An amateur aircraft designed and built from scratch by Jaroslaw Janowski. The designer’s intention was to create an aircraft of simplified construction, using readily available materials. The aircraft was the first genuine post-war amateur design, both in terms of aerodynamics and performance. Structurally, it was a single-seat, strut-braced high-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear and a pusher engine mounted behind the pilot’s cockpit.
Janowski designed the aircraft himself in July 1967 and built it together with his colleagues from the Aeroclub of Lodz, Stefan Polawski and Witold Kalita. The machine was built in Lodz in a room measuring 18 m2, in a first-floor apartment. By early 1969, the fuselage and wings were completed. Already in April, the Saturn 500 engine was started up, designed by Jaroslaw Janowski and Stefan Polawski. For the propulsion system, they used components from MZ 250 motorcycle engines.
The designer sought permission for the aircraft’s maiden flight by submitting full documentation and a technical description to the Inspectorate for Civil Aircraft Control. However, the general reluctance of officials towards amateur production caused delays in issuing the decision. A secret test flight was made on 30 July 1970, with Jerzy Orlowski at the controls. After the test flight, the pilot confirmed the machine’s good flying characteristics. The regulations of the People’s Republic of Poland at the time did not allow registration of amateur designs without stress calculations, which delayed the possibility of flight by several years.
The case of the “Przasniczka” designer was publicised by the media, and the aircraft was sent for testing to the Institute of Aviation. In 1973, Professor Zbigniew Brzoska of the Warsaw University of Technology carried out an expert assessment of the aircraft’s structure and performed preliminary calculations. The positive opinion of the academic led to the aircraft undergoing tests and flight trials, after which it received a certificate from the Institute of Aviation. On 8 June 1976, the aircraft was registered as a motor glider and entered into the Civil Aircraft Register with the markings SP-0002. The historic designation “SP-0001” was given to the SZD-45 “Ogar” motor glider prototype.
Several dozen copies were built according to plans distributed by Jaroslaw Janowski; there was also a J-1A Don Quichote version, adapted to American regulations. The “Przasniczka” belonging to the designer had flown approximately 400 hours. On 11 July 1981, it was destroyed in an accident at Lublinek airfield near Lodz. Thanks to the staff of the Museum of Aviation’s Conservation Department, the aircraft was successfully restored.
| Wingspan | 7,6 m |
| Length | 4,8 m |
| Takeoff weight | 250 kg |
| Maximum speed | 165 km/h |
| Ceiling | 2500 m |
| Range | 750 km- |
| Armament | – |
| Engine | 2-cylinder, two-stroke, horizontally opposed, air-cooled Saturn 500B with 23 hp |
