Lippisch Storch II

 Between 1927 and 1932, eight Storch aircraft were designed by Lippisch, all of them high-wing monoplanes with sweepback. In 1926, a succession of large, free-flying models of various configurations, including canards and the "flying plank" design later adopted by Fauvel in France, led to the Storch I experimental glider, first test-flown in 1927 by Bubi Nehring. Lack of aileron effectiveness was evident in this and the Storch II and III that followed. The ailerons were redesigned to approximate the form of the Zanonia seed and Igo Etrich's Taube. Etrich himself recommended the configuration to Lippisch; his faith in the principle was reaffirmed when the 1929 Storch IV glider demonstrated impressive stability and control characteristics with Gunther Gronhoff at the controls. Development work on the Storch series was temporarily interrupted in 1928 when Lippisch collaborated with Fritz von Opel and the rocket manufacturer Sander in performing rocket-powered flights of some Lippisch tailless models. These successful experiments were followed by a manned flight of a rocket-powered tail-first glider, the Ente (duck). Although these experiments also met with moderate success, Lippisch returned to his original interests in 1929. These experiments, and subsequent research on the basic principles of rocket propulsion, provided the foundation for later projects with rocket-propelled aircraft in the late 1930s.

 In 1929, the Storch V appeared equipped with a small, 8-hp DKW engine for Lippisch's first attempt at powered flight with the Storch series. Following successful test flights by Gronhoff, a public demonstration of the Storch V was made at Tempelhof Airfield at Berlin in October 1929, with the expectation of obtaining some government financial backing. None came, but the transatlantic pilot Captain Herman Kohl expressed interest in the idea of a tailless aircraft for flights across the Atlantic.  With this order in hand, Lippisch stopped work on the Storch VI and began the design of what would eventually become the renowned Delta series. Lippisch later worked on three more versions of the Storch; the Storch VII, powered by a 24-hp engine, won a prize for the first 300 km overland flight of a tailless aircraft when Gronhoff flew the aircraft from the Wasserkuppe to Berlin in 1931 in 1 hour, 55 minutes. The Storch VIII was a privately financed craft that could be flown either with or without tail surfaces attached. The Storch IX training glider appeared in 1933, and was successful enough to prompt two variations, the IX a and b.