dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 The words ,Agriculture, Jet and Biplane are rarely ,if ever, seen in the same sentence. Yet here we have that very thing! the Polish built PZL M-15 Belphegor first flew in 1976 and made its only western appearance at the Paris Air Show in 1977. It was designed to replace the antique Antonov AN-2 in the Crop Dusting role covering the huge areas of farmland in Eastern Europe and Russia. Its chemical tanks were the large hppers between the wings and it could carry a crew of 3. It was not only a lot bigger than the AN-2 but a hell of a lot noisier! hence its unnofficial name, (Belphegor was a noisy demon in folklore!) The idea was to have sold hundreds of these aircraft but in the event only 120 were built. Most were used by Aeroflots agricultural division. It had a top speed of around 200 kts and a very low work speed, (Under full flaps i've had her as low as 49kts without stalling!) stall speed seems to be around 46 kts! Very few if any M-15s survive in service today as it was deemed too big and far too expensive to operate in what was a very specialised market. After prduction ended PZL went on to develope a Turbo Prop version of the AN-2 called the AN-3. this proved to be the ideal solution and the aircraft continues in service. down in the weeds at 49kts! thanks for viewing, comments welcome. Link to post Share on other sites
rob16584 42 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 I think the pilot should have asked for blacked out windows to hide his face. What an ugly aircraft! Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Incredibly ugly! Yet great shots! Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Nice find, Al - might even hava a field long enough for it to take off! Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 I think that would have been a close runner up in our Ugly aircraft screenshot contest!! Didn't you win that one Alan? Link to post Share on other sites
dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted September 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 I did indeed win that comp Joe ! David , the Take off roll on this aircraft is incredibly short! Give it 50% flaps, stand on the brakes and give her the beans, she'll lift in about 100yds! and the landing roll is even shorter! with an approach speed as low as 47kts it will virtually stop dead as soon as it touches down! Its brilliant! Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted September 24, 2011 Report Share Posted September 24, 2011 Sounds like a micro-lite with a jet engine... Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted September 24, 2011 Report Share Posted September 24, 2011 Obviously it was severely beaten about the head and shoulders with an ugly-stick. I've seen some photos of the real thing and it's no more handsome. Wiki has a short article about it. John Link to post Share on other sites
charlie 6 Posted September 24, 2011 Report Share Posted September 24, 2011 That is an ugly bird. Link to post Share on other sites
PanzerFodder 0 Posted September 24, 2011 Report Share Posted September 24, 2011 Reminds me of a Skoda, but with wings! :th_smiles73: Cheer's...Graham.... Link to post Share on other sites
dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted September 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 As a former committee member of the Skoda Owners Club I tend to dissagree with you there Panzer! They're great cars! I,ve owned 2 of them, one of which was a rear engined Estelle and great fun to drive! this aircraft is more like the flying equivellant of a Zarophets! ( a small highly dangerous rear engined Russian car), It looked a bit like an NSU Prinz that had driven into a wall at high speed! This was my Estelle, we dragged it out of a field and over the course of a year restored it to the condition you see here. It had lowered front springs , the engine was skimmed and ported, it had the dash and instruments from a 130 rally car and a load of other tweaks. The minitor wheels were stripped and resprayed as well. It was a great car and a real hoot to drive. Sadly we had to sell it when I got made redundant and I couldnt afford to run 2 cars any more :-( Link to post Share on other sites
PanzerFodder 0 Posted September 25, 2011 Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 sorry Alan, Wish that I had said Lada now BTW: You made a nice job fixing that old banger up Cheer's...Graham... Link to post Share on other sites
dodgy-alan 1,587 Posted September 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 I happen to like those as well Panzer! LOL. I have a thing about East European cars. Whilst they were never as good as western made vehicles,(at least until now that is where they are every bit as good!). What people tend to do is put things like Ladas, Tatras ,Skodas etc all in the same basket, Yet if you look at the areas they were designed to operate in they were perfect. They were tough, easy to fix and generaly reliable. you could run them on virtually anything and they would just keep going. Above all they were cheap. Against the backdrop of expensive and fiesty western types they were good value for money. Ladas for instance were rehashed Fiats, but where the Fiat built cars tended to rust very quickly , the Russian versions were built from heavy guage steel and would last for ever! In Poland the Polski Fiat version was similar to the Lada 1600 but had even more kit as standard. As roomy as a Cortina but half the price! No wonder these cars sold by the thousands when they hit our shores. It was only when the new emmision laws got a lot stricter that imports ceased, although the last of the Fiat derived Ladas actually had catylitic convertors so were as efficient as current western cars. Lada still make cars and the new models are due to be imported to the UK in the near future as they now meet all current emmision and safety regs. those of us that have an interest in these cars, Including such types as Volga, Zil (Elton John famously had a massive Zil Limo for years! A big black thing like a Cadillac!), Moskvitch, Zaz, Tatra, Trabant etc have several big rallys around the country during the year. Just google the classic car mags for locations and dates! Link to post Share on other sites
PanzerFodder 0 Posted September 25, 2011 Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 Thank's for that Alan. Don't need to google it mate, my wife is Russian and even she like's to take the mickey out of these cars whenever possible , I believe that her father even used to sometimes drive a Moskavitch! :smile: (the rest of the time he was pushing it ). Cheer's...Graham... Link to post Share on other sites
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