Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze Nr 1 SA Helicopter Service Center of the Polish Armed Forces

A Mi-24W combat helicopter during a test flight after an overhaul carried out at WZL No. 1 SA in Lodz.

Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze Nr 1 SA are the only aircraft factories in Poland specialized in overhaul, modernization and periodic maintenance of all types of helicopters in the Polish Armed Forces for over fifty years.

In 1941, the 131st separate aviation workshop was formed in Ukraine, which from the beginning of its existence specialized in the repair of aviation equipment. In 1944, they were subordinated to the command of the 2nd Army of the Polish Army and stationed in Majdanek near Lublin. In 1945 they were transferred to Lodz. Initially, the majority of the command and engineering staff were Russians, who were replaced by Polish specialists in subsequent years. In 1946, the 131st separate aviation workshop was renamed military unit No. 1519 (type A aircraft repair workshop). In 1947, the unit changed its name to Aircraft Workshop No. 1, and Major Engineer became its commander. Fabisyak. In the same year, the unit boasts the upgrade of its fiftieth aircraft, the Il-2 attack aircraft.

In 1950, Aircraft Workshop No. 1 began repairing Il-10 attack aircraft and their AM-42 engines.

In 1951, by order of the Minister of National Defense, Aviation Workshops No. 1 changed their name to Aviation Workshops No. 1 and Air Defense of the National District. The first director of LZR No. 1957 was Major Jerzy Kalbarczyk.

During this period, the plant's employees carried out major overhauls of the following aircraft: Po-2, Yunak-3 and Yak-11, and Contract-501 was also completed - that is, a major overhaul of Il-10 attack aircraft for Indonesia. For the first time since the beginning of aircraft repair, the plant was modernized in the course of a major overhaul. The modernization consisted in adapting the US-13 (licensed aircraft Po-2) for sanitary purposes by enclosing the cockpit with a glass fairing and including a gondola for the patient in the design of the body, which was located immediately behind the cockpit, closed by a special fairing in the upper part.

The turning point for the plant was 1960, when the LZR brigade No. 1 began the overhaul of helicopters. The first aircraft of this type, the reconstruction of which began at LZR No. 1, was the SM-1 helicopter (a licensed version of the Soviet Mi-1 piston helicopter, produced in Poland at the WSK Świdnik plant). In connection with the start of this type of work at the beginning of the year, a group of employees from the Airframe Repair Department travels to WSK Świdnik to train in the design, production and operation of SM-1 helicopters. The repair of the SM-1/300, carried out by the department's employees, was successful, and its flight tests were carried out by the pilots of the military unit on this type of aircraft. However, the number of helicopters delivered to the Łódź plant was so low that the next year the brigade also began overhauling the Polish WN-3 engines that powered the TS-8 Bies. The introduction of a new type of engine into overhaul was associated with the construction of a special stand, the so-called. dynamometer. Durability tests have confirmed the good quality of the repair. The successful repair of the VN-3 engine led to the fact that in 1962 the TS-8 Bi was also overhauled.

Another leap in the technical development of the plant was the beginning in 1969 of periodic work on a new type of aircraft - the Mi-2 helicopter with two gas turbine engines. The work was completed in August 1969 and was associated with the extension of the service life of this type of helicopter. In the course of the work, the design bureau of M. Mila in Moscow increased the maintenance intervals for engines and the main transmission from 100 to 300 hours. For this reason, the first overhaul carried out in Łódź was classified as preventive (the overhaul of aircraft of this type began in 1975). In connection with the introduction of a new type of helicopter for overhaul, it was necessary to rebuild the tethered test bench and adapt it also for testing the Mi-2 helicopter. These works were completed in 1971. At the beginning of the 1st years, in parallel with the repair of the SM-2 and SM-2 helicopters (the Polish version of the first) and the Mi-2, the An-1 light transport aircraft was being repaired. planes were launched. In the same period, the plant began repairing aircraft belonging to the Warsaw Pact countries. In LZR No. 1, Mi-1 and SM-2 helicopters of various modifications, as well as An-2 aircraft, which are in service with the military aviation of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, the GDR and Hungary, were repaired. At the end of the 1st, the repair of the SM-1 helicopters was stopped, and of the Mi-XNUMX and SM-XNUMX helicopters at the beginning of the XNUMXth.