PZL P.24

About PZL P.24 – Source Wikipedia

Role: Fighter
Manufacturer: PZL
Designer: Zygmunt Puławski
First flight: May 1933
Introduction: 1936 Retired, 1960 Turkish Air Force
Primary users: Turkish Air Force, Royal Romanian Air Force, Bulgarian Air Force, Hellenic Air Force
Developed from: PZL P.11
Versions: IAR 80

Specifications (P.24C)

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Capacity: Fighter
• Length: 7.81 m (25 ft 7 in)
• Wingspan: 10.68 m (35 ft 1 in)
• Height: 2.7 m (8 ft 19 in)
• Wing area: 17.90 m² (192.7 ft²)
• Empty weight: 1,330 kg (2,930 lb)
• Loaded weight: 1,915 kg (4,220 lb)
• Max. take-off weight: 2,000 kg (4,400 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Gnome-Rhône 14Kfs 14-cylinder double row radial engine, 900 hp / 930 hp (max) (671 kW / 693 kW (max))

Performance

• Maximum speed: 430 km/h (270 mph)
• Range: 550 km (340 mi)
• Service ceiling: 10,500 m (34,449 ft)
• Rate of climb: 11.5 m/s (2,260 ft/min)
• Power/mass: 0.376 kW/kg (0.230 hp/lb)

Armament

• 4 MGs
• 2 x 50 kg (110 lb) bombs

PZL P.24

The PZL P.24 was developed as an export version of the PZL P.11, a gull-wing all-metal fighter designed by Zygmunt Puławski. The P.11 was powered with a license-built Bristol Mercury engine. The license did not permit export sales, so the French Gnome-Rhône company proposed using their engines in the P.11. The first P.24/I prototype, based on the P.11a and powered by a Gnome-Rhône 14Kds 760 hp (570 kW) engine, was flown in May 1933. The second P.24/II prototype, named the “Super P.24”, set a world speed record for radial engine-powered fighters (414 km/h). The third P.24/III prototype was the “Super P.24bis” with a more powerful 14Kfs engine. The type was shown at the Paris air show in 1934 attracting great interest from the participants.
The aircraft was conventional in layout, with high wings. It was all-metal and metal-covered. The wings had a gull-wing shape, with a thin profile close to the fuselage, to provide a good view for the pilot. This configuration was developed by Zygmunt Pulawski and called “the Polish wing”. The canopy was closed (apart from prototypes). An internal 360 liter fuel tank in the fuselage could be dropped in case of fire emergency. It had conventional fixed landing gear, with a rear skid.
The armament was a combination of 20 mm Oerlikon FF cannon and 7.92 mm Colt-Browning machine guns in the wings.

• P.24A, P.24E and P.24F had two cannon and two machine guns.
• P.24B, P.24C and P.24G had four machine guns.

Operational history

Despite being a better fighter than the P.11, there were few acquired by the Polish Air Force, which preferred to wait for the PZL.50. When it became clear the PZL.50 would not be ready in time to counter the imminent German attack, the PAF resumed production of the P.11 and ordered the P.24. However, no PZL.24s were produced before the war started, and only two were used in the Polish Campaign. The aircraft had greater success abroad, though.

Turkey

Turkish P.24s were used for training until the late 1940s. Some were refitted with Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines. The only surviving example of a PZL P.24 in the world is an example in Turkey. Photographs of the Turkish museum piece show a variety of serial numbering (2015, 2017, 2147) and are shot at different locations: (Ankara and Istanbul), suggesting that there may be more than one

Greece

The PZL P.24 was the main Greek fighter at a time of the Italian attack in 1940, and engaged Italian bombers during the Greco-Italian War.

Romania

The Romanian Air Force already used PZL P.11Fs built under license in the IAR factory, and decided to acquire the P.24 as well. Romania bought five P.24Es and a production license, and built 25 IAR P.24E aircraft at the IAR factory between 1937 and 1939. Some components of the P.24E, mainly its tail section, were used in construction of the Romanian low-wing fighter IAR 80. The fighters were used to guard Bucharest and the Ploieşti oilfields from Soviet bombers at the start of Operation Barbarossa. Flying from Otopeni military airbase, the PZL P.24 fighters managed to shoot down 37 unescorted VVS bombers. The P.24E was also used for ground attack missions until the end of 1941 and after 1942 it was relegated to training duties because of its obsolescence.

Versions

During the development of Pulawski fighters, a new version of the P.11, the P.11c, was developed for the Polish Air Force. It had a new, reconfigured fuselage, and the radial engine was lowered to give a pilot a better view. These changes were applied also to the new P.24 prototype, flown in 1936.
The P.24A and P.24B models could carry 4 x 12.5 kg bombs, while the P.24C, F and G could carry 2 x 50 kg bombs.

P.24

This design used the whole tail fuselage section from the P.11c, was powered with a Gnome-Rhône 14Kfs engine (930 hp), and was armed with two 20 mm cannon and two machine guns.

P.24A
It entered production as the P.24A.

P.24B
The P.24B version was armed with four machine guns.

P.24C
The P.24C was armed with four machine guns and two 50 kg bombs.

P.24D
The P.24D was developed for sale to Hungary, but it was not completed, Hungary purchasing the Fiat CR.32 instead.

P.24E
The P.24E version was license-built in Romania by IAR as the IAR P.24E.

P.24F
The P.24F was armed with two cannon and two machine guns and bombs and powered with the more powerful 970 hp (720 kW) Gnome-Rhône 14N-07 engine.

P.24G
The last production version was the P.24G, produced from 1937 and powered with the more powerful 970 hp (720 kW) Gnome-Rhône 14N-07 engine. The P.24G was armed with four machine guns and bombs.

P.24H
The P.24H was to be powered with a Gnome-Rhône 14N-21 engine (1,100 hp) and carry four cannon or two cannon and two machine guns, but it was not completed. The P.24H was considered for purchase by the Polish Air Force, but progress was slow due to the P.24’s similarity to the PZL P.11, which was already in service, and also interest in the hypothetically superior PZL.50 Jastrząb then under development. World War II started before any of these plans could be realized.