Polish Wings

[Novice]

Amazing work on this thread. Very informative, of a subject practically unknown to me, and so a very interesting thread, with excellent drawings.
Thumbs up mate!

[wb21]

Awesome work once again, the PZL-10 and the designs of Kufcir and Sipowicz are my favorites.

[eswube]

Thanks for kind words!

@Hood
I wish to add those for which there are currently no sources, but while there are sometimes lucky occurences (like when several years ago photos of the second prototype of PZL-50 Jastrząb were found), bottom line is that materials lost thanks to German invasion in 1939 won't be "undestroyed".

@WhyMe
Thanks for honesty about not reading.

[eswube]

Next long overdue addition to this thread. This time with pre-1939 gliders (thereby completing pre-war Poland part).
I hope You'll like.

1) Pre-independence period



Poland, Tański Lotnia
First Polish succesful - and one of the earliest worldwide - attempt to create a heavier-than-air flying vehicle (albeit unpowered) was made by known painter Czesław Tański upon hearing of successes of Otto Lilienthal and Clement Ader. In 1894 he began construction work on the Lotnia ("Glider" - today this word, though, means a hang-glider) and year later he made first flight attempts, although because of certain design errors they were unsuccesful. Next version of Lotnia had a horizontal stabilizer added and served its creator in 1896 to numerous successful flights. After the Great War Lotnia was kept in Warsaw's Muzeum Przemysłu i Techniki (Museum of Industry and Technics) where it was destroyed in 1939.

Poland, Rudlicki 1, 2, 8, 9
Future well-known aircraft designer Jerzy Rudlicki made his first construction attempts (building a large kite) in 1908 as a 16 year old student of Odessa high-school. Year later he built his first full-sized glider and until 1910 he made a total of 9 gliders with various configurations. Last of them was awarded a prize of Odessa branch of Imperial Russian Technical Association in 1911.

Poland, Bartel 2
Another future known aircraft designer, Ryszard Bartel, begun designing flying machines also as a teenager, upon hearing news of Louis Bleriot's trans-channel flight in 1909. His first full-sized glider was made in 1911 but because of it's excessive weight, it's designer was barely able to raise it in his hands, so a deep redesign was needed, leading to more successful version made later in the same year.

Poland, Szybowiec Uczniów Warszawskich ("Glider of Students from Warsaw", Jędrzejewicz - Możdżeński - Niwiński - Niemojewski)
In 1912 four high-school students from Warsaw: Wacław Jędrzejewicz (future minister of education), Leonard Możdżeński, Wacław Niwiński and Lech Niemojewski (future political writer) built a biplane glider used for numerous successful flights until one day glider flown by Jędrzejewicz suffered structural failure and crashed (resulting with numerous bruises for its pilot).

Poland, Zalewski WZ-II
In 1912 Władysław Zalewski, who at this time was already building his first powered aircraft, during a delay in construction of the said aircraft, built a monoplane glider, that eventually become quite successful design.

Poland, Babiński
Zbigniew Babiński, future air force captain (murdered by NKVD in 1940 Katyń Massacre), built in 1912 a glider, albeit unsuccesful one (it crashed during unmanned flight attempt as kite), followed year later by next one, that was used for numerous short flights.

Poland, Szybowiec Uczniów z Piotrkowa ("Glider of Students from Piotrków", Górzynski - Konarzewski - Koenig - Laskowski - Strahler)
In 1911 several high-school students from Piotrków Trybunalski: Jan Górzynski, Waclaw Konarzewski, Lucjan Koenig, Stefan Laskowski and Jan Strahler begun building a glider. Because of the financial constraints, the construction took over two years and collection of necessary materials, but eventually was completed in 1913 and young flyers could attempt a flight (under police supervision). Flight, however, ended in a damage during landing and although glider was repaired on the next day, police forbade further attempts on safety grounds. Students hoped to make further (secret) flights during next summer, but outbreak of World War I destroyed their hopes.

