The IS-C Żuraw glider, which will be on display at the new permanent exhibition “With the Wind and Against the Wind. Civil Aviation” underwent comprehensive conservation in 2023–2024 at the “Jeżów” Glider Workshop. Conservation work included cleaning of all components, reconstruction of missing parts and re-covering.
IS-C Żuraw is a Polish two-seat competition and training glider, developed in the early 1950s at the Gliding Institute in Bielsko-Biała by engineers Józef Niespał and Andrzej Kokot. It was a modernised version of the German DFS Kranich II glider, whose documentation was found in 1945 in an NSFK workshop in Łódź.
The Żuraw prototype made its maiden flight on 22 April 1952 in Gdańsk, and serial production was carried out between 1952 and 1953 in Poznań and Gdańsk, with a total of 51 examples built. The glider featured a wooden construction with gull-shaped wings, which gave it a distinctive appearance. It was used in aeroclubs and glider schools for training and competition flights until the late 1960s.
The collection of the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków includes two examples of the IS-C Żuraw glider, both built at OWL Gdańsk:
These gliders are valuable exhibits, illustrating the development of Polish gliding in the post-war period.
Before the Żuraw is displayed in the newly built Hangar No. 5 in autumn this year, it will still undergo conservation involving varnishing and structural assembly.
The project was made possible thanks to funding from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage programme “Supporting Museum Activities” as part of the task “Restoration of unique gliders of the Polish Aviation Museum — Stage II: IS-1 Sęp, IS-C Żuraw and SZD-10 Czapla”.
Abbreviated photographic documentation of the restoration:
The project was funded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund — a state special-purpose fund.
