Military Model Scene

Title: PZL Mielec
Publisher: Stratus
ISBN: 978-83-67227-96-4

In an 80-page soft-cover book this is the production history of Polskie Zaklady Lotnicze (PZL), one of the largest Polish aircraft manufacturers, based in their Mielec facility for over 87 years now. In the hands of various bosses over that time, but now the largest Lockheed Martin production facility outside of the continental USA apparently.
The first few pages are text, in both Polish and English languages, giving us the current state of the business and its' background history. Started just before WW2, and used by Heinkel during the German occupation of the area, it was then under Red Army control before being handed back to Poland. After the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and regaining independence, the business continued before being taken over by Lockheed Martin. Then the bulk of the book contains 32 double page spreads on the various aircraft type made at the Mielec works over the years. There are some vast differences between them, from gliders and light aircraft built in small numbers, along with agricultural crop sprayers, to military trainers and jets (trainers and combat aircraft) built in significant quantities to the top of the list, the large An2 biplane utility aircraft, with a total of 11,954 built between 1958 and 2001. Each entry features a 3-view line drawing, a colour profile and basic technical details. The line drawings are good, but made to fit the page rather than being presented in a common scale throughout the book.
This is a neatly presented little book which I found really a interesting read, with plenty of types which I had not known anything about before. A major aircraft manufacturing plant which is now building significant numbers of Blackhawk helicopters, among other things, in Poland.
Thanks to Stratus and the UK distributor, Script Books, for the review copy.

Robin