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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1652.PDF
814 FLIGHT, 23 November 1956 An artist's impression of the MD-12 light transport, now under construction. By J. B. CYNK Part II THIS article—Part I of which appeared lastweek—was written before the recent political events in Poland. It should, therefore, be readwith the proviso that the Polish aircraft industry may now be at the beginning of anew era, less subject to Russian control. In this second instalment the author describesprogress since 1950. POLISH AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENT SEVERAL important events in aviation took place in Polandat the end of 1950. At that time a "reorganization of theaircraft industry" was proclaimed almost simultaneously in various of the Soviet-bloc countries. The purpose of it was toadjust production resources of the satellite states to the needs of Russia's strategy and economy, and to put them under theabsolute control of the Soviet war machine; it was, in fact, the Soviet reply to NATO. Aircraft factories in east Europeancountries were vastly expanded and some new plants built. Several important types of Russian military aircraft were putinto mass production. Thus Russia gained new production centres of great strategic value, which further assisted thedecentralization of the Soviet aircraft industry. In Poland, the largest P.Z.L. factories began tooling-up for production ofMig-15bis fighters, and the first Polish-built aircraft of this type were delivered from the factory at Mielec during 1953. It isestimated that between 500 and 700 of these fighters have been produced up to the present time. It is also believed that thefirst Polish-built 11-28 bombers were recently delivered to the Polish Air Force. Although this reorganization greatly increased the productioncapacity of the Polish aircraft industry, it has, at the same time, brought progress in national designs to a complete standstill.L.W.D. and C.S.S. were dissolved and their design offices closed. This was a thoughtless policy, which did the Polish design effortgreat harm, and its effects will be felt for some years to come. Work was later resumed on the production of the Junak but pro- The first S.M.I helicopter, completed in May of this year. •*•• gress has been very slow, deliveries only starting at the beginningof 1954. In 1952 the leading Polish designers formed a small designoffice at I.L. (Aircraft Institute, formerly G.I.L.), with T. Soltyk as chief designer. Work on the T.S. 8 Bies trainer then began,and it was flown for the first time on July 23, 1955. This aircraft, described later, was the first new Polish machine built sinceMay 1951. Some light has recently been thrown on the conditions underwhich designers have been working in the satellite states. Reports were published in the journal Skrzydlata Polska concerning dis-cussions in aeronautical circles, which reveal that there are no modern wind tunnels and no engine test-beds in Poland. Equip-ment and aircraft used for instructional purposes in the technical institutes and colleges date back to the 1940-43 period. Only inphotographs does more up-to-date equipment appear. The number of foreign technical publications available in Poland hasthis year been cut by 75 per cent. Students wishing to fly or to study aircraft engineering automatically come under suspicionand, after exhaustive security checks, only reliable Party mem- bers are allowed to begin studying. Several specialists andpeople of exceptional ability in aviation have been relegated to factories building agricultural machinery or other light engineer-ing products. The result of this policy is that the aviation industry is full oftrustworthy Party members, but their knowledge and experience is inadequate, and their real interest is not in aeronautics. "Theymay sit by the open window, but they are not eagles—they cannot fly," one of the critics of this system has said. Productionof obsolete Russian aircraft under licence has been openly con- demned. The training of flying personnel has also been criticized,because the main concern of instructors and schools is the "mass production," in the minimum time, of the number of trainedpilots required; their real experience and knowledge of flying being of secondary importance. Several serious accidents haveoccurred as a result. Conclusions reached after many discus- sions have been presented to the Government, and it is hopedthat action will be taken to improve the situation. Re-emergence of Polish design. In 1955, in line with the "newlook" of Soviet policy, a change of spirit in the Polish aviation industry became apparent. The C.S.S.12 and the Zuraw, whichhad been standing idle in hangars for over four years after only brief preliminary flights, were taken out and put through a fulltest-flying programme. As a result, a new twin-engined feeder- liner, designated MD-12, and designed by Misztal and Duleba,has been developed from the C.S.S.12 and is now under con- struction. An order has already been received from the nationalairline, LOT. This machine is powered by two of the new Polish- designed WN-3 radial engines of 320 h.p., and features a "T"-typetail unit. The Zuraw 2, also with a WN-3 engine, is now under develop-ment as a glider-tug. The estimated all-round performance of this version is considerably better, with a maximum speed ofover 170 m.p.h. At the end of last year a light monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage, resembling the Ercoupe, and designatedthe Czajka, was built by private effort. The new four-seat automatically stabilized BZ-4 Zuk heli- [Cont. on p. 815
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