SGS 2-8
US Marine Corps LNS-1s in 1942
Role	Open-class sailplane
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Schweizer Aircraft Corporation
Designer	Ernest and Paul A Schweizer
First flight	June 1938[1]
Number built	57

The Schweizer SGS 2-8 is a United States two-seat, mid-wing, strut-braced, training glider built by Schweizer Aircraft of Elmira, New York.^[2]

The 2-8 was originally known simply as "The Schweizer Two-Place" when it first flew in June 1938. When World War II started the 2-8 became a military trainer for the US Army, Navy and Marines and all existing aircraft were drafted into military service. After the war they were sold as surplus and quickly became sought after in civil soaring for their structural strength, lightness and their rugged all-metal design. The 2-8 became one of the most popular post war trainers in the USA.^[2][3]

Design and development[link]

During the 1920s and 30s gliding was often self taught or taught in single place sailplanes. An instructor would often coach the student using hand signals from the automobile towing the glider into the air. By the mid-1930s the benefits of having a two-place glider for training were beginning to be recognized by glider instructors.^[1][2]

A number of two-place designs were demonstrated in the US, including the Gross Sky Ghost in 1932, the Funk two-place and the Bowlus-duPont two place, both of which first flew in 1933.^[1]

In late 1937 the Airhoppers Gliding Club of Long Island, New York approached the Schweizer brothers to see about the design of a Schweizer two-place glider specifically for training purposes.^[1]

The Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company built the 2-8 prototype over the winter of 1937-38. The aircraft was completed and first flew in June 1938, in time to fly in the US National Soaring Championships.^[1]

The first dozen 2-8s delivered went to clubs and individuals and were not certified aircraft at that time.^[2] One 2-8 was ordered by the Soaring Society of America for use by their general manager, Henry Wightman, and was flown from the Washington DC area.^[4]

At the time of the sale to SSA, Bob McDowell, the attorney who notarized the bill of sale, indicated to the Schweizers that they should move their manufacturing operation out of their father's barn and relocate to the Elmira, NY area. The Schweizers received the suggestion positively as they needed more space to produce gliders, but they had no money with which to make the move. McDowell convinced Elmira Industries Inc, the local business development corporation, to provide space for the Schweizers on the second floor of the Elmira Knitting Mill Building in return for stock in the company. This resulted in the Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company becoming the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation, with a sale of shares to Elmira Industries, local businessmen and soaring pilots.^[4]

Orders for 2-8s came in from a group of Bell Aircraft employees, a youth group, a number of gliding schools, as well as several individuals.^[4]

The 2-8 received type certificate GTC 5 on 28 June 1940.^[5]

The type certificate is currently held by K & L Soaring of Cayuta, New York. K & L Soaring now provides all parts and support for the Schweizer line of sailplanes.^[5][6]

Manufactured aircraft are known as SGS 2-8s while those assembled from factory kits are designated as SGS 2-8A.^[5]

The 2-8 has a welded steel tube fuselage covered in aircraft fabric. The aluminum wings feature assembly with self-tapping PK screws and very few rivets.^[2][3]

Operational history[link]

LNS-1 at Parris Island, 1942.

N3N Canary trainers were used to tow three LNS-1.

In April 1941 the Schweizers were contacted by the US Army Air Force. The USAAF, impressed by the German Army's use of gliders to capture the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael during the campaign of the previous summer, had decided to commence a glider pilot training program. The USAAF was in need of training gliders and the Schweizers offered the SGS 2-8 as the ideal aircraft for the role.^[7]

On August 10, 1941 the AAF issued a statement on the procurement of the 2-8:

"What is probably a record in procurement was established in the case of the contract with the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation of Elmira New York. This contract, covering three two-place gliders to CAA Class 2 requirements, with certain modifications, was signed in Washington DC on June 27, 1941. The first glider under contract has its initial flight test July 2, at Big Flats Airport, Elmira, New York and is now at Wright Field." ^[7]

In the first part of 1942 Lieutenant General William S. Knudsen of the War Production Board conducted an inspection of the Schweizer factory, still located on the second floor of the Elmira Knitting Mill. He looked at the antiquated plant and instructed the Schweizers to "get out of here". He was instrumental in the move of the 2-8 production line to a new plant built for Schweizer Aircraft by the Defense Plants Corporation at the soon-to-be completed Chemung County Airport.^[8]

