The WT-1 was a 1931 high performance sports aircraft designed in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It only made two flights.

Design and development

Stanisław Wacyk and Tadeuz Tyrala designed the WT-1 during 1930 and they largely financed the construction of its fuselage at the Aviation Circle of the Industrial School at

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

and wings in the workshops of the Kraków Air Regiment. It was completed in the summer of 1931. The high performance sports aircraft was an aerodynamically clean cantilever wing

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

. Its high-mounted, one piece wing was built around two

spars The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...

, with a

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

covered leading edge and fabric covering. Narrow

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s occupied the whole of the trailing edges. The WT-1's borrowed de Havilland Gipsy I four cylinder upright inline engine was mounted largely exposed, though with a fairing behind it. The ply-covered fuselage had rounded decking; the fuel tank was in the forward fuselage and its two seat, side-by-side

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

was behind the wing trailing edge. The fuselage tapered rearwards, with the

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

mounted on top. A tall triangular

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

carried a rounded

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

, which reached down to the keel. Its fixed

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

was conventional, though details are not known. An initial first flight was abandoned due to a fuel supply problem. The system was modified and a new fuel pump fitted, after which Stanisław Szubka piloted its first flight, finding the WT-1 hard to fly because of a misplaced centre of gravity (c.g.), and damaging it on landing. After accident repair and c.g. adjustment the WT-1 was flown by Jerzy Bajan. The take-off run was short and performance high, but Bajan found its handling dangerous. At this point the loaned Gipsy engine had to be returned to the Kraków Air Regiment and the development of the WT-1 was abandoned.

Specifications

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book, title=Polish Aircraft 1893-1939, last=Cynk, first=Jerzy, year=1971, publisher=Putnam Publishing, location=London, isbn=0 370 00085 4, pag
638-9
url-access=registration, url=https://archive.org/details/polishaircraft1800cynk/page/638 {{cite web , url=http://www.samolotypolskie.pl/samoloty/3066/126/WT-1-WT-2 , title= WT-1 (WT-2), 1931 , work=Samolotypolskie.pl , publisher= , accessdate=28 March 2018 Single-engined tractor aircraft 1930s Polish civil aircraft