HAROLD ARKENBOUT COLLECTION
No. 7802. Lotnicze Zaklady Naprawcz C.S.S.13 "Mule" (NX50074 c/n 0365)
Photographed at Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, Florida, USA, February 24, 2007, by Harold Arkenbout

Lotnicze Zaklady Naprawcz C.S.S.13

05/31/2008. Popular known as the Polikarpov Po-2, this particular aircraft was license-built in Poland by the Lotnicze Zaklady Naprawcz (Aircraft Repair Plant) under the Centralne Studium Samolotów (Central Aircraft Studies) designation C.S.S.13, and delivered to the Polish forces.

It came on the Polish civil registry as SP-ACP and was last registered to Jan Borowski. On July 3, 1998, it was registered in the UK as G-BXYA, only four months later, on November 13, it was deregistered as being transferred to the USA. Since it has been registered as NX50074 to Kermit A. Weeks, being displayed at Polk City.

The type was designed by Nikolai Nikolayevich Polikarpov in 1926 as the U-2 (Uchebny-2, Instructional-2) trainer to replace the U-1 (Avro 504); the prototype flew in February 1927. Poor performance resulted in a complete redesign and the improved version flew on January 7, 1928, with M.M. Gromov at the controls.

The type became very popular and was used in many roles in both civil and military use. It was in continued production from 1928 to 1955, appeared in about 80 variants and an estimated 32,600 to 33,300 have been produced.

In honor to Nikolai Polikarpov, after his death on July 30, 1944, the U-2 was redesignated Po-2.

Created May 31, 2008