Shipbucket

You could make a PDF book when all the types are represented!

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AU Projects: | Banbha et al. | New England: The Divided States
Blood and Fire

that was exactly what I wanted to propose

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Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
Shipbucket Wiki admin

The superlatives to this thread are already said, but once again I have to express my deepest admiration for you two guys splendid work with both drawings and historical information. It's the best example for others to follow

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Work in progress:
DD County Class PNS Babur (1982)(PAK)
FF Type 21 Class D182 PNS Babur (2000)(PAK)
All relevant Coat of Arms

Thank you, thank you everyone. We try to provide you with top quality drawings and historical informations in full Shipbucket spirit. Prise from so many highly talented artist are only proof that we make good work. There will be a lot, lot ... LOT more.

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

You're all too kind, Dear Friends. We're just doing our best to reach the standards established within this esteemed community!

EDIT: Search tags for the Rhade's post below:

Poland, Bartel BM-4
Poland, Bartel BM-5
Poland, PWS-11
Poland, PWS-12
Poland, SPAD S.51
Poland, PWS-1
Poland, Wibault 70
Poland, FIAT CR.20
Poland, PWS-A
Poland, PZL P.1
Poland, Fokker F.VIIb
Poland, Potez XXV
Poland, Lublin R.VIII
Poland, PWS-5t2
Poland, Amiot 123
Poland, Caproni Ca.87 Polonia
Poland, PWS-40 (I)
Poland, PWS-MAL
Poland, WWS MN-2
Poland, Fokker F.VIIb/3W
Poland, Lublin R.XVIII
Poland, PWS-22
Poland, PWS-23

Congrats on this thread! It truly is a work of art in itself!
~Mike

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Illustrator at Liner Designs
https://www.linerdesigns.com/

Sorry lads for delay with new chapter but some unexpected event throw me some long way from home in this weekend. I will post it tomorrow.

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Thanks for the heads up, Rhade, we all look forward to it!

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"It is better to type nothing and be assumed an ass, than to type something and remove all doubt." - Me

Sorry lad's for this additional delay, some stupid mistake from my hand and bad mojo. In next days I will ad two more planes to this Chapter.

Polish military aircraft 1927-1929

Training Aircraft



Experiences gained during the construction and tests of Bartel BM-2 trainer allowed the creation of it smaller and more refined succesor, the BM-4, that first flew in December 1927. Promising test results of two prototypes (BM-4b with Walter Vega engine and BM-4d with Avia WZ-7 engine) led to introduction of the type as new trainer of Polish Military Aviation, though with Le Rhône rotary engine (abundand stocks of which were a leftover from Caudron and Nieuport trainers), designated BM-4a and produced in series of 22. Because it's engine was already quite archaic, several planes were converted to different engines (with designations: BM-4e/c/f/g), eventually settling to Walter Minor 4 engine on BM-4h, 50 of which were made until 1933. From 1935 BM-4's were gradually phased out from flight schools and transferred to aeroclubs, though several remained in service until September 1939.



Bartel BM-5 was designed alongside BM-2 and BM-4 as intermediate trainer - succesor to Hanriot HD-19. First prototype was test flown in 1928 and followed by total of 70 series-produced aircraft (20 BM-5a, 20 BM-5b and 30 BM-5c - with various engines), manufactured from 1929 to 1930. In 1932 20 aircraft were converted to BM-5d version with Wright J5B engine. In 1938 they were formally declared obsolete and gradually phased out.





In the late 1920s Polish Military Aviation sought an advanced fighter-trainer. To fulfill that demand several designs were created. PWS built PWS-11SM and PWS-12 aircraft (single and two-seater respectively), both first-flown in 1929. Because of certain design flaws, next pair of prototypes were built year later (PWS-11bis and PWS-12bis), and although military made preliminary order for 30 planes of each type, due to Great Crisis no series production was forthcoming.

Fighters



Together with ill-fated SPAD 61C1, a batch of 50 SPAD 51C1 fighters was purchased in mid-1920s, equipping two fighter squadrons in 1 Pułk Lotniczy (1st Air Regiment) in Warsaw and several training units. They enjoyed better reputation than their siblings and served slightly longer - until 1933.



