Tomasz Kosecki, Director of the Polish Aviation Museum, spoke about Jan Wnęk, who according to accounts by residents of Odporyszów made the first flights on self-constructed “wings” long before Otto Lilienthal’s achievements. The lecture took place as part of the “Great People of Małopolska” project, whose partner this year was our Museum.
Jan Wnęk lived from 1828 to 1869 in the Małopolska village of Odporyszów. He was not only a carpenter and sculptor of peasant origin, but also a self-taught constructor who is credited with the first Polish hang glider design.
According to accounts by residents of Odporyszów, he made flights over the surrounding area on self-constructed wings. He is credited with numerous gliding flights carried out between 1866 and 1869. One such flight in 1869 ended in a tragic fall for Wnęk, which led to his death.
Unfortunately, no construction drawings of the wings called “flights”, the wings themselves, nor any photographs capturing the moment of flight have survived. However, at the Ethnographic Museum in Kraków, one can see a speculative model of Jan Wnęk’s wings by Zdzisław Szewczyk and Marta Gąsowska, dating from 1956.
The lecture about the Małopolska “peasant descendant of Icarus” was delivered by Tomasz Kosecki, Director of the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków.
The lecture took place as part of the “Great People of Małopolska” project, whose protagonists are Małopolska creators of groundbreaking discoveries and inventions, as well as artists who have contributed to the development of Polish and world culture. The partner of this year’s edition of the event was the Polish Aviation Museum.
In addition to Jan Wnęk, the figures whose stories were presented to wider audiences in 2024 were:
More about the project can be found on the “Great People of Małopolska” website.
