After the War

Between 1951 and 1955, six Lisunov Li-2 passenger aircraft belonging to PLL LOT (a Soviet-licensed version of the American Douglas DC-3, also used as a military transport) were adapted to carry 2 tonnes of chemicals and used for forest dusting. Scheduled airliners participated in the spring forest pest control campaign and were then returned to passenger service. In addition to passenger Li-2s, PLL LOT also purchased and operated 20 CSS-13 aircraft in 1952–57 and 14 Piper Cubs in 1952–53 for this purpose. Besides forest protection, the aircraft also took part in the fight against the “Colorado beetle” – the potato beetle, whose appearance in Poland was portrayed as a “crime of American aviators” who had supposedly deliberately dropped the pest onto GDR territory, from where it “made its way” to Poland. PLL LOT carried out agricultural aviation work until 1955. The mid-1950s saw the transfer of agricultural aviation services to sports aviation. Initially this was the Liga Lotnicza (Aviation League), and from 1956 the Aeroklub PRL, which possessed a network of airfields, pilots and technical facilities for aircraft maintenance. Various units were established within the Aeroklub structure, the last in 1968: the Przedsiębiorstwo Usług Lotniczych (PUL – Aviation Services Enterprise).

The first foreign contract was signed in 1956 for forest dusting in Bulgaria using 5 CSS-13 aircraft. The next contract that launched the development of export services, signed in 1967, was for cotton crop protection in Egypt and Sudan. This contract was carried out by a team from WSK Mielec in cooperation with PUL. In 1972, the Zakład Usług Agrolotniczych (ZUA – Agricultural Aviation Services Plant), part of WSK PZL Warszawa-Okęcie, took over agricultural aviation services from the Aeroklub along with equipment and crews. In 1975, the Zakład Eksploatacji Usług Śmigłowcowych (ZEUŚ – Helicopter Services Operation Plant) was established at WSK Świdnik for helicopter services. These enterprises held the status of main service provider and carried out domestic services independently, while foreign contracts could be concluded through the foreign trade company PHZ PEZETEL. Simultaneously, the scientific and training infrastructure was developing. Research and training of agricultural aviation personnel was conducted by the Experimental and Training Centre of the Institute of Aviation “Agrolot” in Kętrzyn, later taken over by ZUA. Pupils of the Agricultural Mechanisation Technical School in Karolewo and students of the Agricultural and Technical Academy in Olsztyn were trained there for agricultural pilot qualifications. In Kętrzyn, the ART also conducted certification tests of agricultural equipment for all aviation manufacturers.