The PZL Wilga, our sole Eastern European listee, was designed to be a sport plane, a trainer, a parachute plane, a STOL utility workhorse, and a glider tug. So this one’s a case not of weird design because its creators were trying to make a plane that did one difficult thing but, rather, because they were trying to build a craft that could accomplish approximately 90 different things. The all-metal taildragger holds its nose up high to allow for better ground clearance by a big prop. And its trailing link gear made arrivals on rough surfaces a little less jarring. The Wilga was produced pretty much continually in Poland and elsewhere for more than 40 years. More than 1,000 of them made their way into the hands of customers, too. A particularly impressive Wilga conversion was accomplished by Mike Patey. His creation, Draco, took the cringey angles of the original and went even farther with it, including using a turboprop engine. The result isn’t necessarily beautiful, but at least it’s a lot less, well, you know.
On the other hand
The Wilga is simply cool looking, all surfaces and angles like it’s ready to leap into action. It might not be a 10, but it’s a solid 8.
