Kraków 2021-12-04
TS-11 Iskra nb 1214, SP-YBC.
In 2015, for the first time, we could see a turbojet in Nowy Targ. It was the TS-11 Iskra nb 1214 aircraft, registration SP-YBC. As the runway at Nowy Trag Airport is unpaved, the plane arrived at the show taking off from Balice Airport. The plane belongs to the Biało-Czerwony Skrzydła Foundation. However, it is worth presenting the entire history of this copy here.
The TS-11 Iskra aircraft is a bis D version. It left the factory hall of PZL Mielec on October 30, 1974 and received the serial number 3H 12-14, which means that it belonged to the 12 production series, which included 33 machines. It was 298 built Iskra. According to other sources, the plane was not built until 1976, but this information is not confirmed in other documents. On November 12, 1974, the plane was delivered to the first user - the 38th Aviation School Regiment (JW 5401, probably Modlin Airport at that time). On May 8, 1975, the plane was incorporated into the state of the Air Force Technical School in Zamość (Mokre Airport). On February 4, 1976, the plane returned to the 38th Aviation School Regiment, where it remained until October 16, 1986, that is over 10 years. In the period from October 9, 1986 to January 21, 1988, the plane underwent the first general overhaul at WZL-2 in Bydgoszcz. On October 20, 1986, the plane was entered into the status of the 58th Aviation School Regiment in Dęblin (JW 5256), where it was used until November 9, 1989, although in the meantime the plane was also used by the 60th Aviation School Regiment in Radom. On November 17, 1989, the plane found its way to the 3rd Pomeranian Aviation Training and Combat Regiment in Bydgoszcz (Military Unit 3117). Due to the slow liquidation of the Regiment, which was the only one in Poland to use Su-7 strike planes. The TS-11 Iskra nb 1214 plane was registered from the regiment on January 21, 1991, but on July 26, 1991, it returned to Dęblin to the 58th LPSzk. In the period from January 14, 1999 to December 16, 1999, the plane underwent a second general overhaul at WZL-3 in Dęblin. The 58th LPSzk was disbanded in Dęblin, and the 1st Aviation Training Center was established in its place. The plane flew here until April 14, 2004, when Lieutenant Pilot Krzysztof Kłaczyński made the last flight. On February 23, 2006, the plane was checked out of the state of the unit and handed over to the Military Property Agency. The plane was preserved and after partial disassembly it was packed into a container with the intention of selling it. This guaranteed the high quality of its storage and minimal degradation of the structure. Throughout the period of service in the Polish Military Aviation, the plane spent 2,880 hours, 39 minutes in the air, making 6,100 flights without an accident.
In October 2013, the plane was purchased by the Biało-Czerwony Skrzydła Foundation based near Warsaw, with the intention of restoring it to a flying state and then demonstrating it in the air around the world. The founders of the Biało-Czerwony Skrzydła Foundation are Piotr Maciejewski (president) and Jakub Kubicki. Airplane and glider pilots, pupils of the Warsaw Aero Club. The intention came true and on October 19, 2014 (Sunday), at Lublin-Świdnik Airport, the aircraft, which had received the SP-YBC registration, was re-flown, which means that it is a special aircraft. The test pilot was Sławomir Hetman. Thus, it is the second private Iskra in Poland that flies. It is worth adding that the Biało-Czerwony Skrzydła Foundation dreams of acquiring and bringing to a flying state one of the numerous examples of the PZL I-22 Iryda aircraft. Fingers crossed!
And it was the TS-11 Iskra nb 1214 SP-YBC registration that was demonstrated twice in a dynamic show at the Nowy Targ Picnic every day. Then, the TS-11 Iskra nb 1214 aircraft was demonstrated in flight at several other air shows, including in Radom, Poznań (2018) and Gdynia (2019).
Written by Karol Placha Hetman