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Development History

The appearance of jet engine-powered fighter aircraft in Britain, France, Germany, and Russia prompted the Polish Ministry of Defence to initiate a development programme for a comparable aircraft in the latter part of 1944. PZL engineers Tadeusz Sołtyk and Tadeusz Chyliński were assigned the task, both having recently returned from abroad – Sołtyk in Italy and Chyliński in the United States. By 1945 a mock-up of the design had been presented to a delegation of Polish military officials and in the winter of 1945/46 a model was undergoing wind tunnel testing at the Aviation Institute in Warsaw.

Refinements of the design slowed construction of a prototype, which did not appear until 1946, making its first flight on 16 May of that year at the hands of Benedykt Dąbrowski. Several models of engines were tested with the final choice resting on the American-designed Allison J-33 centrifugal-flow turbojet; plans had called for this power plant to be built under license by Polskie Zakłady Skody of Warsaw-Okęcie but delays in deliveries would cause the first fifty Polish-built aircraft to be completed with engines imported from the United States.

The first production aircraft were delivered to the Polish Air Force in the spring of 1948, for whom an initial quantity of three hundred aircraft were ordered, sufficient to equip twelve squadrons plus reserves.


General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 9.5 meters
Wingspan: 7.5 meters
Wing area: 14.5 square meters
Empty weight: 4,100 kilograms
Gross weight: 6,800 kilograms
Powerplant: One license-built Allison J-33 centrifugal-flow turbojet, 16.1 kN thrust

Performance

Maximum speed: 880 kilometers/hour
Combat range: 550 kilometers
Service ceiling: 12,000 meters
Rate of climb: 28.5 meters/second
Thrust/weight: 0.24

Armament

Two 23mm FN-Madsen cannon with 300 rounds/gun
Underwing hardpoints with to carry combinations of two 220 kilogram bombs, six 127mm air-ground rockets, or fuel tanks