Polish Air Force: Brigadier General pilot Tomasz Drewniak, “M- 346 has, in itself, something elusive and amazing”

Warsaw. Brigadier General pilot Tomasz Drewniak served in the Polish Air Force for 34 years, starting as pilot and becoming Commander of the Air Force.

Brigadier General pilot Tomasz Drewniak (Photo credit by Magda Sokalska) – Thanks to Piotr Drewniak

He gradueted from Aviation High School in Zielona Góra, Polish Air Force Academy in Dęblin, Aviation Academy of Russian Federation in Monino, U.S. Air War Collage in Maxwell Air Force Base Montgomery (iAlabama) and NATO Defense College in Rome, and ha continued with his postgraduate studies at Koszalin University of Technology.

First class pilot in tactical, transport and training aviation.

He commanded the 13th Air Transport Regiment (later Squadron) in Cracow – Balice, the 8th Airlift Base in Cracow – Balice and the 4th Air Training Wing in Dęblin.

In 2009 and 2011 he served as Deputy Director of International Air Show Radom, then, from 2013 to 2015, he was a Director of this event.

Currently he works as an expert – specialist of The Security & Development Foundation Stratpoints and lecture cooperating with Wroclaw University of Science and Technology.

Sir Brigadier General Drewniak, what do you think about military and industrial cooperation between Italy and Poland? 

Italy is a very important ally for Poland, and it is also a very cordial country. The first important meeting I had with the Aeronautica Militare took place in 2000 in Great Britain, during the 60th Anniversary of Battle of Britain”.

I had a good friend from Italy who flew there on the F-104 Starfighter.

At that time I was flying on the MiG-21 Fishbed and we spent long evenings exchanging our experiences and talking about how and where we had flown.

The second meeting I had with them was during the International Air Show Radom, of which I was Deputy Director and later Director.

During one of its editions we invited the famous acrobatic team of the Italian Air Force known all over the world “Frecce Tricolori”, so I also had the great opportunity to meet them personally.

Aircfrafts of the “Frecce Tricolori”

They reciprocated by inviting, in 2015, Polish Air Force pilots from the aerobatic team White and Read Sparks to participate in 55th Anniversary of their team.

I had the pleasure to be one of the polish pilots, who were sent there, thanks to this I spent almost all week in Italy.

And what about your experience with the new italian trainer M-346 Master? 

The first time i had the opportunity to see the M-346 was in 2010, when Italian pilots visited Dęblin, where I was serving at this time.

Aircrafts M-346

In this occasion they arrived with two prototypes and I had the opportunity to make a flight with one of them.

About this plane I can just tell you that I fell in love with it from the first time i saw it.

This plane combines everything Italian: finesse, elegance and softness of shapes, just like in case of Italian supercars like Ferrari or Lamborghini.

And, of course, I don’t mean only visuals, but the high quality of the flight on this plane.

That’s why we decided to called it “Italian job” in the most positive sense of these word.

M- 346 has, in itself, something elusive and amazing! Please, imagine that you getting on the plane: you may either find yourself having to fight with in order to enslave it,or you can just fly with it, like in a duet, a tango or some other beautiful dance.

Presentation of the first M – 346 produced for the Polish Air Force

Master has exactly the same characteristics as in the second case I mentioned. It is based on the most modern technological concepts in aviation for this we can only admire italian engineers.

What advantages could the Polish Air Force gain from this plane? 

In its basic assumptions, M-346 was supposed to be a training plane with only specific features, but the newest version are much more advanced.

Just to give an example, they are equipped with a specialized flight simulator called embedded training, which allows the implementation of the training through the capability to keep one pilot on the ground while the other operates in the cabin.

In this manner, a pilot can be in the air, fighting or simulating an air battle, seeing all the time the second pilot (on ground) on all aircrafts instruments.

In the next future this great concept is sure to change the way pilots are trained for many years.

So except for beautiful aerodynamic shapes, M-346, or rather, the entire associated training system, offers something truly revolutionary, both for customers and for the industry.

Polish M – 346 side number 7701 in four throws (by Alenia Aermacchi)

In February 2014, with the official tender procedure, an appropriate version of the aircraft was chosen for the Polish Air Force as a successor to the legendary polish training aircraft TS-11 Iskra, which served for about 60 years.

Training aircraft TS-11 Iskra

In November 2018, in a ceremony attended by the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, which took place at 4th Air Training Wing in Dęblin, M–346 for Polish Air Force received the official name “Bielik”.

The first two M -346A with side numbers 7702 and 7703 were delivered to Poland in November 2016.

Ultimately, in accordance with the contract, in 2022, the 4th Training Wing of Deblin should have sixteen Bielik.

The First Two Polish pilots to fly on Bielik

© RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA

L’articolo Polish Air Force: Brigadier General pilot Tomasz Drewniak, “M- 346 has, in itself, something elusive and amazing” proviene da Report Difesa.