The Erla 5 (originally, Erla Me 5) was a light, single-seat sport aircraft built in small numbers in Germany in the early 1930s. A trainer version was demonstrated on long-distance flights in 1939, but failed to attract orders.
Design
The Erla 5 was designed by Franz Mehr. It was a low-wing, cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration. It had fixed, tailskid undercarriage, and a conventional tail. Power was supplied by a piston engine in the nose driving a tractor propeller. The pilot sat in an open cockpit. The wings were detachable and the aircraft was designed to be towed by road. Construction was of wood throughout, and covered in plywood except for the fabric-covered control surfaces. It was capable of aerobatics.
Contemporary publications referred to it as a Volksflugzeug ("people's aircraft" in German). The price in 1935 was 3,875 Reichsmarks (about €20,150 in 2024).
Operational history
The Erla 5 prototype first flew on 18 July 1932.
Between 1 April and 20 May 1939, Friedrich Aufermann made a three-continent flight in an Erla 5, from Europe to Asia, Africa, and back again, covering around 20,000 kilometres (12,000mi). On 2 August, Heinz Gabler set a class distance record in an Erla 5, flying from Friedrichshafen to Vännäs, 1,915 kilometres (1,190 miles).
As of 2020, one Erla 5 was still preserved in flying condition, a privately owned example in Switzerland, registered HB-SEX.
"L'avion de sport et de tourisme D.K.W. Erla Me 5 a (Allemagne)" [The DKW Erla Me 5a sport and tourism aeroplane (Germany)]. L'Aérophile[The Aerophile] (in French). Vol.41, no.9. Paris: L'Aérophile. September 1933. p.277.
Grey, C.G.; Bridgman, Leonard (1935). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1935. London: Sampson Low Marston.
"Die HB-SEX fliegt wieder"[The HB-SEX is flying again]. Cockpit (in German). Schinznach-Bad: SAMedia. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing.
