| SZD-55 | |
|---|---|
| An SZD-55 at SOSA Gliding Club, Rockton_Airport | |
| Role | Standard-class sailplane |
| National origin | Poland |
| Manufacturer | PZL Bielsko |
| Designer | mgr inż. Tadeusz Łabuć |
| First flight | 1988 |
| Introduction | 1988 |
| Status | in production |
| Number built | ~110 |
| Developed from | SZD 48M "Bravo" |
The PZL Bielsko SZD-55 is a Standard Class sailplane produced by PZL Bielsko since 1988. It was built in direct competition with the Schempp-Hirth Discus. The SZD-55 is still in production with approximately 20 registered in the United States.
The SZD-55 is built of fiberglass and has an elliptical wing. It has top surface Schempp-Hirth type spoilers. It is a glider with pleasant handling that is easy to assemble, due to automatic controls hookup. With an empty weight of about 215 kg, it is the lightest of the current standard class gliders and is known for its excellent climbing and thermalling characteristics. The SZD-55 has a fairly cambered wing-section and performs well at lower speeds, but with plenty of water ballast (it can take 200 liters) it can can also keep up well at higher speeds.
Main designer of the SZD-55 was mgr. Tadeusz Łabuć. Since the mid-eighties, the best glider in the standard class was undoubtedly the German standard Discus, whose excellent performance was attributed to its unusual wing triple trapeze shape. So it was logical to adopt a similar idea for use of this outline of the new construction: the elliptical contour of the wing leading edge. Documentation of the glider was developed in 1987 same as prototypes for factory numbers X-144 (SP-P501) and X-145 (SP-P502) and flew 15.08.1988 and 03.01.1989 by January Roman. Despite enormous difficulties in obtaining advanced materials (carbon fabric, kevlar) and the need for glass-epoxy laminates managed to get a glider with an unladen weight of just over 200 kg. Klaus Holighaus, one of the finest manufacturers of gliders (family of Nimbus and Discus) stated that if using a glass fiber technology PZL Bielsko factory gained weight less than gliders were used in the construction of carbon fiber and Kevlar that means that developed a new technology. This technology was later improved on during designing of SZD-56 Diana.
General characteristics
Performance
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