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PZL Mielec

aerospace manufacturer

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ400153 ↗
Source-derived summary

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.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “PZL Mielec” is aerospace manufacturer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Mielec, aerospace and manufacturer, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2007, 1948, 2014, 1945—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1939. For this dossier, Mielec, aerospace and manufacturer is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “aerospace manufacturer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

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.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “PZL Mielec”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow PZL Mielec primary sources, PZL Mielec archive and Mielec research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “PZL Mielec”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

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.