The Lommatzsch factory of the Volkseigener Betrieb Flugzeug (Association of the People's Aircraft Enterprises) was responsible for glider design and production in the DDR.

On all variants the wings are straight tapered in plan, mostly on the trailing edge and resulting in 0.46° sweepback at one quarter chord, and with only slightly rounded tips.

Student and instructor sit in tandem, below and ahead of the wing leading edge, under multi-part, sideways opening glazing.

[1][2] The FES-530 Lehrmeister flew for the first time in June 1954; in November 1955 it was approved as semi-aerobatic, cleared for spinning and also cloud flying.

[3] Removal of the external bracing slightly improved the 530/I's performance over that of the equal span 530, increasing the glide ratio from 24:1 to 26:1 and decreasing the minimum sink rate from 0.85 m/s to 0.80 m/s.