Other designs (lacking sources for drawings)
- In 1909 two high-school students from Warsaw: Janusz de Beaurain (future general in the Polish air force) and Edmund John built a biplane glider on which they made some short flights.
- In 1910 three high-school students from Lwów: Aleksander Sokalski, Kazimierz Baszniak and Włodzimierz Siemiula built a high-wing monoplane glider (or according to some sources: an aircraft-to-be just lacking engine for a time being), although it's appearance on single known photograph suggests that it's unlikely it would be capable of actually flying.
- In 1910 Antoni Mroczkowski (future test pilot) built in Odessa a glider on which he made some short flights.
- Bronisław Saloni, high-school student from Kraków built in 1910 a glider used from short (up to 20m on a 5m altitude) flights from Krzemionki hill near his hometown.
- Still in the same year, Henryk Segno living in Petersburg built a biplane glider which he flew near Sestoretsk.
- Young math teacher living in Teodosia (Crimea), Sergiusz Czerwiński, built in 1911 biplane glider used for numerous fairly succesful flights.
- In 1911 student of technical school from Warsaw, W. Stoerl begun building a glider, although it was never completed.
- Also in 1911 Mieczysław Siegel (who in 1920s and 1930s built several more gliders and attempted to build small aircraft already mentioned earlier in this thread) attached wings to a bicycle and made some short jumps on this vehicle.
- In 1911 or 1912 students of Zwiazek Aeronautyczny Studentów Politechniki Lwowskiej (Aeronautical Association of Students of Lwow Institute of Technology) built a glider that crashed during first flight.
- Between 1910 and 1912 Julian Karski from Mierzecin near Torun built two monoplane gliders on which he made numerous flights, including some very long ones (for the standards of the day).
- Around 1912 brothers Tadeusz and Władysław Florjanski (Florjanscy) built a glider. Not much is known about it, but since their next design was a successful airplane, it can be assumed that the glider was a working design as well.
- In 1913 brothers Paweł and Jan Gabriel from Bydgoszcz (in 1920s they built several sports aircraft) built four gliders designated P-I to P-IV, on which they made some short flights.
- Also in 1913, Walenty Barszczowski from Laka village built a glider on which he made short flight ended with crash (pilot was unharmed).


2) Gliders of the I Konkurs Ślizgowców (1st Contest of Gliders)

Note: "ślizgowiec" is old-fashioned polish word for glider, currently used is "szybowiec".
In 1923 Zwiazek Lotników Polskich (Association of Polish Aviators) announced a contest of sports gliders aiming at finding a most succesful design for future development. Contest - between several contestants - took place in Białka near Nowy Targ (southern Poland) between 23 August and 13 September 1923.



Poland, SLKMSPW SL-I Akar
Sekcja Lotnicza Koła Mechaników Studentów Politechniki Warszawskiej (Aviational Section of the Circle of Mechanics of Students of Warsaw Institute of Technology) - future birthplace of famous RWD design team, was represented by glider SL-I Akar designed by Adam Karpiński (hence the name) with cooperation of Ryszard Bartel and W. Strzeszewski. In the end the glider happened to be a winning design, largely by virtue of being one of very few that didn't crashed and exhibited anything at least moderately resembling proper flying characteristics, making total of 16 flights lasting total 12 minutes and 1 second. In the next year, at Babia Góra, Akar made a then-record-breaking flight of 4 minutes and 4 seconds, flying 2 kilometers at an altitude of 50 meters, but crashed upon landing and was never repaired, despite the plans to do so.

Poland, Ikub 1a
Second most successful glider of the 1923 Contest was Ikub 1a designed by chemist Jan Kubicki from Warsaw. It's most notable achievment was the first night glider flight lasting 1 minute 40 seconds on 13 September 1923.

Poland, Błazyński Polon
One of the potentially most succesfuly designs was Polon designed by lt. Alojzy Błazyński from Poznan. It was most aerodynamically advanced of the competing gliders and managed to make several fairly long flights but eventually crashed and disintegrated (although without casualties).

Poland, Tułacz M-1
Piotr Tułacz, designer from Samolot aircraft factory in Poznan. It was built to hiqh quality but suffered from complicated controls and - like bit similar Żabus crashed during its first flight.

Poland, Jach Żabus
Cpt. Franciszek Jach from Bydgoszcz Pilots School participated in the contest with his Żabus (Frogi). In its initial configuration glider had no vertical stabilizer and had excessively complicated control system which resulted in crash after just 17 seconds of first flight. It was later rebuilt with conventional controls and took part in next gliders' contest in 1925 with better results.

Poland, Cywiński Lublin
Stanislaw Cywiński from Plage i Laśkiewicz works in Lublin participated with two nearly identical gliders, differing with wingtip/aileron configuration. First of them crashed after 10 seconds of flight, second flew for over a minute but was also damaged on landing.

Poland, Kucfir Pirat
Konrad Kucfir, already at that time holder of patent for VTOL aircraft, built for the contest a somewhat crude (both in design and in quality of workmanship) high-wing glider named Pirat (Pirate), which crashed on first flight.

Poland, Malinowski Dziaba
Stefan Malinowski was conducting in early 1920s research into variable airfoil configuration. His glider Dziaba was built as a part of this research. Unfortunately, during the first flight attempt on the contest it was damaged beyond repair.


