PZL-107

Last updated
PZL-107
PZL-107 patent.png
PZL-107 Kaczor I design, from its patent document [1]
Role Agricultural aircraft
National originPoland
Manufacturer PZL
Designer Andrzej Frydrychewicz and Witold Błażewicz (Kaczor I) [2]
Andrzej Frydrychewicz and Stanisław Danilecki (Kaczor II) [2]
StatusUnrealised project

The PZL-107 was a project undertaken by Polish company PZL during the 1980s to develop an agricultural aircraft to succeed its PZL-106 Kruk in production. [3] [4] [5] The project progressed through three distinct designs but did not reach prototype stage before being cancelled.

Contents

Kawka

The first design for the PZL-107, named Kawka [4] [5] (the Polish name for the European jackdaw) was proposed in 1983. Unlike the piston-engined Kruk, the Kawka was to be turboprop-powered. PZL hoped that the lower weight of the turbine engine would allow it to manufacture a smaller aircraft with the same capacity as the Kruk. [5] The company also planned the Kawka to share common assemblies with other aircraft in its range. [5] The first flight of a prototype was expected by 1986. [5]

Kaczor I

By 1986, the PZL-107 designation was applied to a new, unrelated, and radical design, named Kaczor [6] (Polish for "Duck", but also for "canard" in aeronautics, itself French for "duck"), and retrospectively named the Kaczor I when the third PZL-107 design re-used this name. [6]

PZL engineers Andrzej Frydrychewicz and Witold Błażewicz set out to solve a problem with conventionally designed agricultural aircraft. [1] Typically, the spray apparatus of such aircraft is located in the wings, which means that the spray is subject to wastage as it accumulates on the tailplane. [1]

Therefore, Frydrychewicz and Błażewicz gave the aircraft a canard configuration. Because this layout has no tail, and because the piston engine and propeller were mounted at the front of the aircraft, spray could be dispensed from the rear of the aircraft completely unobstructed. [1] Horizontal stability was provided by two long canards near the nose. [1] These were designed with a significant anhedral, which allowed them to also form part of the aircraft's undercarriage. [1] The main undercarriage was a semi-retractable monowheel beneath the fuselage, [1] [6] which was supplemented by two small wheels at the tips of the canards. [1] In their patent, Frydrychewicz and Błażewicz claimed that this undercarriage arrangement provided a significant weight-saving for the design, [1] and that the anhedral on the canards provided both stability in flight, and better visibility for the pilot. [1] The wings featured moderate sweep-back and carried large fins at their tips, which extended both above and below them. [1] The cabin was highly streamlined, and blended into a large rudder. [1]

Work on the design continued at least into 1987. [7] This iteration of the PZL-107 proceeded as far as constructing and fight-testing a scale model. [6] When this crashed, work on the Kaczor I was abandoned. [6] However, the Polish patents office issued a patent for it in 1990. [8]

Kaczor II

Even while the original Kaczor was under development, Frydrychewicz worked with Stanisław Danilecki on another design for the PZL-107, dubbed the Kaczor II. [6] Again, this was a canard design, this time inspired by the work of Burt Rutan. [6] It featured a turboprop engine, tricycle undercarriage, and completely redesigned wings and canards. [9] Vertical surfaces joined the tips of the canards to the wings, creating a closed wing. [9] Two small horizontal stabilisers, again with marked anhedral, were attached to the roof of the cabin, [9] to make this a three-surface design. Work on this iteration was abandoned when money for the project ran out. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze</span> Polish aerospace manufacturer

PZL was the largest 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 aircraft, most notably the PZL P.11 fighter, the PZL.23 Karaś light bomber, and the PZL.37 Łoś medium bomber.

