's fuselage was oval in cross section, carefully streamlined with a ply skin and becoming slender behind the wing. The cockpit was just ahead of the wing and