Besides single-seat fighter, Polish Military Aviation was also in need of heavy, two-seater fighter for escort and night-fighter duties. PWS answered in 1927 with PWS-1 prototype. It's fitst flight in April 1927 showed it's short take-off, good speed (both horizontal and vertical) and stability, but abysmal steering qualities - plane was literally unable to turn and instead of a circle over airfield it had to fly almost straight nearly 100 kilometers to Dęblin. As part of necessary modifications it received huge vertical stabilizer, but it didn't solved all the problems, since military was adding new and new conflicting demands, wanting to combine in single airframe: fighter, bomber, reconnaissance plane and complaining that it can't do either task well. Eventually manufacturer decided in late 1929 that it's not interested in continuation of the project.



In 1928 Polish Military Aviation purchased single French all-metal Wibault 7C1, together with production rights for 25 more (designated Wibault 70C1). It was considered a stop-gap until a proper replacement for SPAD 61C1 will be ready, and a "on the job training" for metal constructions for PZL. Due to difficult handling they weren't liked by pilots and used only in small numbers (no more than 5 at once) in several fighter squadrons in 1, 2 and 4 Pułk Lotniczy and flight schools, until they were all removed from service and scrapped by 1935.



In 1929 Polish Military Aviation loaned from Italian Regia Aeronautica four FIAT CR.20 fighters for trials and for use in the so-called "Little Entente and Poland Raid" (Prague, Kraków, Warszawa, Lwów, Bucuresti, Belgrade, Zagreb, Brno, Prague). After several months they were returned to owner.
Thanks for Lazer_one for his CR.20, I little update it in my style.



Despite the troubled and not particularly warm relationships between Poland and Czechoslovakia during the inter-war period, Polish military was occasionaly purchasing military equipment from our southern neighbour. One of these were successful Avia BH-33 fighters. Single plane was bought in 1927, together with license manufacturing rights for PWS (together with permission to introduce certain design changes). 50 PWS-A (as they were locally designated) were produced in 1930, equipping three fighter squadrons of 2 Pułk Lotniczy in Kraków and some training units. They were well known thanks to frequent displays of impressive aerobatics by the "Bajan's Trio" (lieut. Jerzy Bajan and alternately: lieut. Mieczysław Medwecki, cpl. Karol Pniak and cpl. Stanisław Macek). Around 1933 structural cracks began to appear, leading to several planes losing engines in flight. Between 1934 and 1935 PWS-A were moved to reserve and in 1938 scrapped.



One of the leading members of the design team of the Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze (PZL) was young and talented engineer Zygmunt Puławski. In late 1920s he designed first own plane of the PZL - a modern, all-metal monoplane fighter PZL P.1, recognizable with gull-shaped wing allowing good visibility with no penalties on durability of the wing itself, and an original landing gear arrangement with oleos hidden in fuselage. First prototype was flown in August 1929, followed by second, slightly improved, in March 1930. During trials, first prototype achieved quite impressive for the time speed of 295 kilometers per hour, and later met with great interest abroad. PZL P.1 itself didn't progressed beyond the prototype stage, but started the line of successful fighters of Puławski's design.

Bombers



Failure of Farman Goliath's as bombers meant that Polish Military Aviation was lacking a credible bomber force. Since available purpose-built bombers were considered soon-to-be-outdated, and domestic designs would fly only in several years time (with no certainty if they will be successful too), military authorities turned in 1928 their attention to Fokker F.VII trimotor airliners, which was just about to enter service with Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT, and whose manufacturer offered bomber adaptations. As already mentioned here: ( http://www.shipbucket.com/forums/viewto ... 555#p82555 ), Plage i Laśkiewicz works in Lublin obtained license for 30 aircraft (actually 31 were made) - 11 for airlines and rest for Military Aviation. F.VII bombers equipped three squadrons of the bomber wing in the 1 Pułk Lotniczy, and several were used as military transports (with several further obtained from airline after they become obsolete there). Fokkers were well-liked by their crews and did a good jobs by training cadres for bomber aviation, though were severely criticized by staff officers for not being the cutting edge of bomber technology. Gradually they were relegated mostly to auxiliary duties, and by september 1939 could be found only in transport and training units.
Additionaly, Polish Military Aviation in 1938 took over three single-engined Fokker F.VIIa aircraft to be used for radionavigational training in Dęblin.

