RON DUPAS COLLECTION
No. 1002. Brochocki BKB-1 (N2991G)
Photographed at Evergreen Airfield, Vancouver, Washington, USA, by Ron Dupas

Brochocki BKB-1

Remarks and additional photos by Stefanie Brochocki: "The photo you are inquiring about, the Brochocki BKB-1, was designed by my dad, Stefan Brochocki, and built by him along with two colleagues, Alfred Bodek and Witold Kasper (formerly Kasprzyk) back in the 1950s. It no longer exists as it crashed back in the early seventies. It was registered as CF-ZDK-X in Canada, then N2991G in the USA.

The original aircraft was black & white. Sometime in the late1960s, Kasper painted it red & white and added those triangular "stingers" at the trailing edge of the wings near the tips. He also extended the small vertical fence to the upper surface of the wing tips. The glider flew quite nicely according to the Canadian test pilots, but Brochocki and his team never considered the testing and modification complete.

Kasper later renamed it the BKB-1A when he removed the ballast in the nose to move the CG back for aerobatics purposes, but it was the same plane. Many folks were confused into thinking there were two BKBs. The BKB-1A crashed in 1972 killing the pilot who was allegedly doing forbidden manoeuvres.

Kasper built a longer wingspan version (50ft) called Bekas. It had flexibility problems in the wings and crashed but was never repaired. It was similar to the BKB but had a slightly turned up nose instead of a rounded one, slightly longer fuselage, and tip rudders that were larger and more square-ish.

Since the two gliders were painted the same colour scheme, many people confused the two. Many people I've interviewed thought they were the same plane. The BKB-1A was never rebuilt. I believe two more Bekas were built. One, in glass fiber, is reputed to be in Oregon, USA somewhere, another one in Arizona, USA. Neither is flying."

See BKB web page for more information on this aircraft.


Created November 11, 2001