Jet
Bob Carlton's jet powered glider
There was one example of a factory produced self-launching motor glider fitted with a jet engine, the Caproni Vizzola A21J Calif. The jet engine was mounted inside the fuselage behind the wing, with fixed intake and exhaust ducts coupled to the outside air stream for engine operation. A variant of this aircraft, the Caproni Avi-America featured a copy of the British Nene jet engine, with a pressurized cabin. It was reportedly able to reach 70,000 feet (21,000 m) altitude and, with a glide ratio of 1:100 (with the engine turned off), a range of several thousand miles. Elements of the U-2' spy plane aircraft'design were incorporated into the A21J.
Security considerations prevented this aircraft from being marketed[citation needed] and awareness of what was probably the most high-performance civilian glider of all time apparently has been suppressed. An ASW20CL-J has been built by Klaus Meitzner in Hoya, Germany (Segelflugverein Hoya). The Jonker JS-1 Revelation is a design available with a sustainer jet engine. The highly modified Alisport Silent Club-J is a self-launching aerobatic jet motor glider shown on the U.S. airshow circuit and all over the world by Bob Carlton,[8] powered by twin AMT-USA AT-450 jet engines (200 N (45 Lbf) of thrust each) originally developed for radio-controlled aircraft.[9] An experimental self-launching motor glider LET L-13TJ BlanÃk was fitted with a jet engine TJ100C (take-off thrust 1,0 kN) from Prvnà brněnské strojÃrna Velká BÃteš[10].