The PZL M-15 was a jet-powered sesquiplane designed and manufactured by the Polish aircraft company WSK PZL-Mielec for agricultural aviation. In reference to both its strange looks and relatively loud jet engine, the aircraft was nicknamed Belphegor, after the noisy demon.

2023年4月30日 · The M-15 was so loud compared to piston-engine crop dusters that it's said its nickname, the Beplhegor, comes from the biblical demon known for its iconic droning howl.

2020年9月24日 · The M-15 Belphegor was a government-designed crop duster. The aircraft was such a poor performer, it was actually worse than its predecessor. Belphegor was also a stunningly ugly airplane.

2023年12月5日 · The PZL M-15, named after a mythical demon, was a strange-looking aircraft designed by Polish engineers to replace the Soviet Union's crop-dusting plane. The M-15 incorporated the latest technology, including a jet engine, but was criticized for being more expensive, heavier, and having half the range of its predecessor, the An-2.

2024年3月3日 · The PZL M-15 was an unconventional aircraft, from its somewhat bizarre appearance to its performance and eventual cancellation after being the only jet turbine-powered crop duster aircraft ever to be manufactured.

2017年3月30日 · In essence, the M-15 would take a common Soviet jet engine, and build a crop dusting plane around it in the hope that it would end up working better than the AN-2. Originally produced in Poland, the PZL M-15 was beset by quite a few problems right out of the gate, with some issues being more serious than others.

Following an agreement between the Polish and Soviet governments for the design and production of a new large agricultural aircraft, allocated the designation P.Z.L. Mielec M-15, design of this aircraft was initiated in late 1971 and the initial LLP-M15 prototype made its first flight on 30 May 1973.

The PLZ M-15 Belphegor aircraft has the following characteristics:: Length 12.72 m, wingspan 22.33 m, height 5.34 m, wing area 67.5 m2. Empty weight 3090 kg, maximum take-off weight 5650 kg. Maximum speed 220 km / h, chemical spray speed 140-165 km/h, flight range 400 km. The AI-25 twin-circuit turbojet engine produced 1,400 kg of thrust.

2024年10月9日 · The PZL M-15 is believed to be the world's only jet agricultural plane (e.g., the world's only jet cropduster), the world's only jet biplane and the world's slowest jet, at least as far as aircraft that have been put in mass production.

2025年1月13日 · The PZL-Mielec M-15 "Belphegor" is a Polish agricultural aircraft designed in the 1970's for crop dusting and aerial spraying. Its distinctive feature is its unusual twin-boom bi-plane jet design, which boasted an impressive stability at low altitudes and made it unique in a field where most aircraft adopted propeller driven frames.