THK-2

Last updated
THK-2
RoleAerobatic trainer
National originTurkey
Manufacturer THK
Designer Stanisław Rogalski, Jerzy Teisseyre and Leszek Dulęba
First flight1944
Primary user Turkish Air Force
Number built6

The THK-2 was a single-seat, single-engine aerobatic trainer aircraft developed in Turkey in 1944 intended as an advanced trainer. [1] [2] It was a conventional, low-wing cantilever monoplane with an elliptical planform and of wooden construction. The cockpit was enclosed and the main units of the tailwheel undercarriage retracted backwards into the wing. [3]

Contents

Designed by Polish engineers who had come to Turkey to help establish the Türk Hava Kurumu factory, the first prototype flew in 1944 and the second flew the following year. This led to production in series, but only four further examples were built before the project was abandoned. When THK was taken over by MKEK, this was one of the designs selected for further work. However, although the designation MKEK-2 was allocated, nothing further came of this. The THK-2s were used by the Turkish Air Force in their intended role until the mid-1950s.

Turkish Air Force Air warfare branch of Turkeys armed forces

The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known today did not come into existence until 1923 with the creation of the Republic of Turkey.


Specifications

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1951–52 [4]

General characteristics

de Havilland Gipsy Major I-4 piston aircraft engine family

The de Havilland Gipsy Major or Gipsy IIIA is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, inline engine used in a variety of light aircraft produced in the 1930s, including the famous Tiger Moth biplane. Many Gipsy Major engines still power vintage aircraft types worldwide today.

Performance

Notes

  1. Taylor 1989, 683
  2. "THK-2"
  3. "The Turkish Air League", 350
  4. Bridgman 1951, p. 192c.

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References

<i>Flight International</i> magazine

Flight International is a weekly magazine focused on aerospace, published in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine.