The Akaflieg Braunschweig or Akademische Fliegergruppe Braunschweig () is one of some fourteen German student flying groups attached to and supported by their home Technical University. Several have designed and built aircraft, often technically advanced and leading the development of gliders in particular. The Brunswick students began the design of the
Standard Class SB-12 in mid-1979 and the first flight was made on 9 April 1980. It was not intended for production but to test out a new wing aerodynamic profile designed by the German Aerospace Centre (DFVLR) for high cruising performance. The wing of the SB-12 has single, I-section spars, with
carbon fibre flanges and
GRP webs. The skins are carbon fibre and polymeric foam. The wings are mounted at
mid-fuselage at an
incidence of 0.5° and with 3° of
dihedral. They carry GRP
ailerons and wide span
airbrakes but no
spoiler or
flaps. The
fuselage is a GRP monocoque with a front hinged
canopy over the single seat
cockpit and a tank for 150 kg (331 lb) of
water ballast. The SB-12 has a
T-tail, with
tailplane and
elevators set on top of a straight edged, only slightly tapered
fin and
rudder. The fixed surfaces are formed from GRP and plastic foam sandwich, the moving surfaces using only GRP. Its
undercarriage has a retractable, unsprung
monowheel, fitted with an internal
drum brake, with a fixed, partly recessed tailwheel. ==Operational history==