Mielec

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Mielec
Main Square
Main Square
Flag of Mielec
Flag
Coat of arms of Mielec
Coat of arms
Location of Mielec
Mielec (Poland)
Mielec
Mielec
Coordinates: 50°17′N 21°26′E / 50.283, 21.433
Country Flag of Poland Poland
Voivodeship Subcarpathian
County Mielec County
Gmina Mielec (urban gmina)
Established 1229
Town rights 1470
Government
 - Mayor Janusz Chodorowski
Area
 - Total 47.36 km² (18.3 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 - Total 61,118
 - Density 1,290.5/km² (3,342.4/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 39-300 to 39-303, 39-323
Area code(s) +48 17
Car plates RMI
Website: http://www.mielec.pl

Mielec [ˈmjɛlɛt​͡s] (Yiddish: מעליץ-Melitz)is a town in south-eastern Poland with about 63,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Wojewodztwo Podkarpackie) (since 1999); previously it was in Rzeszów Voivodeship (1975-1998). Mielec is a capital town of Mielec County.

Contents

[edit] History

First mentioned in a papal bull in 1229. In 1457 it obtained its city charter. Mielec became part of the Austrian empire in 1772, in which it remained until Poland regained its independence in 1918. The town had a significant Jewish community, which perished in the Holocaust carried out by the occupying Nazi German forces in the course of World War II.

The town's economy has been centered for the last 70 years around a single industrial enterprise, which transformed the town and increased its population sixfold. This process began in the 1930s, when Poland launched a significant expansion of its armaments industry, focused on building plants in the newly created Central Industrial Region. As part of this effort, in the years 1937-1939 a large aviation factory of the PZL company was set up in the town. It developed further after 1945 into the largest aviation factory in Poland under the name WSK-Mielec (Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego; in English, Transport Equipment Manufacturing Centre).

At first, the factory produced Soviet-designed planes under license. Thus it was the primary production site of the widely used An-2 transport plane. It also manufactured Polish versions of the MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighters. The factory also built planes designed in Poland such as the trainer plane TS-11 Iskra used by Poland and India. In 1998 the company changed its name to PZL-Mielec (Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze, in English Polish Aviation Works). After 1989 and the economic changes due to the fall of communism, the factory orders declined and it has encountered serious financial difficulties. It continued to produce successful aircraft types, but at much lower volumes than during the Cold War. In 2007 the factory has been acquired by Sikorsky and will be the main production site of the export version UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter [1].

[edit] Relics

[edit] Economy

From the beginning of Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy Mielec is commonly associated with PZL Mielec aviation factory.

The first Special Economic Zone in Poland, SEZ EURO-PARK MIELEC, has been founded in Mielec in 1995 and has a great impact on economy of Mielec.

[edit] Sports

  • SPR BRW Stal Mielec - men's handball team playing in Ekstraklasa

[edit] Education

  • Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki i Zarządzania

[edit] People related to Mielec

  • Marek Bałata - jazz musician
  • Mieczysław Działowski and Stanisław Działowski - aircraft constructors and pilots
  • Piotr Gąsowski - actor
  • Grzegorz Lato - soccer player, senator
  • Jerzy Mamcarz - poet, singer, composer
  • Zbigniew Mączka - parliamentarian (Sejm RP 1993-1997), Polish Civil Aviation Authority vice-president
  • Władysław Ortyl
  • Władysław Szafer - biologist
  • Hieronim Wrona - music reporter

[edit] Twin towns

Flag of France Douchy-les-Mines
Flag of Germany Löhne
Flag of Ukraine Mukacheve
Flag of Hungary Tiszaföldvár
Flag of Portugal Vila Nova de Poiares

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 50°17′N, 21°25′E