Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/693549
The history of Warsaw's aircraft manufacturer dates back to the interwar period when the state-owned avi- ation company known as Centralne Warsztaty Lotnicze was founded. In 1928, the company was renamed Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze. Zygmunt Puławski, a Polish aviation engineer, became the firm's face by de- signing a line of PZL P.7/11 fighter aircraft. In a later period, the company extended its offer by PZL P.24, a light bomber known as PZL.23 Karaś and a medium-sized bomber called PZL.37 Łoś. The onset of World War II made it impossible to continue building new aircraft in Warsaw. However, after the war the industrial potential of the com- pany was rebuilt. Initially, the company operated under the working name Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego nr 4, but in 1956 it was renamed WSK-Okęcie. After the political transformation of the late 1980s, the works reclaimed its historical name PZL Warszawa-Okęcie, and in 1995 it be- came a joint-stock company. One of the most important aircraft manufactured in the post-war history of the com- pany is the turboprop trainer aircraft known as PZL-130 Orlik, which has been systematically modernised and im- proved. The public tender for the purchase of light transportation aircraft, which were to replace the old An-26, was resolved in favour of the Spanish company CASA offering its C295M model. The contract also included an additional condition, i.e. privatisation of PZL Warszawa-Okęcie. The final agree- ment was signed in October 2001. In 2014, the company became a member of Airbus Defence & Space. The new www.fragoutmag.com