MARK DRELA Bubble Dancer
Radio-Controlled Gliders for RC Pilots
Overview
he "Bubble Dancer" RES glider is essentially a big brother of the Allegro-Lite, with a 120" span and 1000 in^2 wing area. The idea was to combine the composite Allegro's layout, some new thin airfoils, and a bit of off-the-shelf carbon. The object was to make a big first-class thermalling ship which could also tolerate wind and strong winching and that anyone could build. The target category was the increasingly popular RES class. Blaine Rawdon and Bill Watson also took part in the design, and the Allegro-Lite wood wing 2m glider was a prototype for this glider.
The design was optimized for ease of construction , resulting in a rather unique glider. At about 31 oz (880 gr) , it has a very low sink rate -- about 0.8 ft/s. A very big 2" x 36" spoiler gives good landing control like on the AL, and it can be seen thermalling very often from hand tosses.