Erla 5


The Erla 5 was a light, single-seat sport aircraft built in small numbers in Germany in the early 1930s. A trainer version was demonstrated on long-distance flights in 1939, but failed to attract orders.

Design

The Erla 5 was designed by Franz Mehr. It was a low-wing, cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration. It had fixed, tailskid undercarriage, and a conventional tail. Power was supplied by a piston engine in the nose driving a tractor propeller. The pilot sat in an open cockpit. The wings were detachable and the aircraft was designed to be towed by road. Construction was of wood throughout, and covered in plywood except for the fabric-covered control surfaces. It was capable of aerobatics.
Contemporary publications referred to it as a . The price in 1935 was 3,875 Reichsmarks.

Operational history

The Erla 5 prototype first flew on 18 July 1932.
Between 1 April and 20 May 1939, Friedrich Aufermann made a three-continent flight in an Erla 5, from Europe to Asia, Africa, and back again, covering around. On 2 August, Heinz Gabler set a class distance record in an Erla 5, flying from Friedrichshafen to Vännäs,.
As of 2020, one Erla 5 was still preserved in flying condition, a privately owned example in Switzerland, registered HB-SEX.

Variants

  • Erla Me 5
  • Erla Me 5a
  • Erla Me 5b
  • Erla Me 5c
  • '''Erla 5D'''

    Specifications (variant)