PZL P11 the best air combat plane in 1934 ?

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15 years 2 months

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I find this very beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00R2jlR436I

I used to have small scale model when I was a 7-9 years old.

Is that a flying specimen ?

Scored at least 110 Luftwaffe ACs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_P.11

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19 years 7 months

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No, the example taxied st that airshow is from the museum at Krokow. Although the engine was restored the aircraft is not flown.

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This is the sole survivor. Its rarity and importance to the Polish collection means that this will never be risked. The only possibility would be for someone to produce a replica.

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Warren Eberspacher designed, built and flew a 66% scale replica of the PZL P.11 which was flown at the 1990 Experimental Aircraft Association Flyin. Eberspacher gained a firsthand appreciation of why Polish pilots loved the P.11 when test flying the prototype.

There are plans afoot to build a full size replica.

http://www.frankpiaseckien.muzeumlotnictwa.pl/main/legends

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He did a lot of research. He published volumes on the P.11 and P.24 but they are spiral bound, no colour. They did come with a CD Rom with lost of photos.

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He did a lot of research. He published volumes on the P.11 and P.24 but they are spiral bound, no colour. They did come with a CD Rom with lost of photos.

I wonder if someone made a "½" scale PZL P11 as an ultralite..it might be a sales success as it seem to be a good and easy to fly !

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Here is what a 60% PZL P.11c would look like in comparison to 6 ft 3 in pilot.

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There needs to be a hatch by the opening !

With an electric engine and moderate 15 000 USD price this could be a sales success.

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Is this the fill size soon-to-be-flying replica? I don't speak a word of polish!

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No it's the original P11c, serial number 8.63, preserved in the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow. From the first series manufactured at the PZL factory at Okęcie-Paluch in 1935 fitted with a PZ Skoda-Bristol Mercury V S2 radial engine rated at 565 hp (max 600 hp). It was issued to the 121 Eskadra stationed at Krakow. It was the only machine in the unit fitted with four machine guns. Among other pilots it was probably flown by Wacław Król (officially assigned the aircraft numbered 8, he did not fly it). It is also believed that Tadeusz Arabski flew this aircraft when he shot down a Do 17(some sources record this as a probable).

The slightly damaged aircraft was captured by the Germans. The Germans came into possession of at least two machines from the unit, one flown by Marian Futro and the other by ppor. Chciuk. 8.63 is likely to be one of them.

The Germans overhauled it and put it on display in Berlin's Air Force Museum. After the museum was damaged by bombing the remaining exhibits were evacuated east to Wielkopolska province where they were discovered at Czarnkow in 1945. Subsequently it was stored in Gaskow, Pilawa and Wrocław. In 1964 it was presented to the Museum of Aviation and Astronautics (which became the Polish Aviation Museum). At first is was displayed in an incorrect scheme, which is why profiles from the 1960s and 70s are dark green with yellow bands around the rear fuselage, and for a while it had a red and white spinner. In the 1990s the airframe was painstakingly reconstructed and the original looks recreated (with the exception of the wheels that are not original).

The project to build a replica is still ongoing.

http://samolotyhistoryczne.org/en/po...c-w-mlp-krakow

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Thanks very much for those details, Antoni. During a Google search for PZL P11 I saw the word 'rekonstrucja' and (obviously?) thought it was the replica project!

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PZL P.11c had many unique features. One of which was the main fuel tank..that was also a drop tank. Was it ever dropped during a combat ?