Line Aircraft (Bomber-Reconnaissance)



Potez XXV (in A2 reconnaissance and B2 bomber versions) was another aircraft ordered in large numbers in mid-1920s from France. As much as 320 complete aircraft of the type were acquired by Polish Military Aviation, including 45 produced in France (22 A2, 21 B2 and 2 long-range GR - all delivered 1927-1928, except for GR's in 1926) and 275 produced under license (125 A2 in PWS between 1927-1929, and 100 A2 and 50 B2 at Plage i Laśkiewicz from 1928 to 1932). Eventually they become standard equipment of 20 operational squadrons in all regiments (including night-fighter unit in 1 Pułk Lotniczy and temporarily one of bomber squadrons) and some of the training units. Besides the basic variants, some were converted into instrument-flying trainers, target tugs and flying testbeds. Additionaly, in 1936 47 aircraft were modified with Bristol Jupiter VII radial engines. From 1936 they were gradually replaced in service by PZL 23 Karaś, but large numbers remained in reserve and as trainers, with some being used for reconnaissance and liason duties at the beginning of war.



In 1927 Plage i Laśkiewicz offered a design of large bomber-reconnaissance aircraft with larger range and bombload than Potez and Breguet planes. First prototype of Lublin R.VIII was flown in March 1928, but the Farman engine proved too weak and had to be replaced with LD-18kd engine. Eventually 6 such planes were made, and although of impressive size and appearance (and some modern design features), their performance was less satisfactory than expected and they were only used as operational trainers until 1930, when they were scrapped due to cost and maintenance issues.



Although R.VIII's career as land aircraft was rather short, it was decided in 1932 to addapt it as floatplane. Although planned as torpedo aircraft (and replacement for Latham 43), they proved unsuitable for that role and eventually the 3 built aircraft could serve only for training, reconnaissance and bombardment (with up to 300 kilograms of small-sized bombs). They lasted until 1939 but rarely flew by that time.

Accompanying Aircraft (Observation)



As mentioned earlier, emphasis on army-cooperation duties since late 1920s led to creation of specialized units of light aircraft for liason and close reconnaissance (ca. 70 kilometers). In late 1926 Polish Military Aviation announced a contest for aircraft of this category. One of the entries was PWS-5 (initially designated PWS-7), first flown in December 1928, followed by 5 production PWS-5t2 aircraft. After tests in observation squadrons of 4 and 6 Pułk Lotniczy they were declared unfit for planned purpose and transferred to auxiliary duties until 1932 when they were scrapped.



Second entry for the observation aircraft contest of 1926 was Lublin R.X - first flown in february 1929 and with pr oduction run of also 5 aircraft, tested with same units as PWS-5, and also declared unfit for planned purpose. This pl ane, however, become a predecessor of two other, more succesful types - R.XIII and R.XIV. 13 In 1931 one R.X (given civilian registration SP-ABW) was adapted for long ranges. Between 23 september and 7 octobe r 1931 cpt. Stanislaw Karpinski with engineer J. Suchodolski made a flight around Europe (Warsaw-Bucuresti-Istanbul-Ro me-Turin-London-Warsaw) of 6450 kilometers. Next long-range flight on the aircraft was done between 2 and 24 october 1 924 by crew: cpt. Karpinski with engineer Wiktor Rogalski (Warsaw-Sliven-Istanbul-Aleppo-Baghdad-Tehran-Herat-Kabul-Te hran-Baghdad-Cairo-Jerusalem-Aleppo-Istanbul-Lublin-Warsaw) with total flight length of 14 390 kilometers.

