Today, at approximately 10:00 a.m., an extremely valuable exhibit arrived at the Polish Aviation Museum – an SZD-41 Jantar Standard glider with registration marks SP-2685, handed over to our institution for indefinite deposit by Mr. Henryk Mynarski.
This is a unique event, as it is the first SZD-41 Jantar Standard glider in the Polish Aviation Museum’s collection, and one of two prototypes of this design. The acquisition of this exhibit is an important addition to our collection of Polish glider designs and allows us to more fully present the history of the development of Polish aviation and the aviation industry.
The SZD-41 Jantar Standard holds a special place in the history of Polish aviation. It was the first all-composite glider mass-produced in Poland and one of the designs that initiated a technological breakthrough in the domestic glider industry. The introduction of glass-epoxy laminates as the primary structural material opened a new era in glider design and production, and the solutions implemented in the Jantar set the direction for the development of subsequent Polish designs.
Since the 1970s, over 1,000 gliders of this generation have been produced (the family of these designs included the following models: SZD-37 Jantar, SZD-38 Jantar 1, SZD-42 Jantar 2, SZD-48 Jantar Standard 2/3, SZD-49 Jantar Standard K, SZD-52 Jantar 15/Krokus and the development versions SZD-55 Promyk, SZD-59 Acro), which were sold to several countries around the world, becoming a showcase of Polish technical thought and the quality of the domestic aviation industry.
The history of the aircraft, which is now part of our collection, is also of particular value. SP-2685 is the first SZD-41 prototype (serial number X-110), first flown on October 3, 1973, by test pilot Adam Zientek.
Just a year later, it was sent to the World Gliding Championships in Waikerie, Australia, where Franciszek Kępka took third place in the Standard Class. Experience gained during trials and competitions allowed the design to be refined, and after modifications, it entered series production as the SZD-41A Jantar Standard.
We sincerely thank Mr. Henryk Mynarski for providing this unique glider for indefinite deposit. Thanks to his generosity, visitors to the Polish Aviation Museum will be able to experience one of the most important designs in the history of Polish gliding up close – a glider that played a key role in the development of composite technologies and set a new direction for the development of the Polish aviation industry.
