Military Pzl-104 Wilga Info Requested

While looking for information on paramilitary & military Wilgas, I came across this post. I know it’s a decade late, but here are my notes. I’m sure there are errors and omissions. Corrections welcome.

Wilga

The PZL-104 Wilga (Golden Oriole) is a Polish designed and built STOL utility aircraft. More Wilgas have been produced than any other Polish aircraft – over one thousand. The first prototype flew in 1962. Production continued until 2006.
Primary users have been sport aviation clubs, both private and paramilitary. The Wilga has proven to be a great success as a trainer, jump plane, and glider tug, and remains in wide service.
The Polish Air Force operated 17 aircraft between 1973 and 1993. The Wilga was also operated by Polish Naval Aviation. Five PZL-104MF Wilga 2000s remain in service with the Polish Border Guard. Other military and paramilitary users are listed here.

Belarus: DOSAAF RB (Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Fleet of the Republic of Belarus) is a Belarusian paramilitary organization. Formed in 2003, DOSAAF RB is based on the Soviet organization of the same name. Wilgas remain in use as trainers, glider tugs, and jump aircraft.

Canada: Royal Canadian Air Cadets operate at least two Wilgas.

Egypt: Twenty-four Wilgas were operated by the Egyptian Air Force. They were acquired in 1975 for liaison duties. I don’t believe that they still in service.

Estonia: One Wilga has been operated by the Estonian Air Force.

Germany: Approximately 80 Wilgas were delivered to the Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik, the East German equivalent of DOSAAF. After reunification, survivors went to private and state aviation clubs. Two Wilgas were used by the Volkspolizei. Wilgas were also used by the Aerofoto division of Interflug.
On May 5, 1982 a Wilga was used by an East German family to escape from Communism. They flew from Hungary to Austria.

Hungary: The Hungarian Police Aviation Unit operated Wilgas.

Indonesia: The Wilga was manufactured in Indonesia as the Gelatik (Rice Bird). Production is given as 44, but it is not clear if this this includes at least two aircraft imported from Poland. These were operated by the Indonesian Air Force; initially known as the AURI (Air Force of the Republic of Indonesia), the AF is now known as the TNI-AU (Indonesian National Armed Forces – Air Force). Gelatiks may also have been operated by Indonesian Army Aviation, the Pusat Penerbangan Angkatan Darat.
In Indonesia, many national aviation activities are operated by branches of the Air Force. FASI (Federasi Aero Sport Indonesia) is the national paramilitary flying club, similar to the Soviet/Russian DOSAAF. The PDY- Pusdiklat Terbeng Layang is the national glider flying organization, part of FASI. Both these groups operate Gelatiks. Gelatiks do not appear to remain in service with the regular Air Force; one is on display at the AF Museum in Yogyakarta.
The Gelatik is also reported to have been operated as an agricultural aircraft, both by the Air Force and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Latvia: The Latvian National Guard has operated six Wilgas. One was lost in a crash; the others presumably remain in service.

Lithuania: Four Wilga 35As have been operated by the Lithuanian Voluntary National Defense Services, a paramilitary unit.

Moldova: The Moldovan Air Force operates six Wilga trainers.

Mongolia: Wilgas were reportedly operated by the Mongolian Air Force, but I have no further information.

New Zealand: The Royal New Zealand Air Force Aviation Sports Club operates a Wilga at Auckland. Other Wilgas have been operated by the RNZAF Aviation Sports Clubs at other bases. Some of these aircraft have also been used by NZ Police.

Paraguay: Two Wilgas were operated by the Fuerza Aérea Paraguay from 1996 until 2003.

Republic of Serbian Krajina: One Wilga was operated by the 105th Aviation Brigade, Serbian Army of Krajina.

Republika Srpska: The Republika Srpska Air Force operated Wilgas.

Russia: DOSAAF (Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Fleet) was a paramilitary sport organization in the Soviet Union. It was reformed in 1991 as the Russian Defence Sports-Technical Organization (ROSTO). In 2009, RОSТО was renamed DOSAAF Russia. In all these guises, the Wilga has long been used as a trainer, jump plane, and glider tug, and remains in widespread use. Over 350 Wilgas were delivered to DOSAAF, making it and its successor formations the largest user of the aircraft The Wilga also remains in service with the Russian Air Force.

Turkey: The Türk Hava Kurumu (Turkish Aeronautical Association) was founded in 1925 by Ataturk to train pilots. Since 1981, six Wilga glider tugs have been acquired, the last two in 1997. Three have been withdrawn from service.

Ukraine: The Association for the Support of Defence (TSOU), the Ukrainian successor to the Soviet DOSAAF, operates Wilgas.

April 11, 2015

SOURCES

Aeroflight. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/ .

Air Forces of the Baltic States 1918-2001. London: Blue Rider, 2001. CD-ROM. ISBN: 1902851218.

Airliners.net . http://www.airliners.net/ . Hundreds of color photos of Wilgas.

Aviation in Hungary. http://hampage.hu/repules/e_index.html . Accessed 6 April 2015. Photos of a Hungarian Police Wilga in a museum.

Fischer, Hans-Jürgen. “Der polnische Pirol“ . Modellflieger, 2013. Accessed 11 April 2015. English translation is available at http://www.scalesoaring.co.uk/TUGS/Docs_Tugs/Wilga35/Wilga.html . Many photos and profiles, including Russian,Eeast German, and Indonesian paramilitary aircraft. From the above link, you’ll need to switch to German text and then scroll to links at bottom to access all illustrations.

