Scheibe Bergfalke II/55 

Bergfalke (Mountain Falcon) is a beautiful name for an aircraft, especially when it is meant to glide silently among the birds. This is a classic sailplane design, constructed with steel tubing, plywood, fabric, and a tandem cockpit.  

The German aircraft designer Egon Scheibe had a background in the German armed forces before he began designing sailplanes in the post-war years. He founded the company Scheibe Flugzeugbau in 1951. 

The aircraft was produced in a number of different versions up until the early 1980s. By the mid-1980s, the company had produced over 2000 planes, mostly sailplanes, 300 of which were Bergfalke models. Egon Scheibe designed aircraft until his death in 1997. His son took over, and later the company has had new owners. 

The Scheibe Bergfalke II/55 was developed in the mid-1950s. The Swedish sailplane pilot Lennart Ståhlfors requested an aircraft specifically adapted to Swedish conditions. The aircraft became a major sales success in Sweden, Austria, and southern Germany. It was relatively inexpensive to buy and maintain, and it was well suited as a training aircraft. 

The aero club Stavanger Aero Klubb used the Bergfalke during the 1950s and 1960s. The club operated from the old airfield at Forus. They often used a winch on the ground to launch the aircraft, giving just enough altitude to complete a landing circuit. For longer flights, the aircraft was usually aero-towed by a small airplane. 

The museum’s aircraft

The museum’s aircraft was purchased by the aero club Sandefjord Flyklubb in 1966 and received the registration LN-GBH. In 1974, it was heavily damaged at Jarlsberg and was removed from the aircraft registry. The aircraft arrived at Flyhistorisk Museum Sola in July 1990. It had some damage that was provisionally repaired before being put on display later that same year.