LAK-15
The LAK-15, sometimes known as the LAK-15 Lietuve, was a high performance sailplane designed to set records. A one-off, it was built in the late 1980s in Lithuania, then a member of the USSR.
Design and development
The LAK-15 was designed as a record breaking sailplane and so had a very large span wing with an aspect ratio of 38.4. This was trapezoidal in plan, with 3° of dihedral. It was set at mid-fuselage, built around a single, carbon fibre spar and skinned with three-ply glass fibre/carbon fibre. There were high aspect ratio ailerons over at least half the span, with two flaps inboard. Each wing also had a spoiler and a tank for about of water ballast.The oval section fuselage, built of composites, was deepest ahead of the wing with the pilot in semi-reclining position under a long single-piece canopy. Behind the wing the fuselage was very slender and ended with an integral, trapezoidal profile fin. The LAK-15 had a T-tail, with a trapezoidal-plan tailplane carrying rectangular elevators. The fin also carried a broad, rectangular profile rudder.
The LAK-15 landed on a retractable monowheel, equipped with a shock absorber and brake, and a fixed tailwheel.