The US Navy and Marine Corps also ordered the 2-8 as a glider trainer.^[3][2]

Because the 2-8 was made from aluminum and steel, which were both declared "strategic materials", a replacement design was needed. The Schweizers designed the SGS 2-12 as a wooden version of the 2-8, incorporating some improvements, such as a lower-mounted cantilever wing to improve instructor visibility. The 2-12 succeeded the 2-8 in production and 114 were produced with the designation TG-3A.^[2]

Competitions & Records[link]

Distance flying in the 2-8 is challenging, given its 23:1 glide ratio and red-line speed limit of just 72 mph (117 km/h). SGS 2-8s were flown in several US national competitions and held a number of records at one time.^[2][3]

Records held include a flight to goal from Elmira, New York to Washington, DC, a distance of 373 km (232 statute miles) flown by Bob Stanley and Ernie Schweizer.^[2][3]

Dick Johnson set a multi-place distance record of 499 km (310 statute miles) in a 2-8.^[2][3]

In May 2008 there were still 23 SGS 2-8s registered in the USA along with one 2-8A.^[9]

Variants[link]

SGS 2-8

The basic factory produced model was designated as the SGS 2-8.^[2]

SGS 2-8A

SGS 2-8s assembled from factory kits were accepted as certified aircraft and were designated as SGS 2-8A. They were otherwise identical to the 2-8.^[5]

TG-2

The production version of the 2-8 for the US Army Air Force was given the military designation of TG-2, indicating "Training Glider 2".^[2][3]

TG-2A

The designation of TG-2A was applied to previously produced civilian versions of the 2-8 that were conscripted into USAAF use. The military tracked down all 2-8s in the USA and bought them for military training from their civilian owners.^[2][3]

LNS-1

The production version constructed for the US Navy and US Marines was designated as the LNS-1.^[2][3]

Aircraft on display[link]

There is a 2-8, N10VV, in the National Soaring Museum and three versions of the LNS-1, on loan to the National Warplane Museum, the Marine Corps Aviation Museum in Quantico, Virginia and in the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola, Florida.^[3][10]

Specifications[link]

General characteristics

• Crew: Two
• Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (18.84 m)
• Wing area: 214 ft² (19.88 m²)
• Aspect ratio: 12.6
• Wing profile: NACA 4412
• Empty weight: 450 lb (204 kg)
• Gross weight: 860 lb (390 kg)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 72 mph (115 km/h)
• Maximum glide ratio: 23 at 42 mph (67 km/h)
• Rate of sink: 165 ft/min (0.84 m/s)

See also[link]

Related lists

• List of gliders
  

References[link]

External links[link]

• Detailed photos of the SGS 2-8 (US Marine LNS-1) in the NSM

3-2-1 Contact is an American science educational television show that aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988, and an adjoining children's magazine. The show, a production of the Children's Television Workshop, teaches scientific principles and their applications. Dr. Edward G. Atkins, who was responsible for much of the scientific content of the show, felt that the TV program wouldn't replace a classroom but would open the viewers to ask questions about the scientific purpose of things.^[1]

History[link]

3-2-1 Contact was the brainchild of Samuel Y. Gibbon, Jr., who had been the executive producer of The Electric Company for CTW from 1971 to 1977. (Gibbon actually left CTW before Contact's production began, though he was still credited as "Senior Consultant.")

The first season of 65 programs began airing January 14, 1980 on select PBS member stations; it featured a cast of three college students who discussed science in an on-campus room known as the Workshop. The first season came to an end on April 11, 1980, but funds for more episodes were not sufficient until 1982.

When production resumed for the second season, which premiered on October 17, 1983, the show presented a more realistic appearance, as the new cast convened in a suburban basement (these segments were shot at Reeves Teletape, which also housed Sesame Street at the time). This cast continued until October 18, 1985. Ozzie Alfonso was Contact's new director and Al Hyslop its executive producer.

When the fifth season began on September 22, 1986, a third cast was introduced. However, unlike the previous casts, they did not meet in any specific setting; instead, they appeared in various taped and filmed segments. Episodes continued to be produced through November 1988.

For a time in the mid-1980s, the program was co-produced with the French television network FR3 and featured several new French cast members in addition to the American cast. From 1982 to 1983 the program was aired in Spain with dubbed-over versions of the American original broadcasts, and some local add-ons with four Spanish cast members: Sonia Martínez, Luis Bollain, Fernando Rueda and Marifé Rodríguez.^[2] Another Spanish version of the broadcast was aired from 1990 to 1992.

