The aircraft was designed especially for the 1970 World Gliding Championships at Marfa, Texas, where J. Wroblewski took 2nd and F. Kępka took 3rd places in the Standard Class behind a Rolladen-Schneider LS1.

The Cobra also proved popular with ordinary pilots resulting in a long production run of 290, of which 215 were exported.

To compete in the Open class at Marfa in 1970, W. Okramus and M. Mikuszewski developed a 17m span version as the SZD-39 Cobra 17, which took 5th place flown by Edward Makula.

With high g limits, high Vne and effective speed limiting air-brakes on the upper surface of the wings, the SZD-36 Cobra is popular as an aerobatic machine.

Following a fatal accident due to failure of the wing attachment mechanism in 2007 [1] and another fatality with a glider with similar assembly mechanism,[2] the British Gliding Association has issued a Safety Alert for owners of Cobra gliders.