More Swan Than Ogar

Noisy and ungainly on the ground, the elderly Ogar’s element is the sky where it performs gracefully

- Dave Unwin

As we float serenely across Rutland Water I glance across at Roger Pitman and grin wryly. “You weren’t joking were you Roger? It really does look like you’re sitting in a deckchair!” “Well, might as well be comfortable!” he laughs in reply. One of the great things about being Pilot magazine’s Flight Test Editor is not just the quantity and quality of the aircraft I’m lucky enough to test, but also the variety. Some aircraft display almost national and cultural idiosyncrasies (such as the difference in handling between American and French four-seaters), and others even their manufacturers’ political ideology.

Conceived in the depths of the Cold War and designed by SZD-Bielsko’s Dipl.-Ing. Tadeusz Labuc, the SZD-45 Ogar (Hound) is a fascinating flying machine that I’ve long wanted to fly. It is also one of the most unusual-looking aircraft ever made.

While waiting patiently at Saltby airfield for it to arrive we all heard it before we saw it. And when we did see it we knew what it was, because it looks like nothing else! Featuring a pod and boom configuration, a high-wing, T-tail, and powered by an engine mounted at the back of the fuselage that turns a pusher propeller, it’s unmistakeable. The prototype first flew on 29 May 1973, and 64 production aircraft were built between 1974 and 1980 at SZD’s factory at BielskoBiala in southern Poland. As part of the USSR, Poland had a centrally-planned state economy and sailplane design was concentrated here. Szybowcowy Zaklad Doswiadczalny translates as Glider Experimental Workshop; all the design work was done by SZD and the aircraft produced here and at other state-owned workshops and factories.