Photo by Chris Ruf.

Photo by Jeff DiNucci

Photo by Jeff DiNucci

Photo by Kevin Porter

Photo by Chris Ruf.

Photo by Chris Ruf.




Photo by Chris Ruf.

1998 photos of Ka-8 show it in red before Allan Pargman refubished her in 2005. Photo by Chris Ruf.

Photo by Chris Ruf.

Photo by Chris Ruf.

Photo by Chris Ruf.

Photo by Chris Ruf.
In the Summer of 2005 Allan Pargman finished a beautiful refinish of our K-8b. It looks great in bright yellow.

click to enlarge

Unofficial Handbook - not all in English but may still be useful.

Schleicher Ka-8 on Wikipedia

Schleicher Ka-8 Unofficial data from Sailplane Directory Specifications Span 15.0 m./ 49.2 ft Area 14.18 sq. m. / 153 sq.ft. Aspect ratio 15.9 Airfoil Go 533/ 532 Empty weight 190 kg. / 418 lb. Payload 120 kg. / 265 lb. Gross weight 310 kg. / 683 lb. Wing loading 21.81 kg. / sq. m. / 4.45 lb. / sq. ft. Structure wood/ fabric wings and tail, steel-tube/ fabric fuselage Performance L/D max. 27 72 kph / 39 kt / 45 mph Min. sink 0.64 m/s / 2.1 fps / 1.24 kt 60 kph / 32 kt / 37 mph   Other Country of origin Germany Designer Rudolph Kaiser No. of seats 1 No. built over 1,100 No. in the U.S. 24 The Ka-8 was derived from the Ka-6 series as a simple single-place sailplane with dive brakes using construction techniques similar to the Ka-7, and simplified for amateur construction from kits. Emphasis was on rugged construction, good climbing ability in thermals and good handling characteristics. The orignal Ka-8 had a very small canopy. The Ka-8B, by far the most numerous variant, has a substantially larger canopy while the Ka-8C features a longer nose, larger main wheel located ahead to the center of gravity and deletion of the larger wooden nose skid resulting in a roomier cockpit. Karl Striedeck of the U.S. made a 767.0 km./ 476.6 miles ridge flight in a Ka-8B to win the world out and return in 1968. ATC Unofficial Handbook - not all in English but may still be useful. Dartmoor gliding club has some nice links also.