The PWS-26 was a Polish advanced training aircraft, used from

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

by the

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

, constructed in the PWS (''Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów'' -

Podlasie Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

Aircraft Factory). It was the second most numerous Polish pre-war aircraft, after the

RWD-8 The RWD 8 was a Polish parasol wing monoplane trainer aircraft produced by RWD (aircraft manufacturer), RWD. It was used from 1934 to 1939 by the Polish Polish Air Force, Air Force and civilian aviation. Development The RWD 8 was designed in re ...

Design and development

The aircraft was a final development of a series:

PWS-12 The PWS-12 was a biplane trainer designed and developed by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS). It entered production as the PWS-14. Development The PWS-12 was a single-engined two-seat training biplane, fit also for aerobatics, designed in 19 ...

PWS-14 The PWS-12 was a biplane trainer designed and developed by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS). It entered production as the PWS-14. Development The PWS-12 was a single-engined two-seat training biplane, fit also for aerobatics, designed in 19 ...

and

PWS-16 The PWS-16 was a biplane trainer designed and developed by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów, Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS). An armed variant also entered production as the PWS-26. Development Developed from the PWS-12 and PWS-14 trainers, ...

, designed in response to a Polish Air Force requirement for an advanced trainer. The chief designer was Augustyn Zdaniewski. The PWS-26 was a direct development of the PWS-16bis, sharing the same silhouette, being a more militarized variant - with strengthened construction, which allowed dive-bomber training. Contrary to its predecessors, the PWS-26 could be armed with a forward-shooting machine gun and practice bombs. It also had other improvements and was capable of

aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...

. A visual difference from the PWS-16bis were the canvas-covered struts of the

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

. The prototype was flown in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

. After trials, its production started in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

. By the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 310 had been built. The PWS-26 was used in Polish military aviation from early 1937, becoming a standard type of advanced trainer for

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

s. It replaced most of the older PWS-14s, PWS-16s, PWS-18s (a licence-built Avro Tutor) and Bartel BM-5d's. They carried numbers starting with "81-". The PWS-26 was regarded as a successful aircraft, with good flight characteristics. During its Polish service, there were 10 fatal crashes, which was not a high number.

Operational history

After the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, some PWS-26s were used in liaison flights, three aircraft in each, assigned to Armies (basic equipment of liaison flights was the

). They were also used in improvised liaison units. At least 45 were used in combat units during the campaign in total. The PWS-26 was mostly used as a replacement aircraft. According to a report by Jan Falkowski, on September 3, 1939, while flying a PWS-26, he made a chasing Bf 109 crash near

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, by performing low-level manoeuvres, but there was no confirmation from the Germans. A single PWS-26 and two RWD-8s of the Independent Operational Group Polesie, were the last Polish aircraft in the sky during the campaign. They were grounded by General Franciszek Kleeberg on October 2, 1939. Some Czech pilots flew these aircraft during the campaign on the Polish side. Account of Jan Falkowski of the above kill. "I was only 200 feet from the ground when I tried a trick. I put my plane into a dive, all the time watching one of the Germans who was trying to get on my tail. I did little twists and turns, not allowing the enemy to get me squarely in his sights. All the time we were getting closer and closer to the ground. I brought him to about 50 feet off the ground and in the last second, dived again, then immediately pulled into a left turn. I missed the ground by a scat 10 feet, I figured. The German wasn't so lucky." (account of Jan Falkowski causing the Bf 109 to crash, taken from his auto biography "With The Wind In My Face"). According however to Marius Emmerling, this victory can not be attributed to particular German losses. Some PWS-26s were shot down by the Germans, at least one was shot down by the Soviets on September 19. A large number of PWS-26s were destroyed on the ground by the Germans or burned by the withdrawing Poles. At least two were evacuated to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and 20 or so

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. This latter group were captured by the Germans - in 1941. After repairing, 50 or so were sold to Romania, and in 1943 Romanian Air Force had 56 of them. In 1944 some of them, fitted with bomblets, were used for night attacks. Some were used in civilian aviation, and were used in Romania until the 1950s. Two were tested in Germany. A dozen or so were captured by the Soviets in Poland and also used by them for testing.

Operators

; * Bulgarian Air Force ; *

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

operated unknown number of captured aircraft ; *

; * Royal Romanian Air Force ; *

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

captured and used unknown number of aircraft in September 1939 and seized more in 1940 after invasion on

Baltic States The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

Surviving aircraft

Only one PWS-26 (Nr. 81-123) has survived. Captured by the Germans in September 1939, it was part of the German aviation museum, displayed with the Luftwaffe markings VG+AS. The aircraft was found in Poland after the war and used until

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

by civilian operators with the markings SP-AJB. It is currently preserved in the

Polish Aviation Museum The Polish Aviation Museum () is a large museum of historic aircraft and aircraft engines in Kraków, Poland. It is located at the site of the no-longer functional Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny Airport. This airfield, established by Austr ...

in Kraków.

Specifications(PWS-26)

References

Notes

*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" (''Polish aviation construction 1893-1939''), WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 (Polish language, no ISBN) * {{PWS aircraft 1930s Polish military trainer aircraft PWS aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1935 Aircraft with auxiliary rocket engines Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear