page_title: PZL Mielec
section_title: Before 1945
hierarchical_section_title: PZL Mielec / History / Before 1945
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: PZL M-15 "Belphegor"
context_page_description: PZL Mielec, formerly WSK-Mielec and WSK "PZL-Mielec" is a Polish aerospace manufacturer based in Mielec. It is the largest aerospace manufacturer in postwar Poland. In 2007, it was acquired by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, retaining the brand. Between 1948 and 2014, the company manufactured approximately 15,600 aircraft.
context_section_description: Between 1938 and 1939, a factory was built in Mielec, designated PZL WP-2 (Wytwórnia Płatowców 2—Airframe Factory no. 2), which was a division of PZL in Warsaw (Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze—State Aviation Works), the biggest Polish aviation works, but production was only starting there at the outbreak of World War II. In March 1939 there started manufacturing of the first aircraft—PZL.37 Łoś bombers, assembled from components delivered from PZL WP-1 factory in Warsaw. There were 700 workers at that time.
  During World War II, Mielec was occupied by the Germans starting 13 September 1939. During the occupation the factory became a part of Heinkel works, among others producing tailfins of Heinkel He 111 bombers and repairing Junkers Ju 52 planes. There were 5500 workers in 1944. In July 1944 the withdrawing Germans took all the machines and equipment. Mielec was seized by the Soviet Army on 6 August 1944. At first, the factory was governed by the Soviets as a repair works. On 22 July 1945 it was handed over back to Polish control.
caption: PZL M-15 Belphegor jet agricultural plane
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