Szybowcowy Zakład Doświadczalny (SZD), Glider Experimental Works was a glider design and research centre of the Polish aerospace industry after World War II, located in Bielsko-Biała. Through its history it underwent many organizational and name changes, among others in 1946-1948 it was Instytut Szybownictwa. After 1969 it existed under other names, but an abbreviation SZD continued to be used on designs. The SZD gliders themselves were produced in the production centre in Bielsko-Biała, organized around the SZD (from 1990s named PZL-Bielsko), and by several other works of the state aerospace industry and didn't bear specific manufacturer's names.
Just after World War II, which destroyed most of Polish pre-war gliders and - more importantly - their production blueprints,[1] the Main Scouts' Gliding Centre (Centralny Harcerski Ośrodek Szybowcowy) was created in Bielsko-Biała in May 1945, by the Ministry of Communications. In autumn 1945 it was re-organized into the Gliding Organizational Centre (Ośrodek Organizacji Szybownictwa), and in January 1946, into the Gliding Institute (Instytut Szybownictwa, IS). It inherited tasks and traditions of the pre-war Gliding and Motor gliding Institute in Lwów. It consisted of Training Division, Technical Division and Experimental Workshops.[2] As more organizations took on gliding training, the main task of the Institute became design work and technical research. In that period, several gliders were designed, under IS designation.
As a sign of new tasks, in 1948 the Gliding Institute was renamed to the Glider Experimental Works (Szybowcowy Zakład Doświadczalny), headed first by Władysław Nowakowski. It became the main Polish centre of designing gliders, which were next produced by the SZD workshops or, in conditions of a centrally planned state economy, by other state-owned workshops and factories.[2]
In the early 1950s, the SZD was incorporated into a Sports Aviation Equipment Works Management (Zarząd Zakładów Sprzętu Lotnictwa Sportowego), as a design centre.[3] The management also covered glider production works (ZSLS) in Jeżów (Grunau),[4] Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz (until 1954), Poznań, Krosno and Wrocław (from 1956).[2] In 1957 this management was subordinated to the Central Management of Communications Equipment Industry (later PZL Aerospace Industry Union).[5]
In 1963, Sports Aviation Equipment Works (Zakłady Sprzętu Lotnictwa Sportowego, ZSLS) was created in Bielsko-Biała, with the SZD as its main division. Works in Jeżów and Wrocław became its production divisions (works in Poznań and Krosno were excluded from the glider industry as separate Communication Equipment Factories - WSK).[5] About 1969, the SZD was renamed to Glider Development and Construction Experimental Works (Zakład Doświadczalny Rozwoju i Budowy Szybowców), and in 1971 to Gliding Research and Development Centre (Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy Szybownictwa).[5] Despite these changes, new designs were still marked with SZD letters. Around this time, works in Bielsko-Biała were enhanced.
In 1946-1972 only, the Polish centralized glider industry, focussed around the SZD, produced 2743 gliders, of which 1167 were exported (starting from 1951), 367 of which to Western countries.[6] In 1973 series production of laminate gliders started.
After the end of communism in Poland, the glider production and design centre in Bielsko-Biała together with other production plants was renamed in the 1990s to a state-owned enterprise PZL-Bielsko (full name: Przedsiębiorstwo Doświadczalno-Produkcyjne Szybownictwa PZL-Bielsko). Plans for restructuring the company could not brought to a successful end because it liquidated in 2008.[7]
In 2002[8] the main production plant in Bielsko and the design department was taken over by a company Allstar PZL Glider Sp.z o.o.[9] The company now produces and develops several SZD gliders for aerobatics and cross-country:[10]
In addition, the company holds the Type Certificates of the SZD-50-3 Puchacz and the SZD-48-3 Jantar Standard 3. The SZD-50-3 double-seater glider is not in production anymore. It has been replaced by the modern design of the double-seater SZD-54-2 Perkoz. The SZD-48-3 is the last model of the famous Jantar-series and the basis of the current SZD-59-1 Acro. Allstar PZL Glider produces and distributes the spare parts of all 6 glider models.[11]
Since 2019 Allstar PZL Glider develops and produces electric propulsion systems for gliders under the name Allstar-e-motion.[12] The proof-of-concept of the electric sustainer for the SZD-55 Nexus was first presented on the trade show AERO Friedrichshafen 2019.[13]
Between 2005 and January 2007 there existed also different manufacturer with this name, PZL-Bielsko 1 Sp. z o.o. in Górki Wielkie,[14] producing PW-5 gliders.
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Polish post-1945 gliders
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| Instytut Szybownictwa |
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| Szybowcowy Zakład Doświadczalny / PZL Bielsko-Biała / Allstar PZL Glider |
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| Politechnika Warszawska |
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| Margański & Mysłowski |
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| PZL Krosno |
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