3) Gliders of the II Wszechpolski Konkurs Szybowców (2nd All-Polish Contest of Gliders)

Next glider contest took part between 17 May and 14 June 1925 at Oksywie near Gdynia and had slightly larger number of participants.



Poland, Bohatyrew Miś
Michal Bohatyrew, designer from WWS Samolot factory in Poznan took part with the Miś (Teddy Bear) glider, which used elements recycled from Hanriot H-28 trainer. It won three top prizes of the contest: for longest flight (65 seconds), longest flight during still wind (22 seconds) and for highest total flight time (15 minutes and 55 seconds during 26 flights) and its designer won first prize for best design.

Poland, Bohatyrew Motyl
Another design of Michal Bohatyrew that took part in the contest (sort of), was a Motyl (Butterfly) glider built under his guidance at Koło Lotnicze Szkoły Budowy Maszyn (Aviational Circle of School of Machine Building) but although was transported to Gdynia (in unfinished state) and given contest number, it eventually made no flights.

Poland, Wallis S-1
Józef Wallis, another designer from WWS Samolot built S-1 glider that won first prize for highest flight altitude (23 meters above start point) and third prize for total flight time (6 minutes and 45 seconds in 18 flights).

Poland, Wallis S-3
Second design of Józef Wallis that took part in contest was S-3, which was Poland's first twin-seat glider, but made no flights.

Poland, Czechowski Spiesz Się Powoli
Lt. J. Czechowski from Morski Dywizjon Lotniczy designed glider named Spiesz Się Powoli (Make haste slowly - Festina Lente). It won three second prizes on contest: for longest flight (48 seconds), for highest flight altitude (19 meters above start point) and total flight time (7 minutes and 6 seconds in 13 flights).

Poland, Grzmilas Orkan
Lt. Tadeusz Grzmilas from 3 Pułk Lotniczy in Poznan built a glider named Orkan (Windstorm). It got fourth prize for longest total flight time (4 minutes and 8 seconds in 9 flights) as well as awards for best design and best quality of workmanship. Later Lt. Grzmilas built an airplane also called Orkan.

Poland, Działowscy Bydgoszczanka
Brothers Stanisław and Mieczysław Działowscy (sing. Działowski), future designers of DKD sports planes, participated in the contest with their Bydgoszczanka (Girl from Bydgoszcz)) glider, which made several flights totalling 1 minute and 12 seconds. In the course of the contest the glider was modified several times.

Poland, Waraczewski Mechanik
J. Waraczewski from Poznan built glider Mechanik (Mechanician). During the contest it made only two flights, ending with a crash.

Poland, SLKMSPW SL-2 Czarny Kot
Design team of SLKMSPW participated in the contest with two gliders. First of the was SL-2 Czarny Kot (Black Cat) designed by Jerzy Drzewiecki (of future RWD fame). It won fifth prize for total flight time (3 minutes and 44 seconds during 9 flights). Second glider, SL-3, was designed by Zygmunt Puławski and Jerzy Bistram but it crashed during the first take off attempt. Details of it's appearance are not known.

Poland, Garstecki-Wronski Rywal
Glider Rywal (Competitor) was designed by Tadeusz Garstecki and built by Kazimierz Wroński from Poznan. It made only one flight lasting 12 seconds before it crashed.

Poland, Bilski Mewa
Glider Mewa (Sea gull) designed by certain Bilski from Poznan was another ill-fated participant of the contest, that crashed during first flight.

Poland, Jasiński-Czarnecki Czajka
Mieczyslaw Jasiński and Jan Czarnecki designed glider Czajka (Lapwing) which crashed during first flight. Later it was repaired, though, and apparently was used at least for some time by Poznan aeroclub.

Final participant of the contest was glider Bimbuś designed by cpt. Franciszek Jach from Bydgoszcz pilots' school. It made only one flight lasting 16 seconds. Unfortunately, I couldn't find sufficient sources to draw it.


4) Amateur glider designs 1924-1939



Poland, Czarnecki-Wroński Ikar
In 1925-1926 Jan Czarnecki and Kazimierz Wroński (also co-builder of Rywal glider from Second Contest) designed and built a relatively modern-looking glider named Ikar (Icarus) that utilized some structural elements, mainly from wing, from Hanriot H-28 trainer, and made some short flight before was damaged during ground transport.

Poland, Osiński-Zalewski-Uszacki Mlody Lotnik
Due to increase of interests among youth in building and flying gliders after Second Glider Contest, editor of the Mlody Lotnik (Young Aviator) magazine Jerzy Osiński, together with Władysław Zalewski, put forward an initiative to design a simple glider for home construction. Design was made in 1926 by Antoni Uszacki and Zalewski created construction and flight manual, that was by sold for 10 zloty. It's unclear how many of these were actually built, although most likely the number was rather low (only two are certainly known).

