First post-restoration flight celebration for SZD-30 Pirat glider
BGA No. 1470; BGA Competition No. 303; BGA code letters - CDX
 
For the last six months two members of the Newark & Notts Gliding Club have been undertaking the
restoration of a Polish SZD-30 Pirat glider on behalf of the Newark Air Museum. 

The SZD-30 Pirat glider was originally owned by the Polish A.F.A. [Air Force Association] Gliding
Club and was donated to the museum by Mr Cynalski. A member of the Newark & Notts Gliding Club
collected the Pirat in May 2004. The single seat aircraft was allocated the BGA number 1470 and
its first airworthiness certificate was issued on June 4, 1968. Until recently its last full
inspection was in June 1999 when the Log Book indicates that it passed with no problems. 

Mike Davies a member of the Gliding Club took around fifty [50] hours to complete the restoration
work and the project was managed by vintage gliding enthusiast Brian Waters, a well-known face in
the world of aircraft preservation in the UK. Today’s flight was undertaken by Mike Davies and was
used to test the aircraft for its BGA [British Gliding Association] certificate.

“After so much hard work has gone into re-building the Pirat, it seemed a shame not to return it
back to the air”, commented Brian Waters. He concluded, “It is always a pleasure to work on such an
unusual glider and now that it has been awarded its BGA certificate we hope to keep flying it on 
behalf of the Newark Air Museum for some years to come”.

SZD-30 Pirat pictured on Winthorpe Airfield waiting for its first post-restoration flight
 (photo, Howard Heeley - Down To Earth Promotions).