PWS-1

The PWS-1 was a Polish two-seat fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, constructed by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS) in 1927, which remained a prototype.

PWS-1
PWS-1
Role Fighter aircraft
Manufacturer Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów
First flight 25 April 1927
Status prototype
Primary user Polish Air Force
Number built 1

Design and development

The PWS-1 was the first design of the Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (Podlasie Aircraft Factory), and the second aircraft designed and built in Poland, after the CWL WZ-X. It was conceived as a single-engine high-wing two-seat fighter, a main purpose of which was the escorting of bombers. Design work was carried in 1926 by Zbysław Ciołkosz and Aleksander Grzędzielski, under direction of Stanisław Cywiński.

After static tests, the prototype first flew on 25 April 1927 in Biała Podlaska. Tests revealed poor manoeuvrability, its speed was also low due to a thick wing, despite STOL capability.

In 1928 the aircraft was reworked, receiving a new, lighter, straight wing of thinner profile and duralumin construction instead of a wooden, slightly swept one. It also received an enormous vertical stabilizer of rectangular shape with rounded top. After modifications it was flown in early 1929, under a designation PWS-1bis. Its performance improved, but because of its relatively low speed compared to other fighters, its primary role was changed to reconnaissance. Development was however discontinued, because it had little payload, and in a meantime Poland had bought large numbers of better Breguet 19 and Potez 25 reconnaissance and bomber aircraft.

Description
PWS-1bis

High-wing parasol braced monoplane of mixed construction, with single engine. A fuselage of a steel frame in front and wooden frame in the rear, covered with canvas and duralumin in engine section. Slightly swept wing of wooden construction, plywood and canvas covered, two spar (PWS-1) or straight duralumin wing, of trapezoid-rectangular shape, two-spar, plywood and canvas covered (PWS-1bis). Stabilizers, rudder and elevator of wooden construction, canvas covered. Open pilot's cab, with a windshield, behind it an open observer's cab with two 7.7 mm Lewis machine guns on a ring mounting. Cabs had twin controls. Pilot manned two 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns fixed in a fuselage, with an interrupter gear. Conventional fixed landing gear, with a rear skid.

Engine:Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb water-cooled inline W-12, built in Polish Skoda Works. Water radiator before the engine. Two-blade wooden propeller of a fixed pitch. Fuel tank 375 l in the forward fuselage front, jettisonable in an emergency.

Specifications (PWS 1bis)

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928[1], Polish Aircraft 1893–1939[2]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 2
  • Length: 8.375 m (27 ft 6 in)
  • Wingspan: 12.65 m (41 ft 6 in)
  • Height: 3.34 m (10 ft 11 in)
  • Wing area: 30.5 m2 (328 sq ft)
  • Airfoil: Bobek-Zdanewski No.4 (Göttingen 648)
  • Empty weight: 1,445 kg (3,186 lb)
  • Gross weight: 1,990 kg (4,387 lb)
  • Fuel capacity: 375 l (99 US gal; 82 imp gal)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb W-12 water-cooled piston engine, 340 kW (450 hp)
  • Propellers: 2-bladed wooden fixed pitch propeller

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 232 km/h (144 mph, 125 kn) at sea level; 210 km/h (130 mph; 110 kn) at 5,000 m (16,000 ft)
  • Landing speed:98 km/h (61 mph; 53 kn)
  • Range: 750 km (470 mi, 400 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 6,000 m (20,000 ft) at normal weight
  • Rate of climb: 5.4 m/s (1,060 ft/min)
  • Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 3 minutes 25 seconds; 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in 13 minutes
  • Wing loading: 65.4 kg/m2 (13.4 lb/sq ft)
  • Power/mass: 0.1031 hp/lb (0.1695 kW/kg)

Armament
2 x fixed forward firing synchronised 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine guns; 2 x flexibly mounted 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Lewis machine guns in the rear cockpit

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References
  1. Grey, C.G., ed. (1928). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. pp. 179c.
  2. Cynk, Jerzy B. (1971). Polish Aircraft 1893–1939. London: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-370-00085-5.
  • Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" (Polish aviation constructions 1893-1939), WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 (Polish language, no ISBN)
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