Poland, Elżanowski ZE-1 Cytrynka
Zygmunt Elżanowski designed and built in 1931 a training glider Cytrynka (Small Lemon) that was used for some time.

Poland, SLKMSPW AMA
First Polish motoglider was designed between 1933 and 1934 by members of SLKMSPW: Rościslaw Aleksandrowicz, Henryk Malinowski and Andrzej Anczutin. Construction commenced in 1934 and was completed by mid-1935. First flight was made in July 1935 without engine, and first with engine (34hp Mengin Poinsard) a month later. Unfortunately engine was causing strong vibration and eventually only several dozens of flights were made.

Poland, SLKMSPW MT-1
Another Polish glider "first" that was designed by members of SLKMSPW was a water-glider MT-1 by H. Tomaszewski and A. Muraszew. It was built in 1936 and successfuly tested with the aim of being used to train naval pilots. Tests showed the need of only some minor modifications, but for some reasons they were never implemented and further design was discontinued.

Poland, Jaworski WJ-3
Glider WJ-3 designed by Wiktor Jaworski and flown in 1936 was an attempt to built with least expensive materials, including wooden elements of just several standardized sizes and metal joinings bent instead of welded. Although a good design - both in regard to flying characteristics and manufacturing, it failed to enter production because established glider manufacturers already had the own good designs in production.

Amateur glider designs 1924-1939 - designs by Mieczyslaw Siegel
Poland, Siegel MS-1, MS-2, MS-8, MS-9, MS-13
Mieczysław Siegel, schoolteacher from Skrzynice near Lublin was most prolific amateur designer of gliders in pre-war Poland. His first design (already mentioned before) was 1911 winged bicycle. In early 1920s he returned to building gliders with small MS-1 built during 1923 summer holidays and used to numerous short flights. One of peculiar characteristics was taking-off on pilot's legs, extended through a hole in the bottom of fuselage and ventral vertical stabilizer doubling as tail skid.
In the next year Siegel built his MS-2 glider, which was more refined version of previous design, but with more conventional undercarriage and traditional dorsal vertical stabilizer.
During 1925 summer holidays built MS-3 glider - basically MS-2 with wheels - which unfortunately contributed to it's failure as they too often got stuck in the ground. In 1928 high-school student from Lublin Roman Szynkiewicz built a glider designed by Siegel (and in cooperation with him), designated MS-4.
In 1930 Siegel built new glider, MS-8 Wróbel (Sparrow), used to numerous short flights, and in 1933 it's improved version MS-9 Wróbel II, followed by MS-10 Wróbel III with larger wing in 1934.
In 1936 and 1937 Siegel designed next two gliders: MS-11 for ground familiarisation and MS-12 for initial training, but this last one was never completed.
Year later, in 1938, MS-13 Bocian (Stork) was built and used for numerous flights before was damaged. Shortly before the war Siegel designed improved version, designated MS-14, but it was never built due to outbreak of war.

Other amateur designs (lacking sources for drawings)
-1924 - students from secondary convent school run by Marian Fathers built a glider named W.1. There were plans to take it to 2nd Glider Contest, but for some reason that didn't worked. Further fate of glider is unknown.
-1926 - Sergiusz Czerwiński (who also built a glider in 1911) built next one while living in Kowel (currently in the Ukraine). He used it for aviation-related training of the local scouts.
In the same year attempts to built gliders were made by schoolboys from Dubno, Chełm, Zbaraż and Łuków, but no details are known.
-1927 - 17-year old Jerzy Płoszajski from Warsaw built a glider (later designated KLS-II) on which he made several hops before it was destroyed in a crash (without any harm to pilot).
-1928 - railroad worker from Pawłów, Wiktor Krząkala built a glider based on incomplete documentation of German Grunau 9. It was apparently used for several years by nearby aeroclub.
- In Chrzanów, another student, Boleslaw Wiśnicki, built a glider named Bocian (Stork). Later Wiśnicki become an aerospace engineer.
-1928-1931 - Emanuel Stanięda from Pawlowo near Ruda Slaska built between 1928 and 1931 three gliders. First was little more than hang-glider, second was a copy of German Zögling glider, third was also partially inspired by one of German gliders of the time.
-1930-1931 - Zbigniew Muszyński, student of École Supérieure de l'Aéronautique in Paris (and future designer at Plage & Laśkiewicz and PZL) during his summer holidays in 1930 designed ZM-1 that was used for some short flights before it was damaged, and it's wings were used in building Muszyński's next glider, ZM-3, which although of aerodynamically streamlined design, had too heavy nose and couldn't make proper flights.
-1931 - Ludwik Zygmund and Antoni Pawliczek, workers from railway workshops in Piotrowice Śląskie, built a training glider named ZP, which was used until 1934 by nearby aero-club.
-1938 - chief of the workshop in the glider school at Goleszów built (with help from school's students) a trainig glider named Bums. Significant feature of its design was presence of easily replaceable sections of structure that would reduce amount of work needed to repair the glider after hard landings or similar mishaps. Details of it's use are unclear, but it's believed that it was successfuly flown and possibly used by Germans after 1939 invasion and their takeover of Goleszów school.


