The PZL TS-8 ''Bies'' (Devil) is a Polish

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristi ...

, used from

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

to the 1970s by the Polish Air Force and civilian aviation.

Development

The aircraft was designed in response to a Polish Air Force requirement for a modern piston-engined trainer with a retractable

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

to replace Junak 3 and

Yak-11 The Yakovlev Yak-11 (russian: Яковлев Як-11; NATO reporting name: "Moose") is a trainer aircraft used by the Soviet Air Force and other Soviet-influenced air forces from 1947 until 1962. Design and development The Yakovlev design bureau ...

aircraft. The main designer was

Tadeusz Sołtyk Tadeusz Sołtyk (born 30 August 1909 in Radom, died 14 July 2004 in Warsaw) was a Polish aircraft designer and aerospace engineer, most famous as the creator of the PZL TS-11 Iskra After graduating from the Mechanical Department of the Warsaw Univ ...

– hence the designation letters TS. The plane was named ''Bies'' – a folk name for the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

. Work started in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

and the first prototype was flown on July 23, 1955. In 1956 and

it beat three international records in its class.World records of height 7084.5 m in C-Ic class (weight 1000–1750 kg), distance in a closed circuit 2884.5 km in C-Id class (weight 1750–3000 kg), speed 317 km/h in a closed circuit 2000 km in C-Ic class The second prototype was shown at the

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...

in 1957. In

the first experimental series of 10 aircraft was produced by WSK-Okecie (designated as TS-8 BI). A slightly improved main variant, designated as the TS-8 BII, was produced from 1958 to 1960 by WSK Mielec. The last 10 machines, TS-8 BIII, were built with better avionics, in total 251 TS-8 were produced of which 229 were the TS-8 BII variant. The TS-8 had good handling and performance; a noisy engine being one of its few flaws. It was the first really modern aircraft designed in Poland after the war, that also used a Polish engine.

Design

The TS-8 was an all-metal low-wing cantilever

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, with metal-covered

semi-monocoque The term semi-monocoque or semimonocoque refers to a stressed shell structure that is similar to a true monocoque, but which derives at least some of its strength from conventional reinforcement. Semi-monocoque construction is used for, among ot ...

fuselage, oval in cross-section. The three-part single-spar wing, of semi-monocoque design, creating a transverse inverted gull wing "W" shape. It had a Tricycle retractable landing gear, and a 7-cylinder WN-3

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

in front, delivering 330 hp take-off power and 283 hp normal power to a 2.2 m diameter two-blade variable pitch wooden propeller. The crew of two, sat in a tandem enclosed

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

, with twin controls, the student in front with the instructor in the rear. Canopy sections above the crewmen slid rearwards. The plane had no armament, except for the experimental series TS-8 BI, which had one 12.7mm machine gun and two small bomb pylons.

Operational history

The TS-8s began to be withdrawn from Polish Air Force service in the mid-1960s, being replaced by

PZL TS-11 Iskra The PZL TS-11 ''Iskra'' ( en, Spark) is a Polish jet trainer, developed and manufactured by aircraft company PZL-Mielec. It was used by the air forces of Poland and India. It is notable as being the first domestically developed jet aircraft to ...

jet trainers. Over 100 withdrawn aircraft were handed over to the civilian aviation ( aero clubs). Most TS-8s were finally withdrawn from civilian aviation by

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, with three currently remaining airworthy. Two TS-8s were used by

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Variants

;TS-8 :3 prototypes. ;TS-8 BI :First experimental series, 10 built. ;TS-8 BII :Improved TS-8 BI. Main production version, 229 built. ;TS-8 BIII :Version equipped with better avionics, 10 built.

Operators

; *

Indonesian Air Force The Indonesian Air Force ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Udara (TNI-AU), literally "''Indonesian National Military-Air Force''") sometimes shortened as IDAF / IdAF, is the aerial branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. The ...

received two aircraft which were based in

Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

. ; * Polish Air Force * Polish Navy *''

Aeroklub Polski Aeroklub Polski (AP; ''Polish Aero Club'') is the Polish central association of persons practising air sports or recreational flying. It was founded in 1921 and is a member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. It has a headquarters in ...

Specifications

References

External links

{{Authority control PZL aircraft 1950s Polish military trainer aircraft 1950s Polish civil trainer aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1955