PZL Mielec
aerospace manufacturer

PZL Mielec (Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze - Polish Aviation Works), formerly WSK-Mielec (Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego) 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, now a unit of Lockheed Martin, which retained the brand name. Between 1948 and 2014, the company manufactured approximately 15,600 aircraft.
History
Before 1945
In 1938-1939, Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze ("State Aviation Works"; PZL), Poland's largest aviation company, built a factory in Mielec, designated PZL WP-2 (Wytwórnia Płatowców 2; "Airframe Factory no. 2"). Production there began just before the outbreak of World War II. In March 1939, the plant began manufacturing its first aircraft — PZL.37 Łoś bombers, assembled from components delivered from the PZL WP-1 factory in Warsaw. There were 700 workers at that time.
During World War II, Mielec was occupied by Nazi Germany, starting 13 September 1939. During the occupation, the factory became a part of Heinkel, among others producing tailfins of Heinkel He 111 bombers, and repairing Junkers Ju 52 aircraft.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q400153. VIAF identifies the subject as 155714488. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2007, 1948, 2014 and 1945.
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This entry incorporates text from “PZL Mielec” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.