5) Major glider manufacturers 1929-1939

Beginning from 1929 in Poland appeared several "institutional" (as opposed to amateur) manufacturers of gliders, although majority of their products were designed by just three engineers: Wacław Czerwiński (unrelated to Sergiusz Czerwiński mentioned above), Szczepan Grzeszczyk and Antoni Kocjan.
1) Warsztaty Szybowcowe Związku Awiatycznego Studentów Politechniki Lwowskiej, WS ZASPL - (Glider Workshops of the Aviatic Association of the Students of Lwów Institute of Technology) - they started operations in 1929, building gliders of Wacław Czerwiński (who was chief designer and for a time being member of the managing board). In 1935 Czerwiński moved to Kraków WWS (see below), in 1937 workshops were bought by ITS (see below) and renamed Doświadczalne Warsztaty Szybowcowe ITS (Experimental Glider Workshops) and just several months later were transformed into Lwowskie Warsztaty Lotnicze - Lwów Aviational Workshops. Altogether WS ZASPL/DWS/LWL built around 190 gliders.
2) Instytut Techniki Szybownictwa, ITS, from 1936 Instytut Techniki Szybownictwa and Motoszybownictwa, ITSM - (Gliding Technical Institute, Gliding and Motogliding Technical Institute) - formed in 1932 in Lwów, institute was second such establishment in the world, and was tasked with creation of designs of experimental and operational gliders, technical asessment of planned and build gliders, preparing technical rules for construction of gliders, research in fields of aerodynamics, flight mechanics, piloting technique, training programs, meteorology and construction materials. Under the auspices of institute around dozen of designs of gliders and ultralight aircraft were made, about half of which were eventually built.
3) Warsztaty Szybowcowe (Warszawa) - (Glider Workshops) - around 1931-1932 glider-dedicated part of workshops of SL KMSPW separated from the rest of SL's workshops and become a commercial company headed by Antoni Kocjan and Jerzy Wędrychowski. Their products were mostly designs of Kocjan and Szczepan Grzeszczyk. During its existence workshops produced total of 360 gliders and during German occupation they manufactured guns and ammunition for the resistance and housed a clandestine printing press.
4) Harcerskie Warsztaty Szybowcowe - (Scouts' Glider Workshops) - their existence was initiaded by scouts studying at Warsaw mechanical high school in 1933. Before 1939 they built 23 Wrona gliders (designed by Kocjan) and several one-offs, including MT-1 water glider (above) and MIP Smyk ultralight airplane.
5) Sląskie Warsztaty Szybowcowe - (Silesian Glider Workshops) - were established in 1934 at Bielsko (today Bielsko-Biała) and license-produced gliders designed by Kocjan and Czerwiński. Total production: around 170 gliders.
6) Wojskowe Warsztaty Szybowcowe - (Military Glider Workshops)) - were created in late 1934/early 1935 in Kraków due to high demand for gliders at Wojskowy Obóz Szybowcowy (Military Glider Camp) at Ustjanowa near Ustrzyki Dolne. They produced gliders by Kocjan and Czerwiński (who was chief designer from 1935) - total 360.
7) Also, for a short period around 1931-1932 construction of gliders designed by Adam Nowotny and Jarosław Naleszkiewicz was undertaken at Centrum Wyszkolenia Oficerów Lotnictwa - (Air Force Officers' Training Centre) in Dęblin.

Gliders designed by Wacław Czerwiński



Poland, Czerwiński CW-1
In 1924 then-student of Politechnika Lwowska (Lwów Institute of Technology) Wacław Czerwiński begun designing a glider CW-1. Construction dragged on, but eventually in 1928 glider was complete and in summer of that year Szczepan Grzeszczyk test-flown it, establishing a record of Poland in flight length (at 4 minutes and 13 seconds). Unfortunately it was damaged beyond repair in next flight.