RWD was a Polish aircraft construction bureau active between 1928 and 1939. It started as a team of three young designers, Stanisław Rogalski, Stanisław Wigura and Jerzy Drzewiecki, whose names formed the RWD acronym.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL-130 Orlik</span> Trainer aircraft

The PZL 130 Orlik is a Polish turboprop, single engine, two seat trainer aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL-104 Wilga</span> Utility aircraft family by PZL Warszawa-Okęcie built 1962-2006

PZL-104 Wilga is a Polish short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) civil aviation utility aircraft designed and originally manufactured by PZL Warszawa-Okęcie, and later by European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), who had acquired the original manufacturer during 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL-230 Skorpion</span> Polish ground-attack aircraft project

The PZL-230 Skorpion (scorpion) was a proposed Polish low-cost attack aircraft. It was being developed by Polish manufacturer PZL Warszawa-Okecie in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL.46 Sum</span> Type of aircraft

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 before the outbreak of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL-101 Gawron</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL-101 Gawron (rook) is a Polish agricultural and utility aircraft designed and built by WSK-Okęcie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL.38 Wilk</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL.38 Wilk (wolf) (PZL-38) was a Polish heavy fighter developed and manufactured by PZL state factory in 1937. Intended for use primarily as a fighter-bomber, the Polish Air Force also envisioned it replacing light fighters in long-range operations, along with being able to serve as a light bomber. Only two examples were built before the project was cancelled in favor of a planned improved variant, the PZL.48 Lampart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PWS-33 Wyżeł</span> Type of aircraft

The PWS-33 Wyżeł was a Polish twin-engined military trainer aircraft from a period before World War II constructed by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów or PWS. Although destined for production it got no further than the prototypes before Poland was invaded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL M26 Iskierka</span> Type of aircraft

PZL M26 Iskierka or M26 Airwolf is a Polish trainer and aerobatic aircraft, designed at WSK PZL-Mielec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tadeusz Chyliński</span>

Tadeusz Chylińnski – was a Polish airplane designer and constructor, a researcher at the Institute of Aviation in Warsaw and specialist in aircraft structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL-106 Kruk</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL-106 Kruk is a Polish agricultural aircraft designed and built by WSK PZL Warszawa-Okęcie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL-105 Flaming</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL-105 Flaming (flamingo) is a Polish short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) utility aircraft designed by PZL "Warszawa-Okęcie". It remained a prototype.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL.43</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL.43 was a Polish light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft designed in the mid-1930s by PZL in Warsaw. It was an export development of the PZL.23 Karaś. Its main user was the Bulgarian Airforce who called it the Chaika.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL.12</span> Type of aircraft

PZL.12 (PZL-H) was a prototype of a Polish amphibious flying boat designed and built in 1931 by Zygmunt Puławski, a pioneering Polish designer. He was killed in a crash involving this design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL P.1</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL P.1 was a Polish fighter, designed by the engineer Zygmunt Puławski, manufactured by the PZL state-owned factory. It remained a prototype, but it was the first of the Polish PZL gull wing fighter series, leading to the PZL P.7, PZL P.11 and PZL P.24.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL.49 Miś</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL.49 Miś was a Polish twin-engined medium bomber design that remained only a project due to the outbreak of World War II. The PZL.49 was based on the contemporary PZL.37 Łoś and was to replace it at production lines at the PZL works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL-126 Mrówka</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL-126 Mrówka (ant) is a Polish agricultural aircraft first flown in 1990. It is a diminutive low-wing monoplane of conventional if stubby appearance with a cruciform tail, an enclosed cabin and fixed, tricycle undercarriage. Significant parts of the design were undertaken by students at the training college attached to the PZL plant at Okęcie under the direction of Andrzej Słocinski, with the whole project treated initially as a platform for design innovation. Initial design work was completed in 1982 and detail work the following year. Plans to fly a prototype by 1985 were delayed by revisions to the aircraft's equipment, although a mockup was displayed at an agricultural aviation exhibition at Olsztyn that August. Legislation to outlaw certain agricultural chemicals was under consideration in Poland in the late 1980s, spurring interest in biological agents as an alternative and making a tiny aircraft like the Mrówka feasible as a useful piece of agricultural equipment.

The RWD 18 was a four/five seat STOL utility aircraft designed and built in Poland from 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL SM-4 Łątka</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL SM-4 Łątka was a prototype three-seat helicopter of the 1960s, developed by WSK PZL-Świdnik in Poland. Of largely conventional design and construction, a single prototype was built, but was not flown as a result of engine problems.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Poland patent 149975
  2. 1 2 Glass 2004, p.2
  3. ↑ Taylor 1993, p.953
  4. 1 2 Taylor 1983, p.187
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Glass 1983, p.4
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Frydrychewicz 2004, p.10
  7. ↑ Glass 1987, p.21
  8. ↑ Details PAT - P.260129
  9. 1 2 3 Frydrychewicz 2004, p.13

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.