Farewell to Stanisław Wielgus

Stanisław Wielgus was born on 30 October 1926 in Siepraw near Kraków. He began his aviation adventure at the age of 19, on the hills of nearby Bodzów, as a participant in a glider course conducted at the time using the single-control method. He made his first flight in a single-seat German training glider SG-38. In 1947, at the Glider School in Tęgoborze, he obtained successive levels of glider training. Aviation became his lifelong passion.

Outstanding glider pilot

In 1949, four years after his first solo flight, he broke the endurance record held by Wanda Modlibowska. Flying an IS-B “Komar” glider over Góra Żar, he achieved a result of 35 hours and 14 minutes. Just a year later, he earned the Gold Glider Badge (No. 7).

He was the pilot of the Sohaj glider during the filming of the movie “Pierwszy start” (First Take-Off). This film can be watched online.

He studied at the Aviation Faculty and later the Automotive Faculty of the Kraków University of Technology, without interrupting his gliding career. By 1952, a year after obtaining his engineering degree, he had a full set of diamonds for the Gold Badge. At that time, he also obtained test pilot Class III qualifications and began test flights of serial gliders produced at the Glider Experimental Works in Bielsko-Biała.

From 1954 to 1965, he was a member of the national gliding team.

Test pilot with a full set of qualifications

He practically did not undergo formal aeroplane training. Instructor Tadeusz Góra, after just two flights in a CSS-13 aircraft, sent Stanisław Wielgus solo. He obtained Class II aeroplane training in 1957. In 1958, he completed helicopter training in Świdnik, flying the Mi-1 helicopter. Two years later, he already held helicopter test pilot qualifications. He obtained the full set of test flight qualifications for gliders, aircraft and rotorcraft in 1960. During his career, he also flew jet-powered aircraft: the Lim-2, TS-11 “Iskra” and Yak-40.

The impressive aviation career of Stanisław Wielgus

Although he ended his professional career in 1986, he continued to conduct glider training until 2001, serving as an instructor. During a training flight, an accident occurred: the glider came to rest in a tall beech tree. The crew escaped with minor injuries, but Stanisław Wielgus made the decision to end his flying career. Over 56 years, he logged a total of 13,476 hours, including 2,588 hours of test flights.

We publish the memoirs of Stanisław Wielgus from one of his flights in Tęgoborze:

And so I was quietly soaring over Lake Rożnów and suddenly I saw one, then another red flare at the foot of Jodłowiec. I wondered what had happened — after all, my flight was going perfectly normally. But the moment the sun began to set, I realised it was high time to land. Flares from the landing strip were shooting up every now and then, and when I opened the brakes and started descending… That’s when my hair stood on end. The lower I went, the more I was engulfed in darkness. By the time I was at the height of the Jodłowiec ridge, it was practically completely dark. [Augustyn] Gustek Połomski and [Jan] Lupa had a brilliant idea — they lined up my colleagues and themselves along the landing strip in such a way that each one had a lighter, a match or a newspaper at the moment I was coming in to land. I was shaking all over, because by then I could see what was going on and where those flares were coming from. I was approaching to land along the line of light marked out by lighters, matches, burning newspapers and so on. The landing went as if I had had a long training session — completely smooth. Everyone congratulated me on a beautiful flight, including the instructors. Only the ending was not very encouraging, because Gustek said: “Well, Staszek, but tomorrow the Old Man is going to give you such a hiding you won’t be able to pick yourself up.” My skin crawled, but there was nothing I could do. The next day was Sunday, I remember perfectly, because together with my colleagues I quickly ran to the little church in Tęgoborze — an old wooden church. The linden trees were fragrant, which may indicate it was around the end of June, beginning of July, because the lindens were in bloom and you could hear the bees. We stood outside because the church was full and it was very hot. I was never very devout, but “Baca” Kwiatkowski was devout, so I had to be there so that “Baca” could see me and so I could somehow soften the storm I expected — and I feared being sent back to Kraków. Kwiatkowski found himself in the church, having come straight from Sącz. I tried to position myself in the circle so that the Old Man could see me — of course he saw me, because he nodded his head at me. There was such a sultry silence, fragrant with honey and buzzing only with bees and the sounds of the Mass inside the church. At a certain moment, a breeze stirred through the treetops. “Baca” looked up, glanced around — well, it looked like a southerly wind — and suddenly, in the middle of the Mass, he turned on his heel and with a quick, determined stride headed for the summit… Of course we, who watched “Baca” as if he were an altar, turned around and ran after him. Despite our youth, we could not keep up with the climb up Jodłowiec. But panting somewhere below the summit… I tried to stay close to Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski, just before reaching the top, looked back, saw me and said:
— Mr Wielgus, what was that night landing yesterday?
I said:
— Well, I caught a downdraft… I later learned about this phenomenon… The instructors informed me… And the discussions with my colleagues… I caught a downdraft over Lake Rożnów and landed too late because it was still light up high.
— Is the glider all right?
— Yes, sir, everything is in order!
And that was the end of the whole reprimand. I don’t know why he turned out to be so lenient with me, because as an experienced instructor myself today, if a young student pulled a stunt like that on me, I would certainly have given him some kind of punishment, at least as an example. But I got away with it. Today, looking back, the flight lasted about an hour and a half to two hours. Well, in any case, I felt as though I had caught God by the feet.

The funeral Mass for Stanisław Wielgus will be celebrated at the Parish Church in Dąbrówka near Radzymin on Saturday, 20 July 2024 at 10:00.