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 characteristic ...

, used from

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

to the 1970s by the

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

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'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

to replace Junak 3 and

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

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 Un ...

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

devil A devil is the mythical 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 conce ...

. 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 ...

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

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

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 (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...

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 wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

, 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 o ...

fuselage, oval in cross-section. The three-part single-spar wing, of semi-monocoque design, creating a transverse

inverted gull wing The gull wing, also known as Polish wing or Puławski wing, is an aircraft wing configuration with a prominent bend in the wing inner section towards the wing root. Its name is derived from the seabirds which it resembles and from the Polish ai ...

"W" shape. It had a Tricycle retractable landing gear, and a 7-cylinder WN-3

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...

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, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

, 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'' () is a Polish jet trainer, developed and manufactured by aircraft company PZL-Mielec. It was used by the air forces of Polish Air Force, Poland and Indian Air Force, India. It is notable as being the first domestically d ...

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 ...

, 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 Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

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 (, sometimes shortened as IDAF / IdAF) is the Air force, aerial branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. The Indonesian Air Force is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is headed by the Chief of Staff of th ...

received two aircraft which were based in

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

. ; *

Polish Navy The Polish Navy (; often abbreviated to ) is the Navy, naval military branch , branch of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish Navy consists of 46 ships and about 12,000 commissioned and enlisted personnel. The traditional ship prefix in the Polish ...

*''

Aeroklub Polski The Polish Aero Club (''Aeroklub Polski'', AP) 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 headquarter ...

'' * Private Operator: Single TS-8 S/N 1E-1004, F-AYTS, from 2018 to 2021 France, Bordeaux (LFCS). PZL TS-8 Bies front wheel

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 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear