Aircraft Production in Kayseri in 1970s Turkey: BLUE LIGHT Project

An Airplane Building Story in 1970s Turkey: BLUE LIGHT Project

How was Tayyare ve Motor Türk Anonim Şirketi (TOMTAŞ) established?

During the era of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said "The future is in the skies!", new beginnings were made in many fields. Aviation was one of these fields. In his opening speech to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on November 1, 1924, Atatürk underlined his goal by saying, "While talking about the defense of the country, I would like to draw the attention and attention of the Supreme Assembly to the Air Forces, which are important and effective in the military field."

The impact of these words manifested itself and the establishment of an aircraft factory was discussed at length in the Turkish Grand National Assembly during the year and it was decided to establish an aircraft factory. Junkers, which had established airplane factories in Russia and Poland in 1925, was chosen as the company. This was because the fourth article of the Treaty of Versailles of January 10, 1920 prohibited the Germans from producing airplanes within their own borders. In order to survive, the company turned to foreign investments. One of these would be Turkey.

In fact, less than two years after the proclamation of the Republic, a contract was signed between Turkey and the German aircraft manufacturing company Junkers on August 15, 1925 for an aircraft factory to be established in Turkey. At a time when the state budget averaged 100 million liras, the allocation of 1,750 million liras for the capital of the aircraft factory alone was a very high amount in the conditions of the time.

The new company, in which Junkers and the Turkish Aeroplane Society, founded in the same year, were partners, was named Tayyare ve Motor Türk Anonim Şirketi (TOMTAŞ). Due to its strategic location, it was decided to build the factory in Kayseri as a result of the evaluations made for the conditions of that day. 

I find it important that the then Minister of National Defense Recep Bey made a comprehensive assessment of aircraft production at the time: "Friends, as you know, the government has taken the initiative for the construction of an aircraft factory with the 3 million lira commitment law given last year. The contract has been signed and construction will begin soon. In this one hundred and fifty million we have included in this one hundred and fifty million the cost of about a quarter of what our air force will wear out every year by these and by purchasing from abroad. I declare confidentially to my friends that in a few years our army will have 1,000 metal airplanes. It has been proved by experience so far that these airplanes last for about four years. We should buy two hundred and fifty airplanes every year. We should have one airplane every four years and keep it at that level. The contract with Junkers includes a commitment to deliver two hundred and fifty airplanes to us every year." 

TOMTAŞ, Turkey's first aircraft factory, established with the common will of the state behind it, was inaugurated with an official ceremony on October 6, 1926 in Kayseri. According to the agreement reached, the materials for the establishment of the aircraft factory were to be brought from Germany. The materials arrived in Kayseri with great difficulties. The equipment and materials for the establishment of the factory were brought from Germany to İskenderun by ship. From Iskenderun, they were transported by train to Ulukışla and from there to Kayseri by ox cart and camels. With 50 Turkish and 120 German personnel, the factory began to operate. Some of the Turkish personnel employed here were sent to Germany in groups to receive training. The most important problem of this period was the shortage of trained personnel. Efforts were made to solve this problem through training. In 1927, the A-20, F-13 and G-23 aircraft in the inventory of the Turkish Air Force began to have maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities.

Despite this progress, the partnership with Junkers could not continue. On May 3, 1928, Junkers transferred all its shares to its Turkish partner. With a protocol, the German company relinquished all its shares and all its rights and transferred them to the Turkish Tayyare Society for 520,000 TL. In 1931, the factory started to operate again under the Undersecretariat of Air of the Ministry of National Defense. In 1932, a contract was signed between the Ministry of National Defense and the American Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company Inc. Within the scope of the contract, 33 "Curtiss Hawk" and 8 "Fledglig" aircraft were produced. With this agreement, the USA invested in the aviation industry in Turkey for the first time. In 1935, 50 gliders of three different types were produced for Turkkuşu. In 1936, a license agreement was signed with the German Gothaer Waggon Fabrik A.G., and a total of 45 Gotha 145 aircraft were produced starting from 1937. In the same year, a license agreement was signed with the Polish company Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze and 20 PZL-24A-24C aircraft were produced. Thus, the Kayseri Aircraft Factory gained the capacity to produce 4 airplanes per month at that time. Approximately 200 aircraft were produced at the Kayseri Aircraft Factory between 1932 and 1942.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the factory was forced to prioritize repair and maintenance work over production. Under the conditions of war, production work was disrupted and was not followed up for various reasons. In 1944, after the Air Forces Command became an independent force command, the factory was renamed "Kayseri Air Supply and Maintenance Center" as part of the organizational arrangements in 1950, and began to function in accordance with its new name. The factory continues to operate in this function as the 2nd Air Supply and Maintenance Center.

On the other hand, the love for aircraft production at this center in Kayseri has never died. In 1976, it was rekindled with the Blue Light project. I would like to draw on the memories of the hero of this production story, Retired Major General Halil Ergün BELİRGEN, and present them to your attention in the following lines.

Kayseri Aircraft Factory Starts Operations Again

"When I joined the Kayseri Supply and Maintenance Center Command in late 1973, one activity in particular caught my attention. Aircraft that had been involved in accidents during the agricultural spraying activities by aircraft, which were quite common in those years, were sent to this center, and the damaged wings of some aircraft and parts of the fuselage of others were manufactured or repaired through the revolving capital, and returned to the companies to which they belonged after flight experiences. The question arose in my mind, "Couldn't we completely manufacture these airplanes in Kayseri with the existing facilities?" and this idea gradually became a passion.

In those years, the most popular agricultural spraying aircraft were the Piper-Pawnee, Grumman-Cats and Rockwell- Trush Commander aircraft. First, unofficially, I suggested to the representatives of these companies that the manufacturing and assembly could be carried out in Kayseri through the revolving fund, provided that all the materials were provided by them, and that labor could be saved. This suggestion found a response only from the Grumman company, and an official proposal came to the Directorate of Revolving Funds. I was overjoyed and forwarded the proposal to the Air Force Command with a cover letter in order to obtain the necessary permission. The response from the Science Branch of the Technical Department was a complete disappointment, and our proposal was rejected on the grounds that it did not fall within the scope of the Supply Maintenance Center's duties.

Cooperation with Antbirlik

This negative response did not discourage me and I started to look for other opportunities. We reached a special agreement with Yusuf ERDİL Rey, the Aircraft Operations Manager Yusuf ERDİL Rey, an engineer himself, who was working at Antbirlik company, where we went for the annual flight control and flight certificates of these aircraft. In order to get rid of the unauthorized production accusations of the manufacturer company, one of the scrapped aircraft of the company would be sent to Kayseri under the name of repair, but the aircraft would be remanufactured under the name of repair, using the same fuselage serial number. This event took place quietly. After successful flight experiences by the company pilots, TC-ZSU Çağrı and Piper-Pawnee C aircraft were put back into service in Antbirlik Fleet. This was our first experience in the production of complete airframes, and in terms of safety, we followed the flight adventure of the aircraft at Antbirlik for three years and did not encounter any problems.

Support of Brigadier General Turhan EMEN, Commander of the Air Supply Maintenance Center

This event increased our courage. In 1976, Air Pilot Brigadier General Şükrü ÖZUÇUCU, Commander of the Air Supply Maintenance Center, retired and was replaced by Air Pilot Brigadier General Turhan EMEN. In the first months of his command, the proposal to design and manufacture a small aircraft that could be an agricultural spraying aircraft or a first training aircraft was presented to him, but he did not approve it. In fact, the construction of the Antbirlik aircraft mentioned above was also realized during this commander's term. More precisely, it was carried out without the Commander's knowledge. 1978 was the year of Commander Turhan EMEN's promotion. In February 1978, he called me to him and asked me whether my proposal for the design and construction of the aircraft was still valid. This was an opportunity I had been looking for but could not find. I answered in the affirmative, but he had some conditions. According to these conditions, I was to use the materials in the warehouse and the means at my disposal, but I was not to ask for any money, and I was to finish the airplane by the end of June 1978. I asked him for three days to investigate what I could do under these conditions.

There was a necessity and a problem that stood out in this project. The necessity was to buy the engine and propeller from one of the airplanes still in service, since we could not manufacture or buy them, and to make the design on this basis. The problem was that the design and manufacturing could be realized in as little as 3-4 months. The solution to the problem required the maximum utilization of the existing molds. To be sincere, I was also skeptical that the work could be done in this period of time, but I intended to take advantage of this opportunity at all costs. At the end of the third day, I told the commander;

a. A prototype aircraft that can be converted into an agricultural spraying aircraft with 500 liters of pesticide capacity, a dual-controlled first trainer or a 4-seater liaison aircraft using the available T-34 Mentor or T-41D Mascalero first trainer engines,

b. I told him that we could use the engine of the AT-11 Kansan liaison aircraft to build a prototype aircraft that could be converted into a spraying aircraft with a capacity of 800 liters of pesticide or a 6-seater liaison aircraft, and I asked him his preference. He preferred the former. Thus, the aircraft would resemble in general outline the Piper-Pawnee aircraft we had built before, because even if I changed the wing profile and structure, I had to use its fuselage molds to make it on time.

I suggested to the commander that an order should be issued so that I could delegate my duties to the engineer officer who succeeded me, assign the personnel I had selected, and draw supplies from the supply depots. He agreed. Now it was time to find a justification for obtaining the permission of the Air Force Command. We had a yearly allowance of on-the-job training man/hours to train newly recruited workers. Together with the commander, we went to the Air Force and stated that we wanted to use this training to build an airplane in a way that would also train our engineers, instead of working on training parts in the workshop, and asked for permission. 

