''Lotnicze Warsztaty Doświadczalne'' (LWD) was the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

aerospace manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

and construction bureau, located in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

, active between

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

and

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

. The name meant Aircraft Experimental Workshops. It was the first Polish post-war aerospace construction bureau.

History

The

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and German occupation destroyed the whole Polish aviation industry. As soon as eastern part of Poland was liberated, in October

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

a group of designers gathered in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

in a Design Bureau of Ministry of Communication. It was directed by Aleksander Sułkowski, but the main designer became

Tadeusz Sołtyk Tadeusz Sołtyk (born 30 August 1909 in Radom, died 14 July 2004 in Warsaw) was a Polish aircraft designer and aerospace engineer, most famous as the creator of the PZL TS-11 Iskra After graduating from the Mechanical Department of the Warsaw Univ ...

. In primitive conditions, the bureau started works upon a utility aircraft Szpak-1. In early 1945 the construction bureau moved to liberated

and on April 1, 1945 there were created the Aircraft Experimental Workshops (LWD), subordinated to the Ministry of Communication. The Szpak-1 was not built, but there was designed and built its development variant, the

LWD Szpak LWD may refer to: * Large woody debris * Logging while drilling, on oil wells * Lotnicze Warsztaty Doświadczalne, a Polish aerospace manufacturer * Leigh Warren and Dancers, now Dance Hub SA Dance Hub SA, formerly Leigh Warren & Dan ...

-2 utility plane. It first flew on October 28, 1945, as the first Polish post-war plane. Szpak-2 and Szpak-3 remained in single units, but in 1947 there was designed the

-4, which was the first Polish post-war plane built in series - a short series of 10 was manufactured in

PZL-Mielec PZL Mielec (''Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze'' - Polish Aviation Works), formerly WSK-Mielec (''Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego'') and WSK "PZL-Mielec" is a Polish aerospace manufacturer based in Mielec. It is the largest aerospace manufacturer i ...

. The next design was

LWD Żak The LWD Żak was a Polish touring and trainer aircraft of the late 1940s, designed in the LWD and built in a short series. Design and development The Żak (old-fashioned "student") was designed in the Lotnicze Warsztaty Doświadczalne (LWD, ''A ...

, two-seater touring and trainer plane of 1947. A series of 10 Żak-3 was built in LWD in 1948, plus prototypes of Żak-1, Żak-2 and Żak-4. Most successful design of LWD was a military and civilian trainer

LWD Junak The LWD/WSK Junak was a Polish trainer aircraft, used from 1952 to 1961 by the Polish Air Force and until 1972 by Polish civilian operators. It was designed by the LWD bureau and produced by the WSK Warszawa-Okęcie factory. Development The a ...

of 1948. Its improved variants Junak-2 and Junak-3 were produced from 1951 in the WSK-4 Okęcie in Warsaw (a total of 252), although its further development was carried out outside of LWD. A civilian aerobatics and trainer variant of Junak was

LWD Zuch The Zuch was a Polish aerobatics and trainer aircraft, built in 1948 in the LWD bureau and produced in a small series. Design and development The aircraft was a development of a military and civilian trainer plane LWD Junak-1, meant as a civil ...

of 1948; it was a successful design, but only 7 were built in LWD because of lack of proper engines. LWD designed also two-engine light transport plane LWD Miś of 1949, but it was not successful and was not produced. The last LWD design was LWD Żuraw, two-seater military liaison and utility high-wing plane prototype completed in 1951. It was not produced either. In 1950 LWD was converted from a construction bureau and experimental works to a production factory and renamed WSK-6 (''Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego 6'' - Communication Equipment Factory 6). This put an end to its activity. Soon it was disbanded because of too small production capabilities.

, a talented designer, organized next a construction bureau in the Aviation Institute in Warsaw.

Aircraft

References

Footnotes

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Lotnicze Warsztaty Doświadczalne – Samoloty w Lotinctwie Polskim

Lotnicze Warsztaty Doświadczalne LWD, Poland – Polish Propellers

Polish Aviation Industry - Part 12 – Polot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lotnicze Warsztaty Doswiadczalne Aircraft manufacturers of Poland Science and technology in Poland