The SZD-49 Jantar K was a
15m Class glider designed and built in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
in 1977.
Development
After the
FAI Standard class rules had been created and then modified in the early 1970s the FAI decided to add a new 15m class, for gliders with a maximum span of 15m but no other restrictions other than airbrakes limiting the speed to V
ne or less.
Władysław Okarmus set about designing a new wing, with flaps, for use with the
SZD-48-3 fuselage, the resulting offspring was named SZD-49 Jantar K. First flight of the prototype, (SP-2583, X-143), took place at
Bielsko
Bielsko (german: Bielitz, cs, Bílsko) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-Biała. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that tow ...
in October 1978. All was not well with the SZD-49 during the flight trials and further development was abandoned. The sole prototype was later used as a live teaching aid for advanced students and was successfully modified twice with some success by groups of students from
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...
.
Constructed almost entirely from
glassfibre
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
using epoxy resin, the SZD-49 had a welded steel tube centre-section truss to accept the loads from the wings, undercarriage and towing hook. A one-piece forward-opening canopy with integral glare-shield gave access to the cockpit for entry/egress and maintenance. The wings are fitted with full-span flaps with drooping ailerons as well as single-leaf airbrakes extending from top and bottom surfaces of the wing. Ailerons are driven through a patented linkage entirely enclosed inside the wing.
A standard instrument fit and an oxygen system were provided by the manufacturer.
Specifications (SZD-49 Jantar K)
See also
References
{{Polish gliders
1970s Polish sailplanes
SZD aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1978