Hamilton, John. World Militair. http://www.worldmilitair.com .

March, Peter. Directory of Military Aircraft of the World. London: Cassell, 2001. ISBN: 1854095277.

Mikluslev, Nenad. “PZL 104 Wilga”. YASIG – Yugoslav Aviation Special Interest Group Newsletter, 1998, Numbers 3-4: 32-3. Black-and white drawings of Yugoslav civilian Wilgas. Unfortunately, the resolution of the digital reproduction is very poor.

Newdick, Thomas, and Tom Cooper. Modern Military Airpower: 1990-Present. London: Amber, 2010. ISBN: 9781907446276.

Nikolajsen, Ole, and Tuncay Deniz. Civil Aviation in Turkey 1923-2000. Annsal, Andorra: Ole Nikolajsen, [date not given]. CD-ROM. No ISBN. http://www.ole-nikolajsen.com/ .

Obst, Peter. “Wiley Wilga: Flying the Utility Wilga” . Private Pilot, January, 1992 . Accessed online 5 April 2015. http://www.thaiflyingclub.com/linkwilgaarticle.html .

“105th Aviation Brigade”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/105th_Aviation_Brigade . Accessed 7 April 2015.

“PZL-104 Wilga”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL-104_Wilga . Accessed 28 March 2015.

“Republika Srpska Air Force”. Wikipedia. Accessed 28 March 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republika_Srpska_Air_Force .

Spotters.Aero . http://spotters.net.ua/ Accessed 11 April 2015. Ukrainian Wilgas.

Srbin, Vojislav. “A Serbian PZL-104 Wilga in occupied parts of Croatia”. Wikipedia, 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Krajina_Airforce_Utva_66.JPG#filelinks . [NOTE: While correctly captioned, this is indexed as a photo of an UTVA-66.] Accessed 7 April 2015.

Stafrace, Charles. Arab Air Forces. Carrolton, Texas: Squadron/Signal, 1994. ISBN: 0897473264.

Stapfer, Hans-Heiri. Warsaw Pact Air Forces. Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1991. ISBN: 0897472667.

Wikipedia.org .

Wings Palette. http://wp.scn.ru/ . Profiles of Polish and East German military & paramilitary Wilgas.

Wilga

one more

wilga

Vandenberg 1988

Re: Military Pzl-104 Wilga Info Requested

Originally posted by WILGAMAN
May I ask if there is anyone else researching military PZL-104 Wilga’s ?

I have compiled a complete Wilga prod-list (about 980 frames)
and would welcome any sightings, histories etc of military operated PZL-104’s, especially Egypt, DOSAAF, and ex Soviet
Union states.

Happy to help with your queries also !

MTIA

Graham Drabble

Hi
I have a couple of pics of Polish AF Wilga 162, i’ll post them if
you want?
Phil—:) 🙂

Graham,
Here are the ones i remember seeing in the former Soviet Union, with a little help from my logs:

Zaporizhzhe-Shiroke, Ukraine. May 28, 1996:
21910917 / 01r
21910918 / 02r
21900909 / 03r
21910914 / 04r
all TSOU (the Ukrainain variant of the DOSAAF).

Taganrog-TANTK (Beriev factory airfield), Russia. May 29, 1996:
16820656 / 05bk
16810618 / 12bl
86277 / 06bk
all ROSTO (successor of DOSAAF)

Nikolskoye-Gatchina, Russia. August 7, 1996:
107368 / 02b
107351 / 021bk
16810628 / 24bk
21910920 / –
139483 / 52bk
139475 / – (ex 60)
all ROSTO

Lisyi Nos, Russia. August 7, 1996:
15810598 / 04r
17830702 / 08b
18840799 / 10b
140522 / 19r
128426 / 71r
all ROSTO

Kingisepp, Russia. August 11, 1996:
139487 / 03b
17830703 / 09b
all ROSTO

Paluknys, Latvia. August 12, 1996:
15810581 / LY-AGB
18830743 / LY-AGD
18840793 / LY-AGE
128439 / LY-AJD
all ex DOSAAF

Could i perhaps get a copy of that production list? I come across quite a few trip reports with the occasional Wilga-sighting, i would like to cross-check them. Also, i would be happy if you can explain the c/n system to me – there seem to be at least two systems around.

If you like, you can contact me directly at a.hubers#tiscali.nl with the # of course being an @ to avoid spambots.

Thanks in advance!

Not quite military but there is a bit of a connection, because while I was based at RNZAF Base Wigram in Christchurch, NZ, the NZ Police operated a leased Wilga from the base for around 6 months. This was about 1992. They used it for spotting dope crop plots, to free up the RNZAF helicopters that usually carried out the work.

This interesting and very odd plane was housed and I think maintained by the RNZAF for the police, but I think the pilot was police or maybe even a contracted civvie. Not sure on this.

Surprisingly this one is not mentioned on Phil Treweek’s comprehensive website that lists practically every NZ aircraft ever. I’ll have to ask him about it when I next see him at uni.

http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/wilga.html

Although not military, I witnessed the fatal crash of Wilga SP-AFX at The Faireyhouse Air Spectacular” in 1984.

I flew in LZ413 in Bulgaria in September 95.
Have just checked my slide collection and have the following military Wilgas:

IN033 Indonesian Air Force
162 Polish AF – flying in the USA as N162AS
254 Egyptian AF – preserved in Cairo
02 Soviet Air Force
ZK-PZL ex Polish AF
ZK-PZM ex Polish AF
+ civil examples G-BCIC & G-BKWG in UK