BS 1

A good year before the maiden flight of the H 301 Libelle, Björn Stender had flown his BS1 on its maiden flight on 23.12.1962. The fatal crash of Björn Stender during testing of the second aircraft on 4 October 1963 called into question the future of the BS1. At that time, 16 customers had already ordered a BS1 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 BS1, so that it finally had only the outer dimensions in common with the prototype. Many parts of the Libelle landing gear and control system were used in the BS1.

The first new BS 1 took off on 24 May 1966 in Karlsruhe-Forchheim for its maiden flight.

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 BS1 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 BS1 Glasflügel built was the third Protoype and it is displayed in the glider museum at Wasserkuppe.