Issue No 21 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN 117
the Lembaga Persiapan Industri Penerbangan
(LPIP — Institute for the Development of
the Aircraft Industry), and by the end of that
year was actively negotiating for contracts to
manufacture aircraft under licence. One result
was a production contract with Poland for
the manufacture of the appropriately insect-
like PZL-104 Wilga, or GelatikGelatikGelatik (Rice Bird) as (Rice Bird) as
the Continental flat-four-engined Indonesian
versions were designated. Production began in
1963 and the first Gelatik made its maiden flight
in 1964, the original contract being for some 56
examples, although most sources state that a
total of 44 was actually built during 1963–74.
Death of a pioneer
By 1966 Nurtanio, by all accounts a humble,
polite and hardworking individual, had been
promoted Air Marshal and was pursuing a
path of gradual but steady development for
Indonesia’s nascent aircraft industry. It came as
a shocking blow then, when Nurtanio was killed
in the crash of an Aero 45 twin-engined touring
aircraft in which he was preparing to make a
round-the-world flight, on a practice flight on
March 21, 1966. The aircraft suffered engine
failure, forcing Nurtanio to attempt a forced
landing in a field near Bandung. Sadly, the
aircraft, fitted with extra fuel tanks for extended
range, struck a storehouse and exploded, killing
Nurtanio instantly.
The industry was traumatised and in his
honour, LPIP was renamed Lembaga Industri
Penerbangan Nurtanio (LIPNUR — Nurtanio
Aircraft Industries) that year. In 1973
another production contract was signed with
American constructor Pazmany for LIPNUR
to manufacture the PL-2 three-place single-
engined basic trainer/touring monoplane, the
first Indonesian example of which, designated
LT-200, first flew in November 1974.
The following year the government-owned
Indonesian petroleum company Pertamina
secured a contract with Spain and West Germany
for licence production of the CASA C.212
Aviocar and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo
105 helicopter respectively, and in 1976 LIPNUR
and Pertamina merged to become Industri
Pesawat Terbang Nurtanio (IPTN).
The Indonesian aircraft industry continued
to thrive, even if only by manufacturing the
designs of other nations under licence, including
the CASA CN-235 twin-engined transport
aircraft and a number of Aérospatiale Puma/
Super Puma helicopter variants among other
types, but the appetite to develop homegrown
aircraft designs apparently died with Nurtanio
in the mid-1960s. Indeed, when the industry
was reorganised again in 1985, the name
Nurtanio was excluded altogether to become
Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara, the latter
word being an ancient Javanese name for the
Indonesian archipelago. Shockingly, there
were unsavoury — and highly questionable
— allegations that IPTN letterheaded paper
had been used by Nurtanio’s surviving family
to appropriate IPTN stocks, none of which
was ever substantiated and which rings of an
unpleasant and unnecessary “smear campaign”
to remove his influence from the industry — an
ignominious legacy for Indonesia’s single
most distinguished aviation pioneer.INDONESIA’S HOMEGROWN AIRCRAFT DATA
TAHNU-200 NU-90A NU-25 Kunang NU-35 Super
Sikumbang Belalang (prototype) KunangDimensions
Span 34ft 10in (10·6m) 31ft 1in (9·5m) 22ft 11in (6·98m) 25ft 0in (7·6m)
Length 26ft 9in (8·2m) 25ft 3½in (7·7m) — 20ft 0in (6·08m)
Height 11ft 0in (3·35m) 6ft 8in (2·03m) 5ft 10in (1·77m) 5ft 10in (1·78m)
Wing area 182ft² (16·9m²) 161·5ft² (15m²) 72·9ft² (6·7m²) 107·5ft² (10m²)
Weights
Empty 1,753lb (795kg) 1,038lb (472kg) 352lb (160kg) 506lb (230kg)
Loaded 2,403lb (1,090kg) 1,500lb (682kg) 572lb (260kg) 726lb (330kg)
Performance
Max speed 159 m.p.h. (256km/h) 115 m.p.h. (184km/h) — —
Cruise speed 139 m.p.h. (224km/h) 90 m.p.h. (144km/h) 85 m.p.h. (137km/h) 80 m.p.h. (130km/h)
Landing speed — 45 m.p.h. (72km/h) 50 m.p.h. (80km/h) 45 m.p.h. (72km/h)
Climb 1,000ft/min (305m/min) 600ft/min (183m/min) — 460ft/min (140m/min)
Service ceiling 16,500ft (5,030m) 12,000ft (3,660m) — —
Normal range 600 miles (965km) 350 miles (560km) — —
Powerplant
NU-200 Sikumbang 1 x 200 h.p. de Havilland Gipsy Six six-cylinder air-cooled inverted inline piston engine
NU-90A Belalang 1 x 100 h.p. Continental O-200 four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled piston engine
NU-25 Kunang (prototype) 1 x 25 h.p. Volkswagen flat-four air-cooled piston engine
NU-35 Super Kunang 1 x 35 h.p. Volkswagen flat-four air-cooled piston engine