The German Grunau Baby, designed by Edmund Schneider (1901-1968), is without any doubt the most produced sailplane in the world. Totally more than 6000 have been manufactured and it has been built under licence in almost twenty countries. The first variant took to the air in 1931. The Grunau Baby fulfilled the demands for a sailplane which could be used both for training as well as more advanced flying. It went trough several modifications before the most common configuration - the IIB - was introduced.  

The Swedish Air Force flew 31 Grunau Baby IIB-2. One was built at F 5 at Ljungbyhed, but the other 30 were delivered in 1942 by AB Flygplan at Norrköping. This company had in 1941 been granted the rights for licence production of the Grunau Baby from Edmund Schneider’s factory at Grunau in Germany. In addition to the 30 Air Force sailplanes, AB Flygplan built nearly 70 Grunau Baby for civil Swedish flying clubs. The Air Force designated the aircraft Se 102. They got Air Force numbers 8101-8130. 

The single-seat Grunau Baby IIB was constructed of wood and fabric and had a skid landing gear. It had a rectangular fuselage which was reinforced with double layers of diagonal plywood. The cockpit was of open type, but could be fitted with a hood. The wings were equipped with dive-brake type spoilers. The Se 102 was brilliantly coloured in red and ivory.  

The high-winged, strutted sailplane was stable and easy to fly. It had an effective rudder action and long span ailerons made good performance possible.  

Grunau was an important soaring centre in pre-war Germany - second largest after Wasserkuppe. The territory today belongs to Poland. Grunau – in Polish Jezow Sudecki - is located directly north of the town of Hirschberg (Jelenia Gora) in the province of Silesia (now Slask). In the south lies the mighty mountain chain Riesengebirge - in Polish Karkonasze - near the present Polish-Czech border. Flying activity still takes place in the area, now with hang- and paragliders. See map (from 1934) below. 

The glider pilot Edmund Schneider married a girl from Grunau and settled down in the small village. In 1928, he founded his own company  - Edmund Schneider Segelflugzeugbau Grunau (ESG). As gliding was an expensive activity, Schneider developed his sucessful Grunau Baby as a compromise between price and performance. At the end of the WWII, the Schneider family moved to Stuttgart. Schneider still improved his “Baby”. In 1951, the Grunau Baby III was introduced and proved itself also to be a successful design.

Photo: The Se 102 of Flygvapenmuseum (the Swedish Air Force Museum). It has actually never flown in the Air Force. It was owned by Borlänge-Domnarvets Flygklubb and carried the civil registration SE-SAP. It is now painted in the markings of Air Force Wing F 3 at Malmen.  

Length: 6,09 m. Span: 13,57 m. MTOW: 250 kg. Max. speed: 210 km/h. Lift/drag ratio 17:1 at 60 km/h.

© Lars Henriksson

Updated 2010-07-11