Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS) - ''Podlasie Aircraft Factory'' - was a Polish

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. ...

between 1923 and 1939, located in

Biała Podlaska Biała Podlaska ( la, Alba Ducalis) is a city in eastern Poland with 56,498 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the Lublin Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the capital of Biała Podlaska Voivodeship (1975–1998). ...

History

Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów SA was created in 1923. The first aircraft produced were 35 Potez 15 bombers for the Polish Air Force, under the French licence, built from 1925.Glass, A. (1977), p.22-25 By 1929 the works had produced 155

Potez 27 The Potez 27 was a French reconnaissance biplane first flown in 1924. 175 were operated by the Polish Air Force, most built in Poland by PWS under licence. Others went to Romania, where they were also used as light bombers. Design and developme ...

and 150 Potez 25, under French licence, and 50 PWS-A fighters, which was the Czech Avia BH-33 built under licence. It also produced 50

Bartel BM-4 The Bartel BM.4 was a Polish biplane primary trainer aircraft used from 1929 to 1939 by the Polish Air Force and Polish civilian aviation, manufactured in the Samolot factory in Poznań. It was the first plane of Polish design put into producti ...

trainers in 1931, designed by

Samolot Samolot (full name: Wielkopolska Wytwórnia Samolotów ''Samolot'' '' S.A.'') was the Polish aerospace manufacturer, located in Poznań and active between 1924 and 1930. It manufactured among others aircraft under the Bartel name. The name ''Sam ...

. In 1925, a design office was established which included, among others, Stefan Cywiński,

Zbysław Ciołkosz Zbysław Ciołkosz (23 March 1902 – 25 June 1960) was a prolific Polish American aircraft designer, whose work includes the P.Z.L. 27, PWS-20, LWS-3 Mewa, RWD-11, LWS-6 Żubr, PWS-1, PWS-54, PWS-19, LWS-2, and PWS-52.''Obituary'' (1960) Fli ...

, August Bobek-Zdaniewski. Despite a large number of prototypes, few were produced in series. The first aircraft of their own design to be mass-produced was the

PWS-10 The PWS-10 was a Polish fighter aircraft, constructed in the PWS (''Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów'' - Podlasie Aircraft Factory). It was the first Polish-designed fighter to enter serial production. Design and development First work on a domes ...

fighter of 1930 of which 80 examples were built. Smaller production runs of the

PWS-14 The PWS-12 was a biplane trainer designed and developed by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS). It entered production as the PWS-14. Development The PWS-12 was a single-engined two-seat training biplane, fit also for aerobatics, designed in 19 ...

trainer and the

PWS-24 The PWS-24 was a Polish single-engine passenger aircraft for 4 passengers, built in PWS factory, used from 1933 to 1936 by LOT Polish Airlines. In spite of its limited capacity, it was the only series-built airliner of domestic design ever used ...

passenger aircraft were also made. The PWS-10 and PWS-24 were the first fighter and the first passenger plane of the Polish construction built in series, respectively. In 1929 the factory built a

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

, the first in Poland. All PWS-designed aircraft had wooden or mixed construction. In 1932 the PWS works were nationalized to prevent its bankruptcy. It then produced 500

RWD-8 The RWD 8 was a Polish parasol wing monoplane trainer aircraft produced by RWD. It was used from 1934 to 1939 by the Polish Air Force and civilian aviation. Development The RWD 8 was designed in response to a Polish Air Force requirement in 19 ...

trainers (designed by RWD) and 50 of the British

Avro Tutor The Avro Type 621 Tutor is a two-seat British radial-engined biplane from the interwar period. It was a simple but rugged basic trainer (aircraft), trainer that was used by the Royal Air Force as well as many other air arms worldwide. Design ...

under licence as the

PWS-18 The PWS-18 was a Polish trainer aircraft, used from 1937 in aviation, 1937 to 1939 in aviation, 1939 by the Polish Air Force, a modified licence variant of the British Avro Tutor. Development In 1934, the Polish government, looking for an interm ...

trainers. The factory then designed its own successful

PWS-16 The PWS-16 was a biplane trainer designed and developed by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS). An armed variant also entered production as the PWS-26. Development Developed from the PWS-12 and PWS-14 trainers, the PWS-16 two-seat biplane de ...

and

PWS-26 The PWS-26 was a Polish advanced training aircraft, used from 1937 to 1939 by the Polish Air Force, constructed in the PWS (''Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów'' - Podlasie Aircraft Factory). It was the second most numerous Polish pre-war aircraft, ...

advanced trainers, 320 of the latter built from 1936 to 1939. In 1936 the factory was subordinated to the

PZL PZL (''Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze'' - State Aviation Works) was the main Polish aerospace manufacturer of the interwar period, and a brand of their aircraft. Based in Warsaw between 1928 and 1939, PZL introduced a variety of well-regarded air ...

national concern. It developed a series of projects for military planes, but they were not built due to outbreak of

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 ...

. The PWS-33 Wyżeł twin-engine advanced trainer and the

PWS-35 The PWS-35 ''Ogar'' ( en, Polish Hound) was a two-seat, aerobatic training biplane that was designed by Kazimierz Nowicki, Marian Piątka and Michał Rosnowski at the Lviv Polytechnic in 1935/1936. Design and development The aircraft was desig ...

sports biplane were ordered into production, but these plans were cancelled due to the war. Lwowskie Warsztaty Lotnicze (LWL, '' Lwów Aviation Workshops'') was formed in October 1937 as a division of PWS. It built gliders, among others designated with letters PWS. Some 160 gliders were built before the war.Glass, A. (1977), p.39-40 After the outbreak of World War II, the PWS factory was bombed by the Germans on September 4, 1939, who destroyed about 70% of the factory. The remains of equipment have been plundered by the Soviets after their

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

Aircraft

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Glass, Andrzej. ''Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939'' olish aviation designs 1893-1939 Warsaw: WKiŁ, 1977 (no ISBN)

External links

Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów – Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego

Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów / PWS – Samoloty w Lotnictwie Polskim
{{DEFAULTSORT:Podlaska Wytwornia Samolotow Aircraft manufacturers of Poland Second Polish Republic Science and technology in Poland Biała Podlaska PWS aircraft Companies set up in the Second Republic of Poland