023 21/2016 SM-2

The PZL SM-2 was a Polish light multi-role helicopter in a classic layout - with a main rotor and a tail-beam rotor with a metal structure from the Cold War period. The flight of the prototype took place in 1959, and a year later mass production started, which led to the creation of about 90 machines of this type. The drive was provided by a single 575 HP Lit-3 piston engine. The machine did not have factory-fitted on-board weapons. The PZL SM-2 was developed at the PZL-Świdnik plant, and its main designer was Jerzy Tyrcha. The new helicopter was created as a development of the Soviet Mi-1 helicopter (licensed in Poland under the name SM-1). The changes concerned mainly the enlargement of the fuselage, and thus - enlargement of its capacity, which was allowed by the excess power generated by the Lit-3 engine. As a result, the weight of the load to be carried increased, but the performance significantly worsened. Another defect of the SM-2 was the poorly designed carburetor air intake. The SM-2 machines were used primarily by the Polish People's Army and civilian sanitary aviation. Its last copies were withdrawn from use by 1979. The machine was replaced by the Mi-2 helicopter.