IS-B Komar 49 'SP-985' (15813428839)

c/n 144P. On display suspended in the main display hangar at the Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego Krakow, Poland. 23-08-2013.

The following info is taken from the museum website:-

"This is a single seater training glider of wooden construction in the strutted upper wing configuration. In 1933, Antoni Kocjan designed and built the "Komar" (gnat) glider, and in 1937, its improved version the "Komar-bis" of increased rigidity. 67 gliders were built until the outbreak of the Second World War. They served for training and for performance flights. Fifteen domestic records were established on "Komars". In 1937, the Polish pilot Wanda Modlibowska established the world record of flight duration - 24 hrs and 14 min. The "Komars" were built on licence in Bulgaria, Estland, Finland, France, Palestine, Romania and Yugoslavia (where seven domestic records were established on this gliders). In 1947, at the Gliding Institute, engineer Marian Wasilewski basing on the original drawings of the glider, modified its construction to an actual at that time demands. The first flight of the new "Komar" took place on 16th January 1948. The five examples, built in that year bore the Komar 48 designation. The next batch of 18 examples was produced under the "Komar 49" name. The gliders had a very good opinion among pilots and were in service with aeroclubs until 1965. Flying the SP-732 "Komar 48" on 19-20 October 1949, the Polish pilot Stanisław Wielgus established the world record flight duration, lasting 35 hrs 14 min.