Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann SSH T-131PA

Half a century after German production ended, the Jungmann was built again in Poland, and the T-131PA is the version that took that effort into series production. It started with a group of enthusiasts and specialists in Bielsko-Biała. According to samolotypolskie.pl, the project was initiated by Eugeniusz Pieniążek and Janusz Karasiewicz; work on the prototype began in 1990 and it was completed in 1994. The sources differ on the documentation used. PolishAircraftBlog refers to plans and drawings from the Czech firm Tatra, which had licence-built the Bü 131 as the T-131, while samolotypolskie.pl cites the Czech technical documentation of the Aero C-104. Either way, the starting point was the Czech line of the Jungmann rather than the original German drawings.

The prototype, still of the first version (T-131P), had a carburetted Walter Minor 4-III engine. According to samolotypolskie.pl, it first flew on 9 July 1994 with test pilot Jerzy Jędrzejewski. The English and Spanish Wikipedias count four pre-production T-131Ps built from 1994, powered by the 78 kW (105 hp) Walter Minor 4-III. The second aircraft was completed in 1995 and won the Grand Prix at the 14th amateur aircraft construction rally at Oleśnica, held from 30 June to 2 July 1995. The third first flew on 7 August 1995.

That same year, the company Serwis Samolotów Historycznych (SSH) was founded and began series production under the designation Bücker T-131PA "Jungmann". The English Wikipedia gives 1995 as the T-131PA's first flight. The main change from the original was the engine: the 105 hp Hirth HM 504 was replaced by the Czech LOM M332AK, a Prague-built inverted inline four-cylinder. According to Air Res Aviation, it has the same layout as its predecessor, so the cowling shape did not change, and it has a compressor and a fuel-injection system approved for aerobatics. Sources give its power as 103 kW (138 hp) in the English Wikipedia, 103 kW (140 hp) or 102 kW (140 hp) in samolotypolskie.pl, and 104 kW (140 hp) from Air Res. PolishAircraftBlog notes that the M332AK was better suited to inverted flight than the Walter Minor. According to samolotypolskie.pl, the aircraft were built by hand to individual order, with machining used only for some parts, and little else was changed from the original.

The T-131PA sold well abroad. PolishAircraftBlog mentions many examples going to owners in Germany and Austria, and others to the Netherlands, Italy and South Africa. The Polish civil register listed 20 Bücker T-131s on 1 January 2006 and 21 on 1 January 2007. In Poland they are registered in the special category. Janusz Karasiewicz was killed on 26 August 2006 in an FK-12 Comet accident at Bydgoszcz. According to samolotypolskie.pl and the German Wikipedia, SSH production stopped at that point, although PolishAircraftBlog says it continued until 2010. Production totals also vary: about 30 T-131P and T-131PA aircraft by 2006 per samolotypolskie.pl, "over 30" on its company page, approximately 30 by 2010 per PolishAircraftBlog, and 20 built in Poland between 1994 and 2000 per the Spanish Wikipedia. SSH also designed a T-131PB with a Lycoming engine of 102-118 kW (140-160 hp).

In 2011, Air Res Aviation, a flight school at Rzeszów-Jasionka airport, bought the technical drawings and manufacturing rights from Karasiewicz's widow. Production of the T-131PA with the LOM M332AK started the same year. The company converted the drawings into AutoCAD files and makes most of the parts in its own workshop. Its first aircraft, SP-YFB (c/n PA200), was built for a German customer. Samolotypolskie.pl dates its first flight to 29 December 2012; PolishAircraftBlog says January 2013. Painted in the colours of the Bü 131s at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, it was shown at the Aero fair at Friedrichshafen in April 2013. The third aircraft was completed in early 2016, also for Germany. Air Res offers the T-131PA with the LOM engine, the T-131PB with a Lycoming (which requires a new nose), and the T-131PC with the Spanish Tigre GIVB, either ready to fly or as a kit. The company says its aircraft are factory-new, not replicas, and follow the original Czech technical documentation. They have an MT-Propeller wooden fixed-pitch propeller, Beringer wheels and brakes, and a structure of selected pine. They are approved for aerobatics with load factors from +5.0 to −3.0 g, and a standard-equipped aircraft cost about 140 000 euros net. The English Wikipedia counts three pre-production aircraft in 2012 and 29 production examples by 2022, without saying whether SSH's aircraft are included.