We Persuaded the Air Force for Production

At the Air Force Command, we were met with sarcastic surprise: "Oh, so you are going to build an airplane?", "Are you sure?", "How much money do you want?", "How will you conduct wind tunnel tests?" These were natural reactions under the conditions of the day. Although I explained in detail what we wanted to do, the theoretical aspects of the subject, and that the theory and practice were in agreement at speeds around Mach 0.3, where this aircraft would fly, and therefore there was no need for wind tunnel experiments, and that we were not asking for anything other than permission to manufacture and use the materials in the warehouse, I don't think I was able to convince anyone. "Leave your written application and we will respond," they said. On our third visit, Lieutenant General Tevfik ALPASLAN, then Chief of Staff of the Air Force, laughed and said: "You are going to build an airplane, huh? Let's see you do it." That was enough for us.

Brigadier General Turhan EMEN named the project "Blue Light" and issued the order I requested. Since it was built in 1978 and was an experimental prototype, we named it "Blue Light -78 XA". 78 was the year of construction, X (Experimental) meant it was for experimental purposes, and the letter A meant it was the first experimental model. The engine power, wing profile, control surfaces and weight of the aircraft would be changed, so since we were using fuselage molds, the aircraft was a new aircraft, even though it resembled the Pi per-Pawnee aircraft in shape. Time was very tight, so while the design and manufacturing work was going on, the strength, performance and stability calculations of the aircraft had to be made. Moreover, since the young engineers were not confident in themselves, these tasks were left to me.

Fifteen days after the start of the work, our Commander, Brigadier General Turhan EMEN, who stood behind us and gave us his full support, suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. Despite all the adversities, the work that started in April 1978 was completed within three months, and the aircraft was ready for flight trials in June. After the desired results were obtained in the ground trials, we requested an experience pilot from the Air Forces Command. The Air Forces Command required proof of the aircraft's flight capability in order to allocate an experience pilot. I, on the other hand, argued that there was no other way of proof other than project calculations and the results of ground trials, and that the airworthiness of the aircraft could only be proven through a flight experience program. After a feverish work, we entered a period of waiting.

First Test Flight: Blue Light Meets the Sky

In 1976, since the aircraft maintenance facilities were moved to Erkilet Airport, we shared the Erkilet Airport with the 12th Air Transportation Main Base Command. Pilots from the 221st and 222nd Squadrons would often come and inspect the aircraft and sometimes run around on the runway. In the meantime, with the proposal of Pilot Captain Beşir GÖZÜTOK, we decided to test the plane on a Sunday. I asked him to first run the plane on the runway until the take-off point, and if he saw that the plane was ready for take-off, to cut a few meters off the ground without leaving the runway, and to check the landing-take-off performance by landing on the runway again. After a few cutting attempts, Captain GÖZÜTOK radioed that the performance was excellent and that he was going to take a tour of the square. After a flight of about 20 minutes, he landed the plane perfectly. The plane had proven itself to a great extent. About two weeks later, the Base Operations Commander, Pilot Colonel Adem ÜZER, a very experienced pilot, wanted to test the plane. After a flight of about an hour and various turns and bank trials, when he landed on the ground, he said in his own words: "Friend, this plane flies like silver" and congratulated us. It was a great happiness to hear such a word from Colonel Adem ÜZER.

Meanwhile, Brigadier General Turhan EMEN had retired and Major General Ramiz ERTEM had been appointed in his place. Although the airplane was flying unofficially, the Air Force Command assigned experience pilots Staff Sergeant Nejat ŞEN and Veli GÜLSÖZ for official flight trials only in April 1979. After about three weeks of official flight trials, the Blue Light -78 XA was finally introduced to the public and the press on May 25, 1979. Although the aircraft was not an aerobatic aircraft, the acrobatic maneuvers performed by these valuable pilots during the presentation brought both the audience and us to our hearts' content. This presentation caused a great resonance in Turkey, and the aircraft entered the world aviation literature with the 1979 edition of "Jane's All The World Aircraft" yearbook.

How did the Blue Light B come into being?

This was a prototype airplane that could have been converted into a dual-controlled trainer, a 4-seater liaison plane or an agricultural sprayer. We asked the Air Force Command which type to convert it into, and the answer was disappointing. They wanted the plane to be converted into an agricultural spraying plane, which had nothing to do with the Air Force. In desperation, we borrowed the spraying tank, sprayers and other necessary equipment from Antbirlik and converted the aircraft into an agricultural spraying aircraft. Since it was no longer a prototype, we named this model Mavi Işık-B. We conducted the first spraying trials at Erkilet Square with the pilots we asked from the Turkish Aeronautical Association. This experience was followed by Turkish Aeronautical Association pilots using the Blue Light-B aircraft for more than a month in Adana. The result was very successful.

