"Sports plane crash in Świdnica. On May 1st of this year, around 11:15 a.m., a sports plane crashed. Pilot Wtadystaw Oleksiewicz, flying a Kadet aircraft, was towing a Bocian glider from Gliwice to Jelenia Góra. The aircraft crashed on Jagiellonska Street in Świdnica. The pilot died..."
This brief information appeared in "Skrzydlata Polska" (issue 21/1956). Today we will try to write about the history of the "Kadet" from Świdnica.
After the end of the war, large quantities of German war equipment, including many training aircraft of various types, were found in western Poland. Some of them, after necessary renovations. Among
they were a Heinkel He-72 "Kadett", produced in In Germany before 1939, it was used as a training aircraft for aviation schools. Several "Kadet" aircraft (this spelling was adopted in the Polish Air Force) were found in Poland, abandoned by the occupiers. Five were certainly restored to flying condition, and their names can be found in the Polish Aircraft Register (SP-AFN, SP-AGA, SP-ARI, SP-BLL, SP-ISA). In the summer of 1945, a group of employees of the Gliding Organization Center in Bydgoszcz, while exploring former German aviation centers in the north of the country, found an undamaged "Kadet" aircraft with factory number 788, manufactured in 1934, at the sports airfield in Malbork. .Transported for repairs
The aircraft's transport on a glider trailer lasted two days. In September, unavoidable repairs to the airframe began and, for unknown reasons, lasted almost a year. Finally, in the summer of 1946, the aircraft was ready and on August 30th, it was entered into the register with the registration number SP-AFN. It was equipped with a 7-cylinder BMW Bramo Sh 14 A radial engine, factory number 25435. It made its public appearance two days later during the Aviation Day ceremonies held at Bydgoszcz Airport. The aircraft's owner, 1KCSP, used it mainly for scheduled and towing flights. In May 1947, the aircraft was transferred to the Warsaw Aeroclub, and a year later, the Gdańsk Aeroclub became its new owner. Finally, in March 1950, the aircraft became the property of the Aviation League and was assigned to the center in Jelenia Gora,
It was used mainly for towing flights until a tragic May day in 1956. Meanwhile, it underwent a major overhaul at the Sport Aviation Equipment Works in Poznań, which specialized in repairing German aircraft. At this time, it lost its attractive silver-and-red paint job and left the factory in "military" colors, all dark gray. In May 1956, the national gliding team trained at the Jeżów Sudccki and Jelcnia Góra airfields. A "Kadet" from the SP-AFN was employed to retrieve the gliders after field landings. The last inspection of the aircraft was carried out in March 1956 and it was officially approved for operation without any flight restrictions.
On May 9, the glider piloted by Maksymiliang Czmielówng landed near Gliwice and was transported to the Gliwice airport. The next day, pilot Władysław Olcksicwicz and mechanic Czekański flew to "Kadccic" to retrieve the glider. On the return flight (with the mechanic in the glider), over Świdnica, the pilot turned, intending to fly over the tenement house where his family lived. As a result of this maneuver, the entire team dangerously lost altitude, and the glider ended up in a position above the tow plane. The pilot instructed the mechanic to shut down the glider, which occurred at an altitude of several meters above the rooftops. The pilot failed to recover from the steep flight and crashed into the road on Jagiellonska Street. Władysław Oleksicwicz died on the way to the hospital. The glider landed safely on the outskirts of the city. The commission investigating the causes of the crash found it to be the pilot's fault (violation of aviation law and lack of discipline), and estimated the extent of damage to the aircraft at 90% and scheduled for a write-off. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that several previous incidents had occurred.he was flying in a plane at a low altitude over buildings in Świdnica...