Poland, Czerwiński CW-2
In 1929 Wacław Czerwiński designed his next glider, CW-2, that was built in Lwów (in workshops that soon later become WS ZASPL). In November 1929 Szczepan Grzeszczyk achieved on it a new record of Poland in flight length, at 2 hours and 11 minutes (thereby increasing the flight time from mere minutes to hours). CW-2 was used until 1935, and at one point a flight time of 5 hours was achieved.

Poland, Czerwiński CW-3
Czerwiński's next glider, CW-3, was designed alongside CW-2. It was Poland's first training glider and thanks to it's good flight characteristics, as well as demand for such gliders, it was thereafter built in a short series of around 20 gliders.

Poland, Czerwiński CW-4
CW-4 was Poland's first twin-seat as weall as high-performance glider. It achieved numerous national records, including flight time of 9 hours and 17 minutes, before it was crashed in 1934.

Poland, Czerwiński-Jaworski CWJ
In 1931 Wacław Czerwiński together with Władysław Jaworski designed a simple, light training glider, planned as replacement of CW-3. Because it's good flight characteristics it was relatively widely till around mid-1930s used and some 80 were made.

Poland, Czerwiński-Jaworski CWJ-bis Skaut
Despite the designations suggesting a mere modification of CWJ, the Skaut (Scout) was almost wholly new design, first flown in 1933. Because newer gliders were already reaching production, just some 20 were made.

Poland, Czerwiński CW-5bis
In 1931 Departament Lotnictwa Cywilnego (Department of Civil Aviation) ordered two designs of high-performance glider for state-sponsored sports aviation establishments: Czerwiński's CW-5 and Grzeszczyk's SG-3 (see below). Work on CW-5 was completed in 1933 and eventually around 20 gliders were made in several versions. They were used in gliding schools at Bezmiechowa and Ustjanowa, as well as several larger aeroclubs, where they established numerous national records and World's glider flight altiture record of 2335 meters (30 September 1935).

Poland, Czerwiński CW-7
CW-7 was designed and built in 1934 in response to demand for aerobatics glider. A fairly succesful design, they were made in short series of around 10, and used mainly for aerobatics training.

Poland, Czerwiński CW-8
CW-8 was an attempt to create a simple, low-cost training glider. First prototype was flown in 1934 and a series of around 20 was made, but it wasn't a particularly successful design due to it's propensity to stall and enter spin. One example was converted in 1936 to motoglider.

Poland, Czerwiński WWS-1 Salamandra
In the late 1935 Waclaw Czerwiński left WS ZASPL for Wojskowe Warsztaty Szybowcowe in Kraków, where he become chef designer. His wirst glider made there was WWS-1 Salamandra for intermediate training, which happened to be a successful design and eventually some 150 were made (mostly in Kraków, but also at Lwów and Bielsko) in Poland - some of which were exported to Finland and Estonia, plus certain number under license in Yugoslavia (during the war they were used by Croatia) and in Romania.

Poland, Czerwiński WWS-2 Żaba
WWS-2 Żaba (Frog) was designed by Czerwinski in response to demand for training gliders in military training establishments. Prototype was test flown in 1937 and over 150 of them were produced in Kraków and Lwów. Sole remaining example is now preserved in Kraków Aviation Museum.

Poland, Czerwiński WWS-3 Delfin
WWS-3 Delfin (Dolphin) training glider was Czerwiński's last design at WWS before he moved to PWS. First flight was made in 1937 and from the next year it was produced in Kraków and Lwów, with around 70 manufactured (also, the license was purchased by Yugoslavia), with majority being destroyed in 1939, but some were taken over by Soviet Union and Germany (one of these ended up in Denmark, when it flew at least until late 1950s).

Poland, Czerwiński PWS-101
In 1936 Departament Lotnictwa Cywilnego ordered three designs of high-performance gliders for International Glider Contest at Rhon-Wasserkuppe in Germany in 1937: Orlik (by Antoni Kocjan), SG-7 (by Szczepan Grzeszczyk) and PWS-101 (by Wacław Czerwiński, who has recently moved to PWS from WWS). Later these gliders participated in numerous other contests and established several national records. Depending on source, between 5 and 11 were built.

Poland, Czerwiński PWS-102 Rekin
PWS-102 Rekin (Shark) was intended to be a successor to PWS-101 and prototype was flown in May 1939. Trials shown even better performance than anticipated, but outbreak of war stopped the development.

