what is it?
The PZL.43 was a Polish light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft designed in the mid-1930s by PZL in Warsaw. It was a development of the PZL.23 Karaś. Its main user was the Bulgarian Airforce who called it the Chaika (Чайка, gull).
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 14 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 89 years ago, in 1937.
- Top speed is 2.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 14 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Range of 1,400 km: 8× Amsterdam to Brussels.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1937-02
- introduced
- 1937
- retired
- 1946
- status
- retired
- number built
- 54
- role
- light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft
- makers
- PZL
- engines
- 1× Gnome-Rhône 14N-01
- crew
- 3
- length
- 10 m
- wingspan
- 14 m
- height
- 3.3 m
- max take-off weight
- 3,525 kg
- top speed
- 365 km/h
- range
- 1,400 km
- ceiling
- 8,500 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2619053, Wikipedia: PZL.43 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.