It is a standard class glider designed by Wilhelm Dirks in 1974 and developed from the Akaflieg Darmstadt D-38.

The first model had an all-flying tailplane, with anti-balance tabs along the entire trailing edges, and a two-piece canopy (movable and fixed parts), built of GFRP (glass-fibre reinforced plastic)/foam sandwich materials and resin impregnated rovings for high strength parts.

The DG-101 and DG-101G had improvements such as a single-piece front-hinged canopy, improved crash resistant cockpit and a conventional tailplane (with fixed horizontal stabilizer and articulated elevator).

There was also a club version of this sailplane with fixed landing gear.

The wing's control surface hookups are non-automatic and utilize L'Hotellier fittings, which must be secured by a secondary means such as a safety pin, safety wire, Uerling Sleeve or Wedekind Sleeve (See this web page for more details on this subject).