Poland, Czerwiński PWS-103
PWS-103 was planned as high-performance glider of olympic class. Construction work on two prototypes begun in 1939 and was not completed before the war. However when Lwów workshopw were taken over by Soviets and renamed Planyernyi Zavod No.5 Ossoaviakhima (Glider Factory No.5 of the Ossoaviakhim) they were finished, tested with positive results in Moscow and took part in 15th All-soviet Glider Championships in Moscow.


Various glider designers working at CWOL, ITS and WS ZASPL



Poland, Nowotny NN-1
While working at technical services of Centrum Wyszkolenia Oficerów Lotnictwa (CWOL) in Dęblin, Adam Nowotny designed in 1931 a high-performance glider NN-1 that was built at at CWOL workshops. Unfortunately, flight trials exhibited insufficient durability of design and development was discontinued.

Poland, Nowotny NN-2
Next design made by Nowotny at CWOL was NN-2 advanced trainer. Two examples were made and they were used by military aviation until mid-1930s.

Poland, Naleszkiewicz JN-1 Żabus II
Jarosław Naleszkiewicz, chief engineer at CWOL workshops, designed in 1931 and built a year later at his facility an experimental tailless glider. Unfortunately, it was difficult to fly which led to heavy damage during trials.

Poland, ITS-II
In 1931-1932 Instytut Techniki Szybownictwa (ITS) initiated design works on high-performance training glider. First flight was made in November 1932 and several more examples were made and used until mid-1930s.

Poland, ITS-IVb
In 1934 ITS designed a special twin-seat glider for research in fields of meteorology, aerology and stresses underwent by gliders during flight. Design was prepared by Adam Nowotny, and after his death in aviation accident by Franciszek Kotowski. Finished glider was first flown in July 1935. At that time was largest Polish glider, with a wingspan of over 20m.

Poland, ITS-8
ITS-8 motoglider was designed in 1935 at ITS as an experimental twin-boom glider for general research into this type of vehicles as well as for trial training of glider pilots into powered aircraft through motogliders. First prototype was flown in 1936. In total two slightly different ITS-8's were built - first was optimized for training, second for high-performance flights. There was also an initial design of ITS-8R version with auxiliary solid-fueled rocket booster.

Poland, TS-1/34 Promyk
Glider TS-1/34 Promyk (Little Ray of Light) was designed in 1934 by Tadeusz Tarczyński and Wiesław Stępniewski as an experimental high-performance glider. Documentation was prepared at ITS and construction was undertaken at WS ZASPL albeit it dragged on until 1937. Trials showed that glider had indeed good performance thanks to extensive wing mechanization. Later it was used at glider school in Bezmiechowa.

Poland, Blaicher B-1
In order to meet demand on rugged and simple training glider, cpt. Michał Blaicher designed B-1 glider that was built in Lwów WS ZASPL and test-flown in 1934. Becaused B-1 did not offered any improvement over gliders already in use, it's development was not continued.

Poland, Blaicher B-38
In late 1937 Michał Blaicher designed a high-performance B-38 glider with Fowler flaps (as first Polish glider), that was built in Lwów and tested in 1938. Trials showed that all expected performance targets were met, but the wing structure was very flimsy and necessitated further improvements. Development, although promising, was cut short by outbreak of war in 1939.


Gliders designed by Szczepan Grzeszczyk and Antoni Kocjan



Poland, Grzeszczyk SG-21 Lwów
Despite the great developments made, in the early 1930s Polish sports aviation lacked a high-performance glider. To fill this gap Szczepan Grzeszczyk designed in 1931 his first glider, the SG-21 Lwów (number 21 was expected lift-to-drag ratio), and built it, with support from Departament Lotnictwa Cywilnego, at workshops of SLKMSPW (which soon later become Warsztaty Szybowcowe). First flight of SG-21 (16 October 1931) was also first glider take-off towed by aircraft (PZL-5). Already during first trials SG-21 made a flight at a distance of 500 kilometers, as well as established a flight legth record of 7 hours, 52 minutes and 42 seconds. In 1932 it took part (piloted by B. Baranowski) at international glider contest at Rhon-Waserkuppe where it won 5 prizes, including second prize for altitude flights and third for flight time. Before it was damaged beyyond repair in late 1934 SG-21 established numerous national records.

Poland, Grzeszczyk SG-28
SG-28 was a further development of SG-21 (-28 stood for expected lift-to-drag ratio), with cockpit canopy, thinnear rear fuselage and increased wingspan. It was flown in July 1932 and immediately sent to Rhon-Waserkuppe contest. Later it was used at Bezmiechowa school where it crashed in October 1932, killing the pilot. Afterwards second glider (SG-28bis, with open canopy) was made and used for several record flights (including flight length time of 10 hours and 40 minutes on 21 July 1933), but was eventually also crashed in October 1934.

