About 1931 the glider manufacturer Alexander Schleicher went to Hans Jacobs, then at the RRG (Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft) on the Wasserkuppe, for a glider design that, like the RRG Fafnir designed by Alexander Lippisch, would be capable of making long cross country flights by travelling quickly between thermals but could be put into series production making it cheaper to build.

[4] The Rhönadler's fuselage was quite slender and entirely ply covered, including the fin, the balancing part of the rudder and a small tail bumper.

The high aspect ratio, all-moving horizontal tail was of similar construction to the wing, with most of the taper on the trailing edge where there was a deep cut-out at the root.

[1][4] At the 1932 Rhön the Rhönadler, flown by Peter Riedel, did not win but impressed enough to go into series production as the Rhönadler 32, with the prototype's wing span slightly shortened, its vertical tail leading edge smoothed by a shorter rudder balance and its tailplane raised.

Schleicher built sixty-five of them, making it the top selling German high performance glider; several were exported.