Plage i Laśkiewicz (Plage & Laśkiewicz) was the first
Polish aerospace manufacturer
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of Aircraft design process, designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a hi ...
, located in
Lublin
Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
and manufacturing
aircraft
An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
under Lublin name. Full name was: ''Zakłady Mechaniczne E. Plage i T. Laśkiewicz'' – Mechanical Works E. Plage & T. Laśkiewicz. The factory produced aircraft between 1920 and 1935, when it was nationalized as the
Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów.
History
Beginnings and license production
The company was founded in 1860 as Fabryka Wyrobów Miedziowych, a mechanical workshop specializing in the manufacture of copper products. However, by 1919 it had been renamed Plage i Laśkiewicz and that year it started producing aircraft.
On February 17, 1920, the Polish government ordered a licence production of Italian fighters
Ansaldo A.1 Balilla and light bombers
Ansaldo A.300 in Plage & Laśkiewicz. The first Polish A.300 was flown on June 14, 1921. However, due to the lack of experience, the quality of produced aircraft was low, and there were numerous crashes. As a result, the order was limited to 70 A.300 and 50 A.1 only, produced by 1924.
Despite its unsuccessful beginning the factory gained experience, and there were no major problems with future aircraft series. In 1924, the Polish government ordered a licence production of French light bombers
Potez XV
The Potez XV (also erroneously written Potez 15) was a French single-engine, two-seat observation biplane designed as a private venture by Louis Coroller and built by Potez and under licence by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów and Plage i Laśkiew ...
, and in 1925–1926, there were built 100 of them in Plage & Laśkiewicz. In 1928–1931 the works produced 150 of more modern
Potez 25
Potez 25 (also written as Potez XXV) was a French twin-seat, single-engine sesquiplane designed during the 1920s. A light multi-purpose Strike fighter, fighter-bomber, it was designed as a line aircraft and used in a variety of roles, including F ...
. In 1929–1930 the works produced 11 passenger planes
Fokker F-VIIb/3m on
Fokker
Fokker (; ) was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1912 to 1996. The company was founded by the Dutch aviator Anthony Fokker and became famous during World War I for its fighter aircraft. During its most successful period in the 19 ...
licence, and 20 of own Fokker F-VIIb/3m bomber modification.
Own designs
In the mid-1920s the factory management was changed, and
Jerzy Rudlicki
Jerzy Rudlicki (Polish pronunciation: ; 14 March 1893 – 18 August 1977) was a Polish pilot and aerospace engineer. Best known for his inventing and patenting of the V-tail, which is an aircraft tail configuration that combines the rudder and e ...
became lead designer. Then, apart from licence production, the plant started to produce its own aircraft, under the name Lublin, designated "R" for Rudlicki.
The first own design was a biplane bomber
Lublin R-VIII, flown in
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...
. Six were produced by 1930, three of them were later converted to
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
s and used in the Polish naval aviation until 1939. Prototype light passenger planes: biplane R-IX, and high-wing
R-XI were not ordered by the
Polish Airlines. Also sport high-wing plane Lublin R-XII was not produced in series.

Another design was a
parasol wing
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 wings.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
liaison aircraft
A liaison aircraft (also called an army cooperation aircraft) is a small, usually unarmed aircraft primarily used by military forces for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages.
Operation
The concept developed before Worl ...
Lublin R-X, flown in
1929
This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
. It won a contest for a
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, 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 26,000 military personnel an ...
liaison plane, but only 7 were produced. Instead, Rudlicki developed it further and designed
trainer aircraft
A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...
R-XIV and an army liaison plane
Lublin R-XIII
The Lublin R-XIII was the Polish army cooperation plane (observation and liaison plane), designed in the early-1930s in the Plage i Laśkiewicz factory in Lublin. It was the main army cooperation plane in the Invasion of Poland. Its variant Lu ...
, which became Poland's main army liaison aircraft (and the only mass-produced Lublin). 15 of R-XIV were built in 1930–31, and 223 of R-XIII were built in 1932–1935 (further 50 after nationalization). Its experimental variant R-XIX introduced the
V-tail
The V-tail or ''vee-tail'' (sometimes called a butterfly tail or Rudlicki's V-tailGudmundsson S. (2013). "General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures" (Reprint). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 489. , 9780123973290) of an aircraf ...
, invented by Rudlicki.
The light passenger plane
Lublin R-XVI
The Lublin R-XVI was a Polish passenger and air ambulance aircraft, designed in the 1930s in the Plage i Laśkiewicz factory in Lublin and built in a small series.
Design and development
The Lublin R-XVI was conceived as a small 4-seater passenge ...
of 1932 was not ordered by the airlines, but six were produced as
air ambulance
Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of urgent medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation an ...
R-XVIb. The last construction was a two-engine torpedo seaplane
Lublin R-XX, flown in 1935, but it was not produced either. Apart from these, some other designs did not reach prototype stage.
In 1924–1933 the works also produced car bodies, mainly for Somua (imported) and
Ursus buses, but also for luxury imported cars and the
Ralf-Stetysz cars.
Due to plans of Polish aviation authorities (mainly
Ludomił Rayski
Ludomił Antoni Rayski (29 December 1892 – 11 April 1977) was a Polish engineer, pilot, military officer and aviator. He served as the commander of the Polish Air Force between 1926 and 1939, being responsible for modernization of Polish mili ...
) to gather all aviation industry in state-owned factories, Plage & Laśkiewicz works were forced to
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
. After delivering seven of the ordered 50
R-XIIIF aircraft in late
1935
Events
January
* January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims.
* January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...
, the Polish Ministry of War broke the contract under a pretext. As a result, the factory went bankrupt and then was
nationalized
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English)
is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...
under the name
LWS (''Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów'' – Lublin Aircraft Works). Then, 18 almost ready R-XIIIF, bought by scrap price, were completed, and the next series of 32 was built.
Aircraft
References
Notes
Bibliography
*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893–1939" (''Polish aviation constructions 1893–1939''), WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 (no ISBN)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plage i Laskiewicz
Aircraft manufacturers of Poland
Science and technology in Poland
Polish brands
Defunct manufacturing companies of Poland
Manufacturing companies established in 1860
1860 establishments in Poland
1860 establishments in the Russian Empire
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1935
1935 disestablishments in Poland
Military history of Lublin
Defunct aircraft manufacturers