Poland, Grzeszczyk SG-3
Further step in development of Grzeszczyk's high-performance gliders was SG-3, first flown in 1933. Some 20 of these were made in several variants, being used to achieve several national records, and one each was donated to Greece and Bulgaria. Also, in 1934 in crash of one of these gliders died Adam Nowotny, himself a glider and airplane designer.

Poland, Grzeszczyk SG-7
SG-7 was a high-performance glider modeled after previous Grzeszczyk's designs, but slightly smaller. It was first flown in 1937, but because it's empty weight was exceeded by 28 kilograms, it's performance was lower than expected, therefore it didn't enter production.

Poland, Kocjan Czajka
First design by Antoni Kocjan was Czajka (Lapwing) training/intermediate glider first flown in 1931. A very successful design, it was built in four main variants (I and III with open cabins, II with enclosed cabin, bis with significant redesign to fuselage) in a series of around 150. They were used by basically all aeroclubs and gliding schools until the war.

Poland, Kocjan Wrona
Antoni Kocjan's glider Wrona (Hooded Crow) was Poland's most important training glider of pre-war period. First flown in 1932, it was produced by all glider factories, as well as individual users (set of documentation was sold for 50 zlotys plus license fee of 20 zl.) making a total production run of 450 examples, plus foreign production in Bulgaria, Esotnia, Finland, Palestine and Yugoslavia. In 1939 surviving examples were taken over by Germans and some of these were later transferred to Slovakia. One surviving example is preserved in Kraków museum.

Poland, Kocjan Komar
High-performance training glider, Komar (Mosquito), first flown in 1933, was produced in Poland in series of over 80 examples and, despite several early accidents at high speed, gained excellent reputation and wide use (including awards from numerous contests), which led it to being license produced in Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Palestine and Yugoslavia. One of the Finnish Komar's made a flight across Gulf of Finland to Estonia. After the war, improved version was again produced in Poland as IS-B Komar 48.

Poland, Kocjan Sroka
Sroka (Magpie) was a training glider of somewhat (deliberately) lower performance - and cost - than Komar, but of greater ruggedness. First flown in 1934, 55 were made and used successfuly until the war.

Poland, Kocjan Sokół
Sokół (Falcon) was aerobatics glider, a counterpart to CW-7. First flight attempt was made in Spring 1935, but ended in a crash due to engine failure of the towing aircraft during take-off. Next prototype was more lucky and eventually several more were made (total of 5).

Poland, Kocjan Orlik
Orlik (Eaglet) is probably best-known Polish glider of the pre-war era, although paradoxically it owes that fame not to service in Poland and not in the pre-war period. It was designed in 1936 as high-performance glider and in 1937 two prototypes participated in international contest at Rhon-Wasserkuppe. Year later a modified version (Orlik II) was made and when in summer of 1938 a contest was announced for a glider to participate at 1940 Olympic Games in Helsinki next version (Orlik Olimpijski - Olympic Eaglet) was designed. In February 1939 it took part in comparison trials in Italy and despite supreme characteristics it lost to German DFS Olympia Meise due to majority of German and Italian judges' votes. Total of 17 Orliks were made before the war. In early 1939 one Orlik II was sent to World Exposition in New York. In 1942 it was requisitioned by US Army Air Force and designated XTG-7. After the war it was purchased by Paul McReady who used it to win 1948 and 1949 US glider championships and on 31 December 1948, after necessary modifications, established an international glider flight altitude record of 9600 meters. That glider was still in use as late as 1967 and according to some records in 1990s it was still in flyable condition. One Orlik I is preserved in Kraków museum.

Poland, Kocjan Bąk
Bąk (Horse-fly) was a modern motoglider, first flown in 1937, it participated in numerous international events. Between 10 and 27 were built.

Poland, Grzeszczyk-Kocjan Mewa
Mewa (Sea gull), first flown in 1936, was Poland's first high-performance twin-seat glider. Despite respectable characteristics, certification process dragged too long and as a result it managed to participate in only few competitions. In Poland 5 were built, but more were manufactured under license in Estonia and Yugoslavia.

[ALVAMA]

Excellent work! Just amazing to see so many Gliders at once, perfect (Historical) overview. I adore people who make such complete and big overview post regard ship types)

[BB1987]

Impressive!

[adenandy]

Oh, I say.....

Jolly WELL DONE Eswube - FANTASTIC post

[reytuerto]

Awesome! A complete review, and very well done!

[Rhade]

Oh that was a long road... very long road. But finally the pre-war is complected.

[Hood]

A fantastic addition, a really great piece of research and artwork.