The Schneider ES49 is a two-seat glider trainer, designed, first flown in late August 1951 and commercially produced in Germany but later built from plans by gliding clubs in Australia.
After World War II the town of Grunau (Jeżów Sudecki) was part of Poland and Schneider no longer had his factory there.
It has a two part wing, built around a single box spar with ply skinning from it around the leading edge to form a torsion resisting D-box.
[1] The fuselage of the ES-49 is a deep sided hexagon apart from the nose ahead of the cockpit, where an extra singly curved, horizontal panel is inserted for greater visibility.
The second prototype had a canopy which enclosed both occupants, an arrangement adopted by production aircraft which have tubular steel framed glazing, with a short, upward hinged section for the instructor who also has under wing side windows and an overhead transparency in the leading edge.
The fin is narrow and short, mounting a balanced rudder with a straight tapered trailing edge and rounded tip which reaches down to the keel.
Only six ES-49s were built in Germany; clubs, the main customers for the relatively expensive two seaters, were looking for an aircraft capable of sustaining the rigours of beginners' handling and to easy to repair, making metal framed gliders more attractive.
It appeared at pageants and was used for passenger pleasure flights, occasionally carrying two in the rear cockpit, before its sale to a farmer in New South Wales.