Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS; ''Podlachian Aircraft Factory'') was a 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 ...

between 1923 and 1939, located in

Biała Podlaska Biała Podlaska (; ) is a city in the Lublin Voivodeship in eastern Poland with 56,498 inhabitants It is the capital of Biała Podlaska County, although the city is not part of the county (it constitutes a separate city county). The city lies on ...

History

Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów SA was created in 1923. The first aircraft produced were 35 Potez XV bombers for the

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 ...

, under the French licence, built from 1925.Glass, A. (1977), p.22-25 By 1929 the company had produced 150 Potez XXV and 155 Potez 27, 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 productio ...

trainers in 1931, designed by Samolot. In 1925, a design office was established which included, among others, Stefan Cywiński, Zbysław Ciołkosz, 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 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 (aircraft manufacturer), PWS factory, used from 1933 in aviation, 1933 to 1936 in aviation, 1936 by LOT Polish Airlines. In spite of its limited capacity, it ...

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 A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

, the first in Poland. All PWS-designed aircraft had wooden or mixed construction. In 1932 the PWS was 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 (aircraft manufacturer), RWD. It was used from 1934 to 1939 by the Polish Polish Air Force, Air Force and civilian aviation. Development The RWD 8 was designed in re ...

trainers (designed by RWD) and 50 of the British Avro Tutor under licence as the PWS-18 trainers. The factory then designed its own successful

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

and

PWS-26 The PWS-26 was a Polish advanced training aircraft, used from 1937 in aviation, 1937 to 1939 in aviation, 1939 by the Polish Air Force, constructed in the PWS (aircraft manufacturer), PWS (''Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów'' - Podlasie Aircraft Fac ...

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

Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze PZL (''Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze'' - State Aviation Works) was the largest Poland, 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-reg ...

(PZL). 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The PWS-33 Wyżeł twin-engine advanced trainer and the PWS-35 sports biplane were ordered into production but no aircraft were delivered before the outbreak of war. Lwowskie Warsztaty Lotnicze (LWL, ''

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

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 were plundered by the Soviets after their

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

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 Economy of the Second Polish Republic Science and technology in Poland Biała Podlaska PWS aircraft Companies of the Second Polish Republic