Eight examples of the Phönix were built and all were still flying in 1980, with at least one example now preserved in the Deutsches Museum in Munich and another in the Deutsches Segleflugmuseum at Wasserkuppe.
Their product was influenced by the Hannover Vampyr which had won the recent German competition at the Wasserkuppe but there were significant differences in both construction and aerodynamics.
The Weltensegler was a tailless glider designed by Friedrich Wenk for the 1921 Rhön gliding competition held at the Wasserkuppe, from 8 August to 25 August 1921..
This was followed by at least three world distance records, the last between the Wasserkuppe and Marktredwitz, a distance of 164 km (102 mi) flown on 24 August 1930.
About 1931 the glider manufacturer Alexander Schleicher went to Hans Jacobs, then at the RRG (Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft) on the Wasserkuppe, for glider design that, like the RRG Fafnir designed by Alexander Lippisch, was capable making long cross country by travelling quickly between thermals but could be put into series production making it cheaper to build.