The LWS-7 Mewa II ("
Seagull
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...
") was a Polish observation and close
reconnaissance aircraft
A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...
, designed in the 1939 by the
LWS factory as a development of the earlier
LWS-3 Mewa. Aircraft development was ordered by the
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...
, but no prototypes were built.
Design and development
In 1939, the LWS-7 Mewa II was being developed at the LWS as the development of the
LWS-3 Mewa. New wings and a
semi-monocoque fuselage with less
drag
Drag or The Drag may refer to:
Places
* Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway
* ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania
* Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street adj ...
were introduced. It was to be fitted with a more powerful 916 hp (683 kW) PZL Pegaz XX engine (
Bristol Pegasus
The Bristol Pegasus is a British nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial aero engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Developed from t ...
XX) or a planned 1000 hp (750 kW) PZL Waran. A maximum speed of 400–420 km/h was estimated.
Before the war, only a wooden model for
aerodynamics tests was made. Tests performed by
Aerodynamic Institute of Warsaw University of Technology showed that the maximum speed of the LWS-7 could be estimated at 420–425 km/h - about 60 km/h more than the LWS-3 Mewa.
Complete technical drawings were prepared in Summer 1939 (still not confirmed) and the first prototype was planned to be built in Autumn 1939. First flight was planned in Spring or Summer 1940 and start of production was planned for Autumn/Winter 1940. The first production LWS-7 Mewa II would be handed over to
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...
in early 1941. All these plans were halted due to the outbreak of
World War II.
Drawings of LWS-7 were evacuated in September 1939 to the Polish embassy in Romania by the LWS director
Aleksander Sipowicz
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Ale ...
. Many publications claim that they were handed over to Bulgarians, but it is not clear (possibly, it concerned the LWS-3B plans, in fact).
Operators (planned)
;
*
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...
Specifications (planned)
See also
References
{{LWS aircraft
1930s Polish military reconnaissance aircraft
World War II Polish aircraft