RWD 3

RWD 3
Role	Sports aircraft
Manufacturer	Warsaw University of Technology workshops
Designer	RWD team
First flight	April 1930
Introduction	1930
Primary user	Polish civilian aviation
Number built	1

Last updated November 03, 2019

The RWD 3 was a Polish sports aircraft and liaison aircraft prototype of 1930, constructed by the RWD team, a single-engine high-wing monoplane.

Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country located in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, covering an area of 312,696 square kilometres (120,733 sq mi), and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With a population of nearly 38.5 million people, Poland is the sixth most populous member state of the European Union. Poland's capital and largest metropolis is Warsaw. Other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin.

Liaison aircraft Light aircraft for artillery observation and military communications

A liaison aircraft is a small, usually unarmed aircraft primarily used by military forces for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages. The concept developed before World War II and included also battlefield reconnaissance, air ambulance, column control, light cargo delivery and similar duties. Able to operate from small, unimproved fields under primitive conditions, with STOL capabilities, most liaison aircraft were developed from, or were later used as general aviation aircraft. Both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters can perform liaison duties.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1930:

Development

The RWD 3 was constructed by the RWD team of Stanisław Rogalski, Stanisław Wigura and Jerzy Drzewiecki in Warsaw. Since their earlier design, the RWD 2 sports aircraft appeared quite successful, the Polish Military of Defence ordered in 1929 to develop its enlarged variant as a liaison aircraft. It retained the same fish-shaped fuselage without a direct view towards forward from the pilot's seat, though the view improved due to a thin fuselage profile before the pilot. At the same time, the RWD developed similar enlarged sports aircraft, the RWD 4, which shared many features with the RWD 3, but was powered with an inline engine and did not have folding wings.

RWD was a Polish aircraft construction bureau active between 1928 and 1939. It started as a team of three young designers, Stanisław Rogalski, Stanisław Wigura and Jerzy Drzewiecki, whose names formed the RWD acronym.

Stanisław Rogalski was a Polish aircraft designer, best known as one of the founding trio of the inter-war period RWD airplane factory in Warsaw. He obtained his degree at Warsaw University of Technology. After World War II he moved to the United States, where he ended his career at Grumman as an aerodynamics expert.

Stanisław Wigura was a Polish aircraft designer and aviator, co-founder of the RWD aircraft construction team and lecturer at the Warsaw University of Technology. Along with Franciszek Żwirko, he won the international air contest Challenge 1932 NB Polish Wikipedia site gives his year of birth as 1901.

One prototype was built for ground trials and one flying prototype. It was completed and flown by the designer Jerzy Drzewiecki in April 1930. Since it was found unsatisfactory as a liaison aircraft, it was handed over to sports aviation – Academic Aero Club in Warsaw, with the civil registration SP-WAA. It was used for training and in some competitions. Unlike the RWD 3, the RWD 4 appeared more successful design.

Aeroklub Polski is the Polish central association of persons practising air sports or recreational flying. It was founded in 1921 and is a member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. It has a headquarters in Warsaw.

Description

Wooden construction single-engine high-wing cantilever monoplane, conventional in layout. The fuselage was rectangular in cross section (triangular in upper part), plywood-covered. Two-spar wings, covered with canvas, in front with plywood, were folding rearwards, unlike other early RWDs. Cantilever empennage, covered with plywood (stabilizers) and canvas (rudder and elevators). Crew of two was sitting in tandem in the fuselage. The cockpits were open in upper part on the sides, with individual doors on the right side. 5-cylinder air-cooled 88 hp radial engine Armstrong Siddeley Genet (80 hp nominal power, 88 hp take-off power) was mounted in front and drove two-blade wooden propeller. Conventional fixed landing gear, with a rear skid. Fuel tank in central wing section.

A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with a single main wing plane, in contrast to a biplane or other multiplane, each of which has multiple planes.

The empennage, also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow. The term derives from the French language word empenner which means "to feather an arrow". Most aircraft feature an empennage incorporating vertical and horizontal stabilising surfaces which stabilise the flight dynamics of yaw and pitch, as well as housing control surfaces.

Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction.

Specifications (RWD 3)

Data from^{[ citation needed ]}

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Capacity: 1
Length: 7 m (23 ft 0 in)
Wingspan: 10.5 m (34 ft 5 in)
Height: 2.26 m (7 ft 5 in)
Wing area: 15 m² (160 sq ft)
Empty weight: 380 kg (838 lb)
Gross weight: 560 kg (1,235 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 690 kg (1,521 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Armstrong Siddeley Genet 5-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 66 kW (88 hp)
Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

The Armstrong Siddeley Genet was a five-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft use built in the UK, first run in 1926. It developed 80 hp at 2,200 rpm in its final form and was a popular light aircraft powerplant. Following the company tradition with a slight deviation the engine was named after the Genet, a catlike animal of the same order but different family.

Performance

Maximum speed: 170 km/h (110 mph, 92 kn)
Cruise speed: 140 km/h (87 mph, 76 kn)
Stall speed: 68 km/h (42 mph, 37 kn)
Wing loading: 37 kg/m² (7.6 lb/sq ft)

Related Research Articles

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RWD 3

Contents

Development

Description

Specifications (RWD 3)

See also

Related Research Articles

References

Further reading