History

The engineer Günther W. Jörg

Early on, the engineer Günther W. Jörg recognised the susceptibility of the previously developed ground effect systems and vehicles to failure in their practical application. This was because it was only possible for a pilot to control the behaviour of a vehicle in ground-effect flight for a short time and with maximum concentration.

The design principle of the »Tandem« wing was developed as the result of a systematic series of models, moving away from the single-wing ground-effect vehicle and using different wing shapes. The two-wing Tandem Airfoil Flairboat achieves excellent flight behaviour with simultaneous stability of the system in ground effect. As a result of the self-regulating flight characteristics, it is not possible for the vehicle to leave the ground effect. This has been an enormous engineering achievement. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Günther_W._Jörg

The Tandem Airfoil Flairboats

The first manned Tandem Airfoil Boats were built as early as 1973 and received official approval as boats or ships from the German Federal Ministry of Transport in 1974. They were classified as type A ground-effect vehicles, which is only awarded to the vehicles of the highest possible safety level and quality class.

From 1973 onwards, 14 vehicles from the Tandem Airfoil Flairboat (TAF) series were built using various materials, ranging from 2 to 10-seaters, and successfully tested over 100,000 kilometres, of which 6 ground effect vehicles were sold for permanent use, amongst others to Japan, South Africa and Greece.

The Philip Morris Research Prize 1984

In 1984, Günther W. Jörg was awarded the most prestigious German science prize, the Philip Morris Research Prize, in the categories ›Transport and Traffic‹ and ›New Transport System of the 21st Century‹ for his research and innovative technical developments.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Morris_Forschungspreis

Dipl. Ing. Reiner A. Jörg

Dipl. Ing. Reiner Jörg, himself a successful engineer and son of the inventor Günther W. Jörg, co-designed and built the first ground-effect vehicles together with his father at a young age. He studied mechanical engineering at the innovative TU Darmstadt and started developing and testing new materials as well as calculating designs for the first vehicles in the TAF series.

As CTO at german slider GmbH, Reiner Jörg is responsible for the construction of the various slider models and is in charge of technical design, calculation, production control and scientific development. He will also lead the company's technical development team, which in future will include other employees from the fields of engineering, aerodynamics and mathematics.

Dipl. Ing. Ingrid Schellhaas

Ingrid Schellhaas is the daughter of Günther W. Jörg. She has been involved in the development of the Tandem Airfoil Flairboats (TAF) from the very beginning, was involved in the first successful tests of the manned vehicles and the further development of the various sizes, and has many years of experience in implementing technology as part of the development series. After studying industrial engineering with focus on mechanical engineering, she founded Botec GmbH, which she represented for many years as Managing Director together with Günther Jörg.

After giving up Botec GmbH, the focus is now on granting licences for the property rights of Wing-in-Ground-Effect Technology through the current Tandem W.I.G Consulting UG, of which she is the managing director and owner. (www.airfoil.de)

In future, Ms Schellhaas will manage the intellectual property rights of Tandem Wing Technology within the group.

Wolfgang Rögner

Wolfgang Rögner can already look back on 25 years of experience in the design, construction and production of ground effect vehicles – 13 years of which were spent working closely with the inventor and engineer Günther W. Jörg.
After his death, he further developed Jörg's principle in design and with more modern materials, the basis for the future ground effect vehicle project.
In 2019, he founded the company german slider, of which he is Managing Director, to prepare the series production of the vehicles in collaboration with various partners. He was also able to secure project sponsors, including the German state of Schleswig-Holstein and the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle, BAFA).