| TS-8 Bies | |
|---|---|
 TS-8 during Góraszka Air Show 2007 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Trainer aircraft |
| Manufacturer | WSK PZL-Mielec |
| Primary users | Polish Air Force |
| Number built | 251 |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1957–1960 |
| Introduction date | 1957 |
| First flight | 23 July 1955 |
| Retired | 1978 |
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.
The aircraft was designed in response to a Polish Air Force requirement for a modern piston-engined trainer with a retractable tricycle landing gear to replace Junak 3 and Yak-11 aircraft. The main designer was Tadeusz Sołtyk – hence the designation letters TS. The plane was named Bies – a folk name for the devil. Work started in 1953 and the first prototype was flown on July 23, 1955. In 1956 and 1957 it beat three international records in its class. [1] The second prototype was shown at the Paris Air Show in 1957.
In 1957 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.
The TS-8 was an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane, with metal-covered semi-monocoque 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 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, 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.
The TS-8s began to be withdrawn from Polish Air Force service in the mid-1960s, being replaced by PZL TS-11 Iskra jet trainers. Over 100 withdrawn aircraft were handed over to the civilian aviation (aero clubs).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, with three currently remaining airworthy. Two TS-8s were used by Indonesia.
Indonesia 
Poland Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1961–62 [2]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
The Yakovlev Yak-3 is a single-engine, single-seat World War II Soviet fighter. Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by both pilots and ground crew. One of the smallest and lightest combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war, its high power-to-weight ratio gave it excellent performance and it proved to be a formidable dogfighter.
The Yakovlev Yak-11 is a trainer aircraft used by the Soviet Air Force and other Soviet-influenced air forces from 1947 until 1962.
The PZL TS-11 Iskra 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 be produced by Poland, its service for over 50 years as the principal training aircraft of the Polish Air Force, and at the time of its retirement was the oldest jet-propelled aircraft still in service in Poland.
The LWD/WSK Junak was a Polish trainer aircraft, used from 1952 to 1961 by the Polish Air Force and until 1972 by Polish civilian operators. It was designed by the LWD bureau and produced by the WSK Warszawa-Okęcie factory.
The Yakovlev UT-2 is a single-engine tandem two-seat low-wing monoplane that was the standard Soviet trainer during World War II. It was used by the Soviet Air Force from 1937 until replaced by the Yakovlev Yak-18 during the 1950s.
The PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader is a single engine agricultural aircraft that is manufactured by PZL-Mielec in Poland. The aircraft is used mainly as a cropduster or firefighting machine.
The RWD 8 was a Polish parasol wing monoplane trainer aircraft produced by RWD. It was used from 1934 to 1939 by the Polish Air Force and civilian aviation.
The Yakovlev Yak-12 is a light multirole STOL aircraft used by the Soviet Air Force, Soviet civilian aviation and other countries from 1947 onwards.
The Aero L-60 Brigadýr was a small, high-wing propeller-driven Czechoslovakian STOL utility aircraft developed for both civil and military use. A prototype, designated XL-60, with Argus As 10C engine, first flew on December 24, 1953, but it was not successful. The plane was thoroughly redesigned and the second improved prototype, with M-208B flat-six engine, flew on June 8, 1954. The aircraft's configuration bears a strong resemblance to the Fieseler Fi 156 "Storch" licence-produced in Czechoslovakia during and after World War II, and which this aircraft was intended to replace. By the end of production in 1960, 273 had been built by Aero, including an improved version, the L-160 with an all-metal tail.
The Yakovlev Yak-9 is a single-engine, single-seat multipurpose fighter aircraft used by the Soviet Union and its allies during World War II and the early Cold War. It was a development of the robust and successful Yak-7B fighter, which was based in turn on the tandem-seat advanced trainer known as the Yak-7UTI. The Yak-9 started arriving in Soviet fighter regiments in late 1942 and played a major role in retaking air superiority from the Luftwaffe's new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighters during the grand Battle of Kursk in summer 1943.
The Yakovlev Yak-18T is a four- or five-seat fully aerobatic utility aircraft developed by Yakovlev. Introduced to train Aeroflot pilots, it has gained some popularity as a sportplane both inside and outside the former USSR. It is powered by a 268-298 kW (360-400 hp) Vedeneyev M14P radial engine, and is designed for stresses of +6.48/-3.24 g.
The PZL-Mielec M-20 Mewa is a licence-built version of the Piper PA-34 Seneca II manufactured in Poland by WSK PZL Mielec in a limited series from the 1980s.
The PZL-101 Gawron (rook) is a Polish agricultural and utility aircraft designed and built by WSK-Okęcie.
PZL M26 Iskierka or M26 Airwolf is a Polish trainer and aerobatic aircraft, designed at WSK PZL-Mielec.
The Yakovlev Yak-30, originally designated Yakovlev 104, was Yakovlev's entry in a competition for the first military jet trainer aircraft designed for Warsaw Pact nations. Designed to succeed the Yak-17UTI, it also led to the development of the Yakovlev Yak-32 sport jet. The Yak-30 lost to the L-29 Delfin, and neither it nor the Yak-32 entered production.
The PZL-106 Kruk is a Polish agricultural aircraft designed and built by WSK PZL Warszawa-Okęcie.
The PZL M-24 Dromader Super is a single engine agricultural aircraft, developed in the 1980s by the WSK-Mielec from the PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader. It did not progress beyond the prototyping stage.
The PZL S-1 was a Polish trainer and liaison aircraft of 1945, which remained a prototype. It was the second aircraft built in Poland after World War II.
PZL M-2 was a Polish trainer aircraft prototype of 1958, a low-wing monoplane with fixed gear. Designed at WSK-Mielec, it did not enter production.
The Yakovlev Yak-10 was a Soviet light liaison aircraft designed and built by the Yakovlev design bureau in the 1940s.
Media related to PZL TS-8 at Wikimedia Commons
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