Miscellanous Aircraft



In 1926 mjr Ludwik Idzikowski put forward the idea for a Polish transatlantic flight. For that purpose a modified Amiot 120 long range bomber was purchased (as Amiot 123GR2), finally delivered (after troubled trials period) in 1928 and named Marszałek Piłsudski. On 3 August 1928 the aircraft, with crew: mjr Idzikowski and mjr Kazimierz Kubala, took off from Le Bourget, but oil leak discovered mid-way over the Atlantic necessitated a return to Europe and a forced landing (ditching) at Spanish coast (after 31 hours and 5200 kilometers of flight). Donations from American Polonia allowed purchase of second, impoved Amiot 123 year later, initially named Orzeł Biały (White Eagle) but quickly renamed Marszałek Piłsudski. Second transatlantic attempt was made on 13 July 1929, also from Le Bourget. After 13 hours of flight, certain irregularities in engine operation appeared, forcing flying to Azores, where plane crashed (after 27 hours and 2700 kilometers of flight) during landing, killing Idzikowski and wounding Kubala.



Separate donations from American Polonia allowed purchase of custom-modified Caproni 73ter (Ca-82) bomber, designated Caproni 87 Polonia. Start to transatlantic flight from Baldonnel in Ireland was initially planned for 4 July 1929 (to coincide with US holiday), but was delayed for weather reasons, until a news of Idzikowski's crash caused military authorities to retract permission for flight. Aircraft was returned to manufacturer and converted back to bomber.

Unbuilt Aircraft (selected)



Small trainer PWS-40 (first use of designation) of 1927 was planned as successor to Hanriot HD.14/H.28 and competition to BM-4, but didn't proceed beyond wind-tunnel model.



In 1927 a contest for airliner (and possible bomber) was announced. In 1928 Stefan Malinowski from PWS presented a design of a single-engined aircraft, which in bomber version (details of passenger version are somewhat blurry, according to some sources it was the PWS-Stemal VII, shown on page 12, though they look very different) armed with 2-3 machine guns and up to 600 kilograms of bombs.



Another entry to the same 1927-1928 contest was WWS MN-2 aircraft and it's MN-2BN3 bomber version, with 3 machine guns and 500 kilograms of bombs. Construction of prototypes was cut short by disastrous fire in the factory and it's eventual bankruptcy.



Next, far more futuristic idea of Aleksander Sipowicz was a Heliplan, designed 1927-1928. Basically it was a dirshe d ring with a wide outwardly-flared lip that was intended to induce the airflow (and also reduce the rate of descent o f the vehicle) on top of a vertical Venturi-tube fuselage, with a propeller placed at the mouth of the tube and driven by two geared 100hp engines mounted externally of fuselage. Control surfaces were arranged cruciformwise in the exhau st. Cockpit was located on top of the veicle. Tests of the scale model were promising, but unfortunately the idea was too far ahead of it's time to be appreciated by authorities. In later years Sipowicz made significant contributions to the knowledge of flight mechanics and in 1935 he became the managing director of LWS works and held this post until t he war.



In 1929 Navy requested from Plage i Laśkiewicz an seaplane version of Fokker F.VII trimotor, designated F.VIIb/3W or F.VIIm3W/hydro. Designs were made for naval bomber (up to 900 kilograms of bombs in internal bays or external racks) and torpedo aircraft (armed with single torpedo). Despite potential usefulness and growing obsolescence of already used naval aircraft, no actual orders were made.



Also in 1929 several designs of perspective bombers were presented, as competition/replacement for Fokker F.VII. Plage i Laśkiewicz created a design of relatively large, three-engined biplane bomber, 5 machine-gun stations and bombload of 1500 kilograms and with option for retractable landing gear. It was followed by smaller redesign of two engines, V-shaped tail and bombload of 1000 kilograms.



At the same time PWS designed large (wingspan 28 meters, length 19,5 meters) PWS-22BN3 night bomber with two engines in tandem arrangement, three machine-gun stations (with 5 MG's) and bombload of 1360 kilograms.



PWS-22 was followed by higher-capacity, three-engined PWS-23, designed both in bomber (bombload of 2000 kilograms) and passenger variants (20 passengers and 400 kilograms of luggage). Model trials in aerodynamical tunnel were promising, but no orders were made.
It should be noted, that sources usually state that PWS-23 was larger than PWS-22 (wingspan of 30,8 meters, length of 22,2 meters), but available drawings seem to somewhat contradict that, therefore we decided to made draw them of the same size.

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Great work. Most of those unbuilt designs are new to me and its nice to see these little-known aircraft represented too.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft