Szaraz SDS-1A Daphne

The Daphne SD-1A is a homebuilt aircraft that won second place in the 1970 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh flight efficiency contest.

Design
The Daphne is a two place, side-by-side configuration, strut-braced, high-wing, conventional landing gear equipped homebuilt. The fuselage is constructed of welded chromoly steel tubing, while the wings are made of wood, with one-piece plywood ribs. The entire structure is covered in aircraft fabric covering. Both ailerons and flaperons have been installed on the design. Hoerner wingtips were utilized, due to their inherent higher efficiency and low-drag features. Szaraz drew heavily from the design of the Wittman W-8 Tailwind during the design process, and thus the fuselage, landing gear, and engine mount are very similar to that of the W-8. Plans were first offered for sale in the March 1969 edition of Sport Aviation. In 1971, the plans were priced at $65, while the info packet was $2.

Operational history
The first three examples were built on the same jigs at Bernie Darmstadt's workshop basement. According to Jane's AWA, by January 1970, at least 26 were under construction. As of December 2023, there were 7 active Daphnes registered on the Federal Aviation Administration database, with 3 additional ones in Canada.