In September 1990, after reviewing the proposals, many of which came with models, the IGC recommended that 11 designs from 9 countries proceed to the prototype competition.

In October 1992, the IGC inspected and tested 6 prototypes from 5 countries at Oerlinghausen Germany.

After further review and collecting manufacturing data, in spring 1993 the IGC declared the PW-5, designed by a faculty/student team at Warsaw University of Technology, the first World Class glider.

The glider was designed at the Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology under the supervision of Roman Świtkiewicz.

The Bielsko version, identified as B1 PW-5, has a few safety- and performance-related improvements: There is a project in progress for building a motorglider designated PW-5M based on the PW-5.