BS 1 (501)

A good year before the maiden flight of the H 301 Libelle, Björn Stender had flown his BS 1 on its maiden flight December 23, 1962. The fatal crash of Björn Stender during testing of the second aircraft on October 4, 1963 called into question the future of the BS 1. At that time, 16 customers had already ordered a BS 1 from Björn and had also made considerable down payments so that production could begin. The pilots joined together and negotiated with the family of Björn Stender and various glider manufacturers, with an agreement being reached with Eugen Hänle.

According to the findings from the production of the H 301 Libelle, Eugen Hänle then completely redesigned the BS 1, so that it finally had only the outer dimensions in common with the prototype., with many parts of the Libelle landing gear and control system.

In total, only 18 BS 1s were built at Glasflügel.
One week after the maiden flight, Rolf Spänig became the winner of the 1966 German Championship in Roth with seven day victories. The BS 1 lived up to its reputation with further spectacular flights in the following years. In 1968 two BS 1 won the German Championship with Dr. Wolfgang Groß and Emil Bucher.  Alfred Röhm had set a new world record over the 300 km triangle with 138.3 km/h from Hahnweide in 1967.

The first BS 1 Glasflügel built was the third Protoype and it is displayed in the glider museum at Wasserkuppe.

Dimensions
Wingspan                         18.00 m
Surface Area                    14.20 m²
Aspect Ratio                    22.80
Profile                               Dr Eppler 348K
Length                              7.50 m

Weight
Empty Weight                                  330 kg
Maximum Cockpit Weight             125 kg
Maximum Gross Weight                460 kg
Maximum Wing Loading                32.6 kg/m²

Speeds
Maximum Speed                              140 km/h
Stall Speed                                         65 km/h

Performance
Minimum sink at  85 km/h              0.55 m/s
Best Glide at 95 km/h                      44