The LWD Żak was a Polish touring and

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...

of the late 1940s, designed in the LWD and built in a short series.

Design and development

The Żak (old-fashioned "student") was designed in the Lotnicze Warsztaty Doświadczalne (LWD, ''Aviation Experimental Workshops'') in Łódź, directed by Tadeusz Sołtyk in 1946, as one of the first Polish post-war aircraft. It was a light low-wing cantilever monoplane of a mixed construction, with a crew of two, sitting side by side, and fixed conventional

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 first prototype Żak-1 was first flown on March 23, 1947. It was powered by the Czechoslovak 65 hp straight engine

Walter Mikron The Walter Mikron is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted straight engine for aircraft. Development Developed in Czechoslovakia in the early 1930s, the engine saw limited use in late 1930s and early 1950s. In the 1980s an initial batch of engi ...

III and carried markings SP-AAC. The second prototype Żak-2 was powered by the 65 hp flat engine Continental A-65 and had an open cockpit. It was flown on November 27, 1947, and carried markings SP-AAE. The design appeared successful and the Ministry of Communication ordered a series of 10 aircraft. They were to be powered by licence-built A-65 engines, but since plans of engine production were abandoned, it was decided to fit them with Walter Mikron engines. They were also fitted with a closed canopy, sliding rearwards, and named Żak-3. Ten planes were built by the LWD in the end of 1948, the first of them was flown on November 8, 1948. They had markings: SP-AAS to SP-AAZ, and SP-BAA to SP-BAC. At least one (SP-AAX) had engine replaced later with 85 hp (63 kW) Cirrus F.III. They were used in the Polish regional aero clubs until 1955. On October 20, 1948, there was flown a prototype of the last variant, Żak-4, meant for a glider towing. It had stronger 105 hp Walter engine and an open canopy. Since it showed unsuitable for glider towing, and old

Polikarpov Po-2 The Polikarpov Po-2 (also U-2 before 1944, for its initial Glossary of Russian and USSR aviation acronyms: Aircraft designations, ''uchebnyy'', 'training', role as a flight instruction aircraft) was an all-weather multirole Soviet Union, Soviet b ...

appeared the better plane for this purpose, Żak-4 was not built in series, and the prototype was re-fitted with a closed canopy and used as a touring plane in aero club (markings SP-BAE).

Variants

;Żak-1 (SP-AAC) :The first prototype powered by Walter Mikron III engine. ;Żak-2 (SP-AAE) :The second prototype without canopy and powered by Continental A-65 engine. ;Żak-3 :Main production version with closed canopy and powered by Walter Mikron III engine, 10 built. ;Żak-4 (SP-BAE) :Prototype of the glider towing version with open canopy (later refitted with a closed one) and powered by Walter engine.

Operators

; * Aeroklub Polski

Survivors

Żak-3 SP-AAX is 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 ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

(disassembled as for 2007)

Specifications (Żak-3)

References

*Babiejczuk, Janusz and Grzegorzewski, Jerzy: ''Polski przemysł lotniczy 1945-1973'' (Polish aviation industry...), Wydawnictwo MON, Warsaw 1974 * Bridgman, Leonard. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1953-54''. London:Jane's,1953. *Krzyżan, Marian: ''Samoloty w muzeach polskich'', Warsaw 1983,
Photo and description
at Poser page

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lwd Zak Zak 1940s Polish civil trainer aircraft 1940s Polish civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined piston aircraft Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear