RLM numbering system for gliders and sailplanes

Contrary to the methods used by the Reich Air Ministry (RLM) for the allocation of aircraft designations, the designers and manufacturers of sailplanes and gliders in Germany enjoyed the freedom of choosing their own designations for their products up until 1945.

Thus a bird name like Habicht could be used, or a number combined with two or more letters, stemming from the designer's or factory's name, such as DFS, RRG or Göppingen. The RLM only assigned them for every design a separate number, which obviously served the same purposes as that used with aircraft, namely to provide a common basis for an exchange of drawings in the event of an intended production under license by other firms or by clubs, or even single persons and to secure the provision of spare parts. A rigid system of rules for the form and order of drawings was applied.

Whereas RLM aircraft designations were prefixed by the number 8, glider references began with "108-", for example 108-53 referred to the DFS Habicht.

The following list of gliders is from the Flugzeug-Typenbuch of 1939/40. Unlike the list of aeroplanes in the same book, none of the glider designations include the RLM number, although post-1945 publications often refer to the Grunau Baby, for example, as the "DFS 108-49 Grunau Baby":

• Akaflieg Darmstadt D 28b Windspiel
• Akaflieg Darmstadt D 30 Darmstadt
• Akaflieg Darmstadt D 31
• Akaflieg München Mü 10 Milan
• Akaflieg München Mü 13 Merlin
• Akaflieg München Mü 13D-2.
• Akaflieg München Mü 17 Merle
• Blessing Kolibri-B
• DFS Fafnir II
• DFS Habicht
• DFS Kranich
• DFS Olympia
• DFS Präsident
• DFS Reiher
• Dittmar Condor HD II
• Dittmar Condor III
• FAG Chemnitz C 11
• FAG Esslingen E 3
• FFG Aachen FVA 10b Rheinland
• FFG Aachen FVA 11 Eifel
• FFG Aachen FVA 9
• FFG Berlin B 5
• FFG Berlin B 6
• FFG Berlin B 8
• FFG Hannover AFH 4
• FFG Stuttgart FS 16 "Wippsterz"
• FFG Stuttgart FS 18a
• Grunau 7 Moazagotl
• Grunau 8
• Grunau Baby 2a
• Grunau Commodore
• Gumpert Schwalbe II
• Horten II
• Horten III
• Hütter 17
• Hütter H 28 III
• Jacobs Schweyer Weihe
• NSFK SG 38
• Raab R 2
• Schempp-Hirth Gö 1 Wolf
• Schempp-Hirth Gö 3 Minimoa
• Schleicher Rhönadler
• Schleicher Rhönbussard
• Schweyer Rhönsperber

After the Second World War, gliding was prohibited in Germany, but when the sport began again in 1951, glider types were allocated a Geräte-Nummer (Type Approval number). New designs were given numbers from 101, but the following older types used their RLM designation as the Geräte-Nummer:

• 14 SG 38
• 30 Kranich II
• 49 Grunau Baby IIb
• 50 Rhönbussard
• 51 Rhönsperber
• 53 Habicht
• 59 Gö 3 Minimoa
• 63 Mü 13D
• 66 Baby III
• 68 Weihe
• 70 Olympia-Meise
• 72 Mü 17

References

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