After registering the aircraft with the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transportation in the name of the Turkish Air Force Command, we went to the Ministry of Agriculture in order to obtain an order. The officials stated that the Ministry was not interested in these matters and suggested that we contact the Agricultural Equipment Agency. When we explained to the officials of the Agricultural Equipment Corporation that this aircraft was at least 35% cheaper than similar ones, that every part except the engine was domestic, and that the engine and propellers could be repaired and revised at the Air Force, we asked them to place an order: "We don't get involved in these matters, we only recommend them to anyone who asks". 

Although we told them that we, as the Air Force, did not have a commercial title or any money allocated, and that we could only meet the orders to be placed through the revolving fund, the answer was only, "I'm sorry." Our attempts to transfer the matter to the Ministry of Agriculture through the Command were not approved by the Command and did not yield any results. In the years that followed, the aircraft was useless except for making demonstrations at defense industry fairs.

Attempts to produce an agricultural spraying aircraft for the Turkish Air Institution

In 1982, retired Air Brigadier General Yılmaz ORAL was appointed President of the Turkish Air Association. I think he called me in early November and told me that they wanted to order an agricultural spraying aircraft on behalf of the Turkish Air Association. In the meantime, I had been promoted from Factory Manager to Brigadier General and became the Commander of Kayseri Air Supply Maintenance Center. At the meeting we held in Ankara, they said that they wanted to order a Blue Light agricultural spraying aircraft for more effective spraying in Ceylanpınar, but they wanted a 260 HP Lycoming engine instead of the existing 210 HP Continental engine, and an all-metal wing and fuselage. I told them that what they wanted was not the Blue Light-B aircraft, but a completely new aircraft, and that the design, manufacturing and experience of this aircraft would take close to a year, and I asked them if they could wait for this period. Upon their affirmative answer, I asked them to officially convey the matter to the Air Force. We had now gained the confidence of the Air Force Command. Permission was granted and an allocation was made for the new 260 HP Lycoming engine and propeller. In January 1983, the engine and propeller arrived. In the following April, when the aircraft was largely completed, we received a letter from the Turkish Aeronautical Association stating that they could not wait for the completion and production process due to the spraying orders they had received for that year, and that they would buy Antonov spraying aircraft from Poland. 

Eight months later, we received a directive from the Air Force Command to dismantle the engines and propellers of the aircraft and return them to the Air Force supply system, and to separate and preserve the fuselage. Another effort had ended in frustration. Now, one of these airplanes is in Yeşilyurt Aviation Museum and the other one is still in Etimesgut Air Museum with its engines dismantled."

Conclusion

In our country, despite limited means, the spirit of enterprise in the field of aircraft production has never been lacking. Vecihi Hürkuş was the pioneer of this. Nuri Demirağ's Nu.36 and Nu.38 aircraft produced in the factory next to the Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha Mausoleum in Beşiktaş, the aircraft and gliders produced by the Turkish Aeronautical Association, including the THK-5, as well as the realization of a state enterprise such as TOMTAŞ, were exciting steps from the first years of the Republic. Unfortunately, as a result of reasons too numerous to list here, these did not follow. 

In 1970, the "Build your own airplane" campaign, launched by the Turkish Air Force Foundation for the Empowerment of the Turkish Air Force, sparked a nationwide enthusiasm for aircraft production. The above-mentioned aircraft production story of an engineer officer serving at the Air Supply Maintenance Center Command in Kayseri at the time was a prominent example of this enthusiasm in the Air Force. Thanks to these pioneering efforts, works that can serve as an example for all of us have emerged. TAI, the Turkish Aerospace Industry, was established. After the production of F-16s under license with the Americans, numerous projects such as Şimşek, Atak, Anka, Hürkuş, Gökbey, Hürjet, Aksungur, Kaan and Anka-3 have been realized under the roof of TAI since 2005. Unmanned aerial vehicles such as TB-2, Karayel, Akıncı, Kızılelma, etc. were produced outside TAI. In the person of Retired Air Major General Ergün BELİRGEN, who gave life to the BLUE LIGHT project, which I believe was one of the initiatives that was a beacon of light for the people of my country who realized these productions, I congratulate our unsung heroes who worked at that time, and I express my appreciation and gratitude.

References

Air Force Book of Memories, 2009, Efforts to Re-Establish Aircraft Production in Kayseri

Osman Yalçın, The First Attempt in the Turkish State's Struggle to Establish an Aircraft Factory: Tayyare ve Motor Türk Anonim Şirketi (TOMTAŞ) and Kayseri Aircraft Factory, Atatürk Research Center Journal, November 2010, Volume XXVI - Issue 78, Pages: 561-588.