Tadeusz Sołtyk

Tadeusz Sołtyk (born 30 August 1909 in

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the seat of a separate Radom Voivodeship (1975� ...

, died 14 July 2004 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

) was a Polish

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

designer and

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, most famous as the creator of the

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 ...

After graduating from the Mechanical Department of the

Warsaw University of Technology The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...

in 1934, he became a designer at the State Aviation Works (

PZL PZL (''Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze'' - State Aviation Works) was the main Polish aerospace manufacturer of the interwar period, and a brand of their aircraft. Based in Warsaw between 1928 and 1939, PZL introduced a variety of well-regarded air ...

). During his tenure at the company, he participated in the development of the PZL 23 Karaś light bomber and its potential successor, the

PZL.46 Sum PZL.46 Sum ('' sheatfish'') was a light bomber of the Polish Air Force before World War II, which, was directed to serial production in the spring of 1939. These planes were in production, but the Polish industry did not manage to produce them bef ...

. In 1939 he became a deputy to PZL's Chief Designer, Stanisław Prauss. During the 1939

September Campaign The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

, he fought in the battle of Kock. He was captured there, then escaped and eluded the German occupants by hiding in the countryside. After the Germans were pushed back from eastern Poland, Sołtyk organized, in 1944, the Experimental Aircraft Workshops ( LWD) in Lublin. He also became the chief designer in the facility. In 1949 Sołtyk took up work at the Institute of Aviation in Warsaw. Since 1952 he managed the newly created design office at the Institute. 1955 saw the first test flights of the prototype for Sołtyk's training aircraft, the

PZL TS-8 Bies The PZL TS-8 ''Bies'' (Devil) is a Polish trainer aircraft, used from 1957 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-engin ...

. The production line for these machines was launched in 1957. The aeroplane won 3 world records in its class. That success allowed Sołtyk to work on the first Polish jet aircraft, the

, test-flown in 1960. Iskra became the basic jet training plane in Polish military aviation, and was also exported to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It remains in service with the Polish Air Force. From 1967 Tadeusz Sołtyk started working at the Industrial Institute of Automation and Measurements, specializing in ship automation systems. He never returned to aircraft design. In 1992 he retired. Tadeusz Sołtyk lectured at the

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

, Gdańsk and

technical universities and at the Military Technical Academy. {{DEFAULTSORT:Soltyk, Tadeusz 1909 births 2004 deaths People from Radom People from Radom Governorate 20th-century Polish people Polish aerospace engineers Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland) Aircraft designers