Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów

Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów

File:Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów logo.jpg Logo
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	1923 (1923)
Founder	Antoni Ponikowski Stanisław Rużyczka de Rosenwerth Witold Rumbowicz
Defunct	1939 (1939)
Headquarters	Biała Podlaska , Poland
Key people	August Bobek-Zdaniewski Zbysław Ciołkosz Stanisław Cywiński Aleksander Grzędzielski
Parent	PZL (1936–1939)
Divisions	Lwowskie Warsztaty Lotnicze (1937–1939)
Subsidiaries	Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów (1936–1939)

Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS; Podlachian Aircraft Factory) operated as a Polish aerospace manufacturer from 1923 until 1939, with its base situated in Biała Podlaska.

History

Established in 1923, Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów SA commenced production with 35 Potez XV bombers for the Polish Air Force, manufactured under a French license starting in 1925. By 1929, the factory had completed 150 units of the Potez 25#Potez XXV and 155 units of the Potez 27, both licensed French models, along with 50 PWS-A fighters, which were licensed builds of the Czech Avia BH-33. Additionally, in 1931, it produced 50 Bartel BM-4 trainer aircraft originally designed by Samolot.

In 1925, a design bureau was formed that included notable engineers such as Stefan Cywiński, Zbysław Ciołkosz, and August Bobek-Zdaniewski. Although numerous prototypes were developed, only a limited number entered serial production. The first domestically designed aircraft to be manufactured in series was the 1930 PWS-10 fighter, with a total of 80 units produced. Smaller production batches included the PWS-14 trainer and the PWS-24 passenger plane. Notably, the PWS-10 was Poland’s first serially produced fighter, while the PWS-24 was the first passenger aircraft constructed domestically to be built in series. In 1929, the factory also established Poland’s inaugural wind tunnel facility. All aircraft designed by PWS featured wooden or mixed-material construction.

To avoid insolvency, PWS was nationalized in 1932. Following this transition, it manufactured 500 RWD-8 trainers (designed by the RWD team) and produced 50 British Avro Tutor trainers under license as the PWS-18. The company further developed its own advanced trainers—the PWS-16 and later the PWS-26—with approximately 320 of the latter built between 1936 and 1939.

In 1936, PWS became part of the Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze (PZL) organization. It initiated several military aircraft designs; however, none reached production before the onset of World War II. The twin-engine advanced trainer PWS-33 Wyżeł and the sports biplane PWS-35, although slated for production, were not delivered prior to hostilities commencing.

The Lwowskie Warsztaty Lotnicze (LWL; Lwów Aviation Workshops) was created in October 1937 as a PWS division. This unit specialized in glider manufacturing, producing around 160 gliders bearing PWS designations before World War II.

Following the outbreak of World War II, German bombing raids on September 4, 1939, devastated approximately 70% of the PWS factory facilities. Subsequently, Soviet forces looted remaining equipment after their invasion of Poland.

Aircraft

File:Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe PWS-10 c.jpg

PWS-10

File:PWS-16.jpg

PWS-16

File:PWS-26 2.jpg

PWS-26

Model designation	Maiden flight	Quantity produced	Category
PWS XV	1925	35	Licensed production of single-engine biplane light bomber
PWS XXV		150	Licensed manufacture of single-engine biplane light bomber
PWS XXVII		155	Licensed single-engine biplane reconnaissance aircraft
PWS-A		50	Licensed biplane fighter with single engine
PWS-1	1927	1	Single-engine monoplane fighter aircraft
PWS-2	N/A	1	Single-engine monoplane used for training purposes
PWS-3	1927	1	Single-engine monoplane designed for sport flying
PWS-4	1928	1	Single-engine monoplane sport aircraft
PWS-5	1929	7	Single-engine biplane liaison aircraft
PWS-6	1930	1	Single-engine biplane liaison plane
PWS-5#PWS-7 |align=center |1928 | align=center |1 | align=left |Single-engine biplane liaison aircraft
Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type	Model name ! First flight ! Number built ! Type Notes Bibliography (in Polish) Glass, Andrzej. Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939 [Aviation designs in Poland 1893-1939]. Warsaw: WKiŁ, 1977 (no ISBN) External links Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów – Polish Aviation Museum (in Polish) Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów / PWS – Aircraft in Polish Aviation (in Polish)