The RWD 4 was a Polish sports plane of 1930, constructed by the RWD team.

Development

The RWD 4 was constructed by the RWD team of

Stanisław Rogalski Stanisław Rogalski (25 May 1904 – 6 February 1976) was a Polish aircraft designer, born in Olomouc, best known as one of the founding trio (the other two being Stanisław Wigura and Jerzy Drzewiecki) of the inter-war period RWD airplane facto ...

Stanisław Wigura Stanisław Wigura (9 April 1901 – 11 September 1932) 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 ...

and

Jerzy Drzewiecki Jerzy Drzewiecki (7 August 1902 – 15 May 1990) was a Polish aeroplane constructor, engineer and one of the founders of the RWD construction bureau, along with Rogalski and Wigura. He was born in Warsaw. Among his most notable constructions ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. It was based upon their earlier RWD 2 design, but enlarged and fitted with more powerful inline engine. It retained the same fish-shaped fuselage without a direct view forward from the pilot's seat, though the view improved due to thin fuselage profile before the pilot. Also a silhouette became slimmer. The aircraft development was ordered by the Ministry of Communication especially for participation in the

Challenge 1930 The International Touring Competition in 1930 () was the second FAI international touring aircraft contest, that took place between July 18 and August 8, 1930 in Berlin, Germany. Four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pr ...

international air competition. At the same time, the RWD developed similar liaison aircraft project, the RWD 3, which shared many features with the RWD 4. The first three aircraft (registration SP-ADK, -ADL and -ADM) were completed and flown by the designer Jerzy Drzewiecki in early 1930. In late 1930, a further six aircraft were built for the

Polish Aero Club The Polish Aero Club (''Aeroklub Polski'', AP) 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 headquarte ...

(registration SP-AEK, -AEL, AEY, -AEZ, -AFC, -AGP).

Service

The first three aircraft took part in the

competition in July. Only Jerzy Bajan completed the race on SP-ADM on the 32nd place (of 35 classified and 60 starting crews). Franciszek Żwirko (flying with

) withdrew due to engine failure, while the third pilot Tadeusz Karpiński withdrew due to illness. RWD 4s were later used in Polish local air competitions, with some success (for example, F. Żwirko won the 3rd Polish Light Aircraft Contest in 1930, and other RWD 4s took the 2nd, 5th and 6th place). In 1931, in an international air meeting in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, Jerzy Bajan won 2nd place overall and the 1st place in

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 ...

. RWD 4s were also used for training and glider towing in regional aero clubs. The first two were withdrawn in 1931, the last were scrapped in 1936, after quite short, but meritorious service in Polish sporting aviation. RWD 4

Description

Wooden construction sports plane, conventional in layout, high-wing cantilever

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

. The fuselage rectangular in cross-section (narrower in upper part), plywood-covered. Trapezoid one-part wing, canvas and plywood covered. A crew of two, sitting in

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

in the fuselage, with dual controls. The cockpits were open to the sides, with individual doors on the right. Principally powered by a 4-cylinder air-cooled 115 hp

Cirrus Hermes The Cirrus and Hermes or Cirrus-Hermes are a series of British aero engines manufactured, under various changes of ownership, from the 1920s until the 1950s. The engines were all air-cooled, four-cylinder inline types, with earlier ones upright a ...

straight engine (105 hp nominal power, 115 hp take-off power), driving a two-blade wooden propeller, the aircraft was also known to be fitted with 85 hp Cirrus III and 105 hp

de Havilland Gipsy The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre ( ...

II engines.

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 ...

was conventional, fixed, with a rear skid. The fuel tank capacity was 110 litres held in-wing giving fuel consumption of 21 litres per hour.

Specifications (RWD 4)

References

External links

Photos and description (in Polish)
{{RWD aircraft RWD 04 RWD 04 High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1930