From September 1, 1991 until May 1, 1992, an edited version of the series titled 3-2-1 Classroom Contact was produced, specifically for in-school viewing.

It was reported in 1984 that 3-2-1 Contact had an audience of over 7 million viewers and was broadcast in 26 countries including West Germany, France, Italy and Spain making their own dubbed-over versions.^[1]

Broadcasters wanted the children to record the episodes without being afraid of infringement of copyright violations.^[1]

Hosts[link]

The Bloodhound Gang[link]

A frequent segment of the show was The Bloodhound Gang, a series about a group of young detectives who used science to solve crimes. Episodes of the series needed to be run in regular sequence for understandable viewing, as many Bloodhound Gang mysteries were cut among two or three Contact episodes.

The magazine[link]

Three months before the show premiered, a print magazine of the same name that also focused on science was released. In 1985, the magazine absorbed some of the content of sibling publication Enter (which went out of print that same year), including reader submissions of computer programs written in the BASIC computer language as well as reviews of popular computer programs. A new feature called "The Slipped Disk Show" appeared in mid-1985, starring a fictional disc jockey who answered computer-related questions submitted by readers.

Beginning in 1987, the magazine also featured content from another CTW production, Square One Television. Such content frequently took the form of a two-page comic strip, often parodying a popular show or movie of the time, with a math-related question at the end.

The Bloodhound Gang mysteries also made the leap to the magazine, but they were subsequently replaced with a series entitled The Time Team in September 1990. These stories found teenage characters Sean Nolan and Jenny Lopez traveling to different time periods in the past and future. Their surroundings and personal encounters were described with great detail, educating readers as to the customs of various cultures throughout history, and – on trips to the future – often pushing present day hot-button issues. For example, a 1993 story saw the duo traveling to what appeared to be a prehistoric forest, but near the end, they found a Brazil flag, a newspaper clipping from 1995, and a bulldozer at work: this was in fact a Brazilian rainforest being levelled.

In 1996, The Time Team was replaced by a comic serial, Cosmic Crew, which focused on the adventures of a group of teenagers and their robot butler in space. Their first story arc (which ran for more than a year) had them trying to figure out a series of riddles relating to places in the solar system in order to claim a treasure (which turned out to be a scholarship fund). Another story arc had a delinquent (who had been a villain in the first arc) join them in order to chase down a gang of other delinquents. Despite being effectively replaced, a few Time Team stories were run whenever there were gaps between installments of Cosmic Crew.

Many of the magazine's cover stories involved current events, such as 1990s oil fires in the Middle East. In addition, the magazine offered a games section in which most of the games were related to the stories in the issue.

In 1996, CTW presumably concluded that faithful readers from the late 1980s and early 1990s had long since moved on, and the magazine began to reprint non-time-sensitive stories from years past. For example, a 1991 article on the geography of the Galápagos Islands – a relatively unchanging subject – could very well re-appear in an identical format a half a decade later.

Under Sesame Workshop the magazine later became Contact Kids, removing the original reference to the television show. Production of the magazine was suspended indefinitely in 2001.

After production[link]

Though the show went off the air in 1988, it appeared in reruns from 1999 to 2003 on the cable television network Noggin, then a joint venture of CTW and Nickelodeon. Occasionally, shows were also rerun on Nickelodeon's Cable in the Classroom time period. For all these Nickelodeon and Noggin airings, the series was rated TV-Y7 (possibly due to the target audience). It also still aired on some PBS stations as reruns from 1989 to 1998 before it was switched to Noggin in 1999. As of 2003, Noggin no longer airs any shows produced by Sesame Workshop. The shows were modified for the shorter running time on these networks to allow for their interstitials.

Sources of funding[link]

Funding for 3-2-1 Contact was provided by the following:^[3]

• National Science Foundation (January 14, 1980–November 18, 1988)
• United States Department of Education (January 14, 1980–November 18, 1988)
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting (January 14, 1980–November 18, 1988)
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (January 14, 1980–November 18, 1988)
• IBM Corporation (January 14, 1980–November 18, 1988)
• Carnegie Corporation of New York (October 31, 1983-November 18, 1988)

Five sponsors funded the show for its entire run. They were originally supposed to fund for 20 new episodes until 1989.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• 3-2-1 Contact at the Internet Movie Database
• 3-2-1 Contact at TV.com