Użytkownik "Ed Byars" napisał w wiadomości
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Congrats to SZD for making 5000 gliders. That's a bunch. How many years
did
it take. What is their production rate and how does it compare with
Western
European (German) factories? Must be a high percentage of training
gliders?
Any military?
I have owned German gliders with serial numbers in the low hundreds after
being in production for several years, seeming to indicate a lower annual
rate. Am I missing something?
Ed Byars
Hello Ed,
Well, the roots of the SZD start just after the II World War, when they had
begin their existence as the IS - Instytut Szybownictwa (The Gliding
Institute), later renamed to SZD - Szybowcowe Zakłady Doswiadczalne (The
Scientific Works for Gliding). The production first comprised of the
training gliders, with exception for the IS-1 Sep which has been a high
performance sailplane then. The rest of the gilders in production were
pre-war designs just like the Komar (Mosquito) and the Salamandra
(Salamander?). They also restarted the production of German Kranich II,
produced under the name IS-C Zuraw (Crane). 50 Kranich II gliders were made.
As the SZD had owned it's own design bureau (well, I must admit, that was
one of not many good things in the communist era, that state supported this
sport widely) there were several designs, of which lots were only
prototypes. Take just the SZD-40-X Halny (an experimental biplace XC ship),
or SZD-9 Bocian PULS (an SZD-9 Bocian powered with two pulse jet engines,
first flown in 1956).
http://www.piotrp.de/SZYBOWCE/dbopuls.htm
Below there is a listing of the designs I believe to be most numerous in
production:
SZD-9 Bocian (Stork), biplace: 615 gliders
SZD-10 Czapla (?), biplace: 157 gliders
SZD-12 Mucha 100 (Fly 100), solo training: 290 gliders (+later licenced
production in China)
SZD-22 Mucha Std (Fly Std.), training&XC: 290 gliders
SZD-24 Foka 4 (Seal 4), high performance XC: 204 gliders
SZD-30 Pirat (Pirate), training (mostly clubs): 813 gliders
SZD-32 Foka 5 (Seal 5), high performance XC: 132 gliders
SZD-36(A) Cobra 15, high performance XC: 290 gliders
SZD-41 Jantar Std (1) (Amber Std), high performance XC: 159 gliders
SZD-48 Jantar 2(b) (Amber 2), open class: 168 gliders
SZD-48(-3) Jantar Std. 2/3 (Amber Std 2/3), high performance XC: 631 gliders
SZD-50-3 Puchacz (Owl), biplace: 327+ gliders
SZD-51-1 Junior, training (ment to replace Pirats): 255+ gliders
SZD-55-1 Promyk ("a little ray"), high performance XC: 107+
* The gliders marked with "+" by the number are currently in production.
These are the most numerous I believe, but there were much more designs,
just look at the website:
http://www.piotrp.de/SZYBOWCE/dszd.htm
This is also the place I took the numbers from.
About the series, it seems that first, Germans were less focused on
producing new models, but more on maintaining them in production for many
years to maximize the profits. The "old SZD" was state runned company, and
much more was focused on the design work which shown in more designs in
shorter production runs.
Note also that SZD exported most of its production to the Eastern Bloc, in a
very large numbers (that's why we now call the former Soviet Union "A
Jantars mine"). Just look at the website on Polish built gliders:
http://www.lak-12.org/pol/
By the way, it seems that cumulative number of Jantar Std series seems to be
comparable with LS-4, which could also mean that it is also worth
consideration when thinking of the "one design" competition. The price would
be without any doubt lower, maybe by a half of the price of the LS-4. The
moulds and all exuipment for its production still exists, and there wouldn't
be any problem with restarting the production.
I have owned German gliders with serial numbers in the low hundreds after
being in production for several years, seeming to indicate a lower annual
rate. Am I missing something?
I hope I have answered Your question so far. If not, please ask me again
what exactly You wanted to know, and I will supplement my response.
With kindest regards,
--
Janusz Kesik
Poland
-------------------------------------
See Wroclaw (Breslau) in photography,
The XIX Century, the Festung Breslau, and photos taken today.
http://www.wroclaw.dolny.slask.pl