BZ-1 GIL HELICOPTER

The BŻ-1 Gil was a Polish experimental helicopter in the classic layout - with a main rotor and a tail rotor in a mixed design from the Cold War period. The prototype's flight took place in 1950, but the machine never entered mass production. The drive was provided by a single, 4-cylinder piston engine Hirth HM504A2 with 100 hp. The machine did not have any on-board weapons. The BŻ-1 Gil was developed at the Central Aviation Institute in Warsaw, on the initiative of Eng. Zbigniew Brzoska, and the main designer of the machine was Eng. Bronisław Żurakowski. It was the first Polish helicopter of domestic construction. The machine was extremely experimental and was to allow for checking in practice, among others, the behavior of this type of machines in flight or checking the general aerodynamic conditions. In the longer term, it was also to provide the experience necessary to build helicopters in Poland. Interestingly, the BŻ-1 Gil turned out to be stable in flight and hovering, but the low engine power and small size of the machine made it strongly dependent on weather conditions. Currently, you can see a rebuilt copy of the helicopter at the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow.