PZL TS-11 Iskra

Following the end of World War II, Poland was politically dominated by the neighbouring Soviet Union; as a consequence, the Polish aviation industry underwent vast changes at the behest of the Soviets. While the nation's design offices had been liquidated, some former members had joined Poland's Aviation Institute (Instytut Lotnictwa - IL) and performed some limited work on various original projects, even though such efforts were initially officially discouraged. Early on, it was decided to adopt a foreign-sourced turbojet engine to power the aircraft. Quickly, the British Armstrong Siddeley Viper had emerged as the company's favoured option; however, reportedly, negotiations for its acquisition eventually broke down; accordingly, work on the project was delayed until a suitable domestically built powerplant had reached an advanced stage of development. The flight test program that the three prototypes were subjected to had both demonstrated the capabilities of the new aircraft and its suitability for satisfying the Polish Air Force's stated requirements for a trainer jet; as such, it was soon accepted by the Polish Air Force. During 1963, the first production model of the type, designated as the TS-11 Iskra bis A, commenced delivery to the service. From about 1966, new-build aircraft were furnished with a newer Polish-designed turbojet engine, designated as the WSK SO-1, which was capable of producing up to 9.80 kN (2,200 lbf) of thrust and reportedly gave the TS-11 a top speed of 497 mph. ==Design==

The PZL TS-11 Iskra is an all-metal jet-propelled trainer aircraft. It is relatively conventional in layout, featuring a trapezoid-shaped mid-wing arrangement. These wings, which only had a gentle angle of sweep along the leading edge, feature air intakes embedded into the wing root. The TS-11's single turbojet engine is accommodated within the main fuselage, its exhaust is located beneath the boom-mounted tail fin, which provides the aircraft with a fairly unusual silhouette. Both of the crew, typically being the student in the front and instructor in the back, are provided with ejector seats for emergency egress. Fixed armament of this airplane consist of a single nose-mounted Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannon with 80 rounds, along with a total of four underwing hardpoints that were compatible with a variety of different weapons, including bombs and Mars rocket pods loaded with up to 8 S-5 FFARs each. Most models of the aircraft lack a radar set; however, the specialised TS-11R reconnaissance variant has been provided with such equipment in a form Bendix RDR radar set with limited air to ground capability. The TS-11 can also be outfitted with AFA-39 cameras for the purpose of performing aerial photography missions. ==Operational history==

mounted in PZL TS-11F Iskra (MSPO 2008). aerobatic team During 1964, the TS-11 prototype broke four separate world records in its class, including a speed record, having been recorded as having attained a top speed of 839 km/h (524 mph) during one flight. From 1969 onwards, various TS-11s have been used by the Polish Air Force's aerobatics display team, which was initially called Rombik and is currently named Biało-Czerwone Iskry (Translates to English as White-and-Red Sparks). Unusually for an Eastern European aircraft of the era, the TS-11 never received a NATO reporting name (for jet trainers, a two-syllable word starting with letter M) for the type. During the 1960s, the Iskra competed to be selected as the standard jet trainer for the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union had given Poland a promise to support its aviation industry and to favour the procurement of suitable aircraft for this purpose from Polish manufacturers. However, the Iskra was not selected for this role, it had lost out to the Czechoslovak Aero L-29 Delfín, another newly designed jet-propelled trainer aircraft; according to aviation author John C. Fredrikson, this outcome had been highly unexpected and surprising to several observers. Largely as a result of this decision, Poland became the only Warsaw Pact member to adopt the Iskra while most others adopting the rival Delfin instead. During 1975, an initial batch of 50 Iskra bis D trainer aircraft were exported to India, the type's sole export customer; during the 1990s, a further 26 aircraft were delivered to the Indian Air Force.They were to perform advanced weaponry training alongwith the HAL HJT-16 Kiran. Some units were deployed during the Kargil war at Srinagar to shoot down UAV's flying over Jammu. During its Indian service, a total of seven aircraft were reportedly lost, killing four crew. During December 2004, the Indian Air Force officially withdrew the last of its Iskra trainers. By 1987, a total of 424 aircraft had reportedly been constructed, after which point production of the type was terminated due to a lack of demand. During 2002, the Polish Air Force reportedly still operated a fleet of 110 TS-11s, including 5 TS-11R reconnaissance aircraft. The Iskra became the first and so far the only Polish jet trainer to reach serial production – the programme intended to produce a successor, the PZL I-22 Iryda (later designated as the M-93 Iryda), failed for several reasons and only a few were completed during the 1990s before the program was aborted. In its place, the TS-11 has been considered for upgrades to better enable its continued service; however, during 2010, the Polish Air Force issued a tender for a new advanced jet pilot training system to eventually replace the TS-11. By 2013, Poland was stated to have a total of 30 (total number of school aircraft: TS-11, PZL-130) operational Iskras still in service. During 2016, Poland took delivery of its first few Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Masters, a modern trainer aircraft which, in conjunction with ground-based training equipment such as flight simulators, shall progressively take on the Polish Air Force's training needs. On the 9 December 2020 the last Polish Air Force training sortie of the TS-11 Iskra serial number 2001 took place after which the jet training of the Polish Air Force passed to the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master of which Poland has 12 in service as of December 2020. The only Polish Air Force TS-11 left flying in Poland after 9 December 2020 were the display team TS-11 from Team Iskry, who performed their final display on 22 August 2021. ==Variants==

;Prototype. :Two of the aircraft were built, making their maiden flights in March and July 1961, respectively. It can be seen that it is not equipped with anything that looks like weapons. ;TS-11 Iskra bis-A :An early production two-seat training aircraft of which 100 were produced and deployed. The other six aircraft built and deployed were converted to the TS-11 Iskra-R. ;TS-11 Iskra bis-B :It is the second mass-produced model with 117 deployed, and is equipped with four pylons on the underside of the main wing, allowing it to be used for combat training. Another name is "TS-11 Iskra 100". ==Former operators==

'' team ; • Polish Air Force ; • Polish Navy ; • Indian Air Force received 76 aircraft. All were withdrawn in December 2004. ==Specifications (Iskra bis D)==