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Among the numerous aircraft produced by the Mielec plant, in the last years of this plant's operation under the centrally planned economy, the An-28 aircraft emerged, which in its Polish version, after undergoing numerous modifications, received the designation M28 Skytruck. This aircraft, the An-28, was developed to replace the An-2 transport aircraft used in very large numbers, which in the 1970s were already obsolete. In 1973, the new aircraft, designated AN-28, was flown, and then a state trials program began lasting about two years. After their completion, it was necessary to wait about three more years for the start of production. Meanwhile, the Soviet authorities were not entirely interested in the An-28 aircraft, because in fraternal Czechoslovakia, work had begun on the L-410 Trubolet aircraft, which began to arouse great interest on the part of Aeroflot. At the same time, work was underway in the Soviet Union on the Be-30 aircraft, which was favored by the authorities. At some point, the Czechoslovak Turbolet took the lead, but it quickly turned out that it was not able to fulfill all the tasks performed by the good old An-2, so the Antonov plants resumed work on the An-28. In 1977, a decision was made to choose the place of production of the new aircraft - the authorities decided that the new transport aircraft would be manufactured in the Polish WSK PZL-Mielec plants. The relevant agreement was concluded in 1978, at the same time the Polish plants had to go a long way to start producing new aircraft - the first step was to develop methods for processing composite materials, as well as assembly of finished elements made of a previously unknown material. During the development of production documentation, computer software was used for the first time on such a large scale. In a word, the start of production of the An-28 aircraft in Poland was a step into a new era for the plants in Mielec. The misfortune, however, was that this evolution occurred in very turbulent times. In any case, everything seemed to be heading in the right direction, because the Soviet Union ordered 1,200 An-28 aircraft from Poland. The first one was delivered in 1984, and in total, quite a few machines were built, because production in Mielec included 163 units, although there are suggestions that there were more planes, as many as 180. The material uses a fragment of the recording from the channel: / @antonovcompany Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E... I am also here: https://odysee.com/@Balszoi:5?r=CmuKJ... I invite you to support the channel: Virtual coffee https://buycoffee.to/balszoi Patronite: https://patronite.pl/Balszoi #lotnictwo #polishairforce #samoloty #historia #wojsko #history #military #pzl #usaf #usarmy #specops