# Nikol A-2 > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Nikol_A-2 > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Nikol_A-2.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikol_A-2 > Source revision: 1256336155 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) The **Nikol A-2** was a small, [amphibious aircraft](/source/Amphibious_aircraft) designed and built in [Poland](/source/Poland) in the 1930s. Only one was completed before [World War II](/source/World_War_II). ## Design and development The Nikol A-2 had a very long gestation time; its designer, Jerzy Nicol started work on it in May 1929, shortly after his graduation from [Warsaw Technical University](/source/Warsaw_Technical_University), but the first flight was made almost ten years later on 4 March 1939. In 1934 the [Polish Navy](/source/Polish_Navy), with an interest in a catapult-launched amphibian for a new warship, contacted Nikol. By the end of 1935 [wind tunnel](/source/Wind_tunnel) tests had been completed and design calculations approved. Construction of the prototype began in 1936 in the Morski Dyon Lotniczy factory at [Puck](/source/Puck,_Poland).[1] The all-wood, two-seat amphibian had a [shoulder mounted](/source/Shoulder_wing) [cantilever](/source/Cantilever) wing built around two [spars](/source/Spar_(aeronautics)). Tapered in plan, the wing was [plywood](/source/Plywood) covered forward of the rear spar, forming watertight compartments to keep the aircraft afloat after severe hull damage. Behind the rear spar the wing was [fabric covered](/source/Aircraft_fabric_covering).[1] The A-2 had a wooden fuselage with [plywood](/source/Plywood) skin, a single-step planing bottom and flat sides. It was internally divided by [bulkheads](/source/Bulkhead_(partition)) into watertight compartments. There was a store for mooring gear in the nose and its two crew, provided with dual controls, were seated [side-by-side](/source/Tandem_seating#side-by-side) ahead of the wing [leading edge](/source/Leading_edge) under a removable, hinged, framed cover. Behind them, a 89 kW (120 hp) [de Havilland Gipsy Major](/source/De_Havilland_Gipsy_Major) four cylinder, inverted air-cooled inline engine was mounted in pusher configuration high over the wing on inward-leaning N-form [struts](/source/Strut), its low diameter, three-bladed propeller clearing the wing. The main fuel tankage was in the fuselage, with a reserve tank in the wing centre-section. The compartment under the [trailing edge](/source/Trailing_edge) of the wing contained a luggage store, accessed via a watertight hatch.[1] Its ply-covered [tailplane](/source/Tailplane), mounted above the fuselage on a short pylon, was in-flight adjustable. Twin ply-covered, ground-adjustable [fins](/source/Fin_(aeronautics)) were externally braced to it. Both [elevator](/source/Elevator_(aeronautics)) and [rudders](/source/Rudder) were [balanced](/source/Balanced_rudder) and [fabric covered](/source/Aircraft_fabric_covering).[1] The A-2's [landing gear](/source/Landing_gear) was fitted with brakes and retracted into the wings.[1] Its first flight was made on 4 March 1939 and many test flights followed which confirmed good air and water handling, suggesting that the A-2 had a future with both naval and civil operators but because of the [German invasion of Poland](/source/German_invasion_of_Poland) in September 1939 only the prototype flew.[1] Its later history is uncertain: Cynk reports it as destroyed in the invasion but other sources suggest it survived the war, though without flying again. They claim that after the German [invasion of Poland](/source/Invasion_of_Poland_(1939)) and the first unsuccessful air raid on a base in Puck on 1 September 1939, all Polish seaplanes, including the undamaged A-2 prototype, were evacuated from Puck to the naval harbour in [Hel](/source/Hel,_Poland). It was slightly damaged due to further air raids, then captured by the Germans and taken to [Travemünde](/source/Travem%C3%BCnde) for repairs and was later seen at other Polish bases.[2] ## Operators **[Germany](/source/Germany)** - [Kriegsmarine](/source/Kriegsmarine) captured the only prototype. - [Polish Navy](/source/Polish_Navy) ## References 1. Cynk, Jerzy (1971). [*Polish Aircraft 1893-1939*](https://archive.org/details/polishaircraft1800cynk/page/658). London: Putnam Publishing. p. [658-9](https://archive.org/details/polishaircraft1800cynk/page/658). ISBN 0-370-00085-4. 1. ["Nikol A-2, 1939"](http://www.samolotypolskie.pl/samoloty/1966/126/Nikol-A-2). *Samolotypolskie.pl*. Retrieved 18 June 2018. ## Further reading Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" (Polish aviation constructions 1893-1939), WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 (Polish language, no ISBN) ## External links - [Photos and description (in Polish)](https://web.archive.org/web/20021118215018/http://www.samoloty.ow.pl/str169.htm) - [Airwar.ru - Nikol A-2 (in Russian)](http://www.airwar.ru/enc/flyboat/a2.html) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nikol A-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikol_A-2) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikol_A-2?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.