The Franklin PS-2 was the 1-26 of the 1930's and won three of the first four U.S. Championships. It gave a start in soaring to notables such as Richard Du Pont, Warren Eaton, Floyd Sweet, Stan Smith and many others.

The designation PS-2 was coined for the intended function of the glider, a primary and a secondary too. The ship has no spoilers.

Several cross-country tow experiments were made with the ship. The long-wing prototype, the Texaco Eaglet was towed from California to Elmira by Frank Hawks in 1931. That ship is now at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

The 1934 Lustig Skytrain experiment had Jack O'Meara, R.E. Franklin and Stan Smith towed nose to tail behind a towplane, starting in New York, dropping a glider in Philadelphia one in Baltimore and ending in Washington.

In a more normal application, Ralph Barnaby directed a U.S. Navy primary flight training experiment in Pensacola, FL using PS-2s in 1934.

The National Soaring Museum had three examples and another (the last of the 6 acquired for the U.S. Navy experiment) belongs to the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola, FL.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks to the Soaring Society of America (SSA), for permission to use text and specs from their publications. More information on vintage soaring craft may be found at their pages and in their publications and those of the Vintage Sailplane Association.

Franklin PS-2 (Primary and Secondary too)

click for larger image Gordon with his freshly built model and the restorers of the full size Franklin. In 2005 at the Vintage Sailplane Association (VSA) meet at Elmira, the Franklin, was donated to the National Soaring Museum. It is the oldest flying glider or sailplane in the US.  A sweet little vintage sailplane. TMRC is in the process of redrawing original modeling prints with callouts for stock sizes and parts shown for use as templates for the scratch builder. Once done, We will begin offering short kits which will include the two critical fuselage formers fore and aft of the wing mounting plate and hardware, plus all of the wing and aileron ribs, and the aileron spars. Tails will be built up with square and flat stock and we will provide curved lightweight ply round edges for the tails with jigging slots to make the assembly both fast and accurate and to add strength to the structure without the need for gussets.

SPECS Span: Length: Aspect: Area: All up weight: Wing loading: Airfoil: Scale: 1:4 scale No. Servos Req'd: 4-5 FUNCTIONS: Rudder, Elevator, Ailerons, Tow Release

Ordering Information Please visit our other pages for plans only or replacement parts orders.

SHIPPING	A shipping charge of $15 US will be added to orders for continental US delivery. Please check local distributor listings for overseas deliveries.