The youngest of three historic gliders

that you see during AirShow and its history  
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VT-16 Orlík

The high-performance laminar sailplane Standard 15 first flew in August 1956. After several modifications it was put into a serial production as VT 16 Orlík. The glider was originally designed by Ing. Jiří Matějíček for the gliding centre in Medlánky where they produced two prototypes and the serial production was handed over to the Orličan company in Choceň.. The Orlík fully replaced the ageing Šohaj glider and in relatively short time it became a standard single seat glider serving Czech gliding clubs.

VT-116 Orlík II

The aircraft was established in 1963 as a replacement for the older VT-16th He got a completely new fuselage with a smaller front face and the chevron vertical tail. With less angle of the wing to the fuselage with improved performance at higher speeds. The introduction of the VT 116 resulted in a greatly improved sport performance in competitions. VT 116 Orlík II is a single seat laminar high-wing monoplane of all-wood construction. Trapezoidal wing is between the ribs filled with polystyrene foam, covered with ply and equipped with flaps. Fuselage is a single-shell construction and the cockpit is covered with a hinged single sheet of organic glass. The hinged elevator is fitted with stabilising tab. Undercarriage: a fixed tail wheel and a covered tail skid. The aircraft has a wingspan of 16 m, it is 7.4 m long and it has a take-off weight of 345 kg. Its maximum speed was 220km/h now is restricted to 160km/h and the minimum speed is 62 km/h. Altogether about 300 aircrafts were produced. After 1989 they were often restored and about 60 of them are still flying today.