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Aviation enthusiasts have the last chance to see the Iskra planes painting a red and white flag in the sky. This is the last year of operation of these machines by the Air Force.
This year, the Biało-Czerwony Iskry aerobatic team has six flights planned, including participation in four shows. Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it is not sure what the parade will look like on August 15, but you will most likely be able to see this band when it blows up smoke in the sky in national colors.
- The next show is scheduled for Flag Day, May 2, in Katowice. This will be the last year of service of these machines, the last chance to see them, tells us Major Sebastian Szymanek from the 41st Air Training Base in Dęblin. Probably the farewell flight will take place on August 15, 2022, on the Polish Army Day. Now the team consists of seven PZL TS-11 Iskra aircraft, produced in the years 1985–1987. They will run out of service soon.
What will happen to decommissioned machines? There are two ways. Some may be transferred to the Military Property Agency, which will be able to sell them, and others may go to a museum or on a pedestal. This is the fate of the last machines used for training withdrawn from service.
In December, at the 41st Training Aviation Base, the decommissioning ceremony of these training aircraft was held. The cadets of the Military Aviation Academy can train only on the PZL-130 Orlik TC-II turboprop aircraft, and then on the new Leonardo M-346 Bielik advanced training aircraft.
At the end of the previous year, one of the withdrawn sparks was donated to the Air Force Museum in Dęblin. What will be the fate of the next ones? As Małgorzata Weber, a spokeswoman for the Military Property Agency informed us, "in the 2021 licensed property development plan prepared by the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate, three TS-11 Iskra planes were entered, but the column" Comments "included" for free transfer ". This means that the minister of national defense will decide their fate. After the Bureau for the Affairs of the "Become a soldier of the Republic of Poland" Ministry of National Defense announces about the free sale of military property, they will be able to go to, for example, museums or an association. "
Małgorzata Weber adds that in January, the Military Property Agency sold one spark to a collector at a tender (AMW does not provide the price), and another spark will be put up for sale this year.
"If further aircraft of this type are received for development, the AMW plans to develop them in the form of written public tenders for the sale of licensed movables" - adds Małgorzata Weber.
At the beginning of the previous year, the Air Force was using 36 PZL TS-11 Iskra training planes. These planes were introduced to the Air Force in the early 1960s, and generations of military pilots were trained to use them. In total, 400 of these machines were built at PZL Mielec.
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