Homebuilt Gliders of New Zealand - Bryan HP 18

The Bryan HP 18 is a later design by Richard Schreder, than his earlier RS 15 posted about previously.   Richard Schreder was the American Soaring Champion in 1958, 1960 and 1966, and he formed his company, the Bryan Aircraft Company of Bryan, Ohio to market kits of his homebuilt gliders.  HP 18 kits were sold in the late 1970's and in the 1980's.

The HP 18 is a 15 metre class glider with a very reclining seating position.  Its fuselage is built from a pre-fabricated composite forward pod with a semi-monocoque aluminium rear fuselage, and it has a retractable main wheel.  The wings are built from aluminium spars with PVC foam ribs and glued and rivetted aluminium skins.

Its length is 23 feet 2 inches (7.07 Metres) and its wingspan is 49 feet 2 inches (15.0 metres), with an aspect ratio of 21.4.  Its empty weight is 470 pounds (213 Kg) and MAUW is 970 pounds (446 Kg) which includes 200 pounds of disposable water ballast.  It has a maximum glide ratio of 38 to 1.

We have had 2 Bryan HP 18 gliders in New Zealand (to date).

ZK-GES (c/n AACA/295) was built by Errol Shirtliffe of Nelson and was first registered on 14/2/80.  The above photo was taken at Nelson but I do not have a record of who took it.  It was sold to P J Trevathan of Queenstown on 24/7/92 and then back to Nelson with  the A J J Glasgow and R H Corlett syndicate on 18/8/95.  It suffered an accident and was cancelled on 21/5/96.

ZK-GVB (c/n AACA/569) was built by H J Bryner and D R Moody of Auckland and was first registered on 7/9/83.  It was sold to Tim Hardwick-Smith of Eltham on 30/9/97 and it is still owned by him (although it is likely to be sold soon).  It was test flown with a bolt on engine in 2002.

Thanks very much to Tim Hardwick-Smith for the above photo, taken at Stratford on 4/3/05.