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13-677: First work on a domestic fighter to replace ill-fated French SPAD 61s in the Polish Air Force was initiated by PWS in 1927. The main designers were Aleksander Grzędzielski and Augustyn Zdaniewski. In 1929 the prototype was built and it first flew in March 1930. At the same time, the more modern fighter PZL P.1 was developed by the PZL . Despite the P.1 being a more capable fighter, the War Ministry decided that it needed further work, and

26-525: A predecessor of PZL ). Apart from their military service, S.61s were used in France for racing and record-setting attempts. On 25 June 1925 , Pelletier d'Oisy won the cross-country Coupe Michelin in an S.61, and another of the type won the 1927 competition and was placed second in 1929. An S.61 was also used by Jean Callizo in his fraudulent attempt on the world altitude record that saw him stripped of his Légion d'Honneur . A Polish S.61 placed second in

39-458: A series of 80 PWS-10 was ordered as a temporary measure. In comparison with the advanced P.1, the PWS-10 was a more classic design, a high-wing parasol monoplane of mixed construction. The series was built from 1931 to 1932, numbered from 5-1 to 5-80. A variant of PWS-10 was a biplane PWS-15 , being PWS-10 with another pair of wings. A single prototype was made to compare with a monoplane, on

52-488: A windshield. Conventional fixed landing gear , with a rear skid. Engine: 12-cylinder water-cooled inline W engine Lorraine-Dietrich LD-12Eb, built by license in Polish Skoda Works. Water radiator under a fuselage front. Two-blade wooden propeller of a fixed pitch. Fuel tank 280 L in a fuselage. Armament: two fixed 7.7 mm Vickers machineguns with interrupter gear , in hull sides. PWS-10 entered service in

65-574: The French Air Force alongside the S.51 as a potential new fighter, but like its stablemate, was rejected. The Polish Air Force (which had also purchased the S.51) was impressed enough to order 250, as well as purchase licences for local production. The Romanian Air Force also ordered 100 aircraft. About 30 were built in Poland, by the CWL ( Centralne Warszaty Lotnicze - Central Aviation Workshops,

78-842: The Spanish Civil War , 20 PWS-10 were sold in secret to the Spanish Nationalists , via Portugal , by the SEPEWE syndicate. Aircraft were transported in crates and were assembled by PZL workers. First aircraft was flown in December 1936 in Leon . Being obsolete by then, they were not used as fighters, only for fighter pilot training (for 4. Fighter Group) in El Copero near Seville . Later PWS-10s were transferred to Jerez de la Frontera where they flew between April 1937 and

91-759: The Capitaine Echard race at the Zürich aerial meeting in 1927. The S.61 (known in Poland simply as Spad S.61) had a poor reputation in Poland due to numerous crashes, many attributed to a weak wing mounting. During the period from 1926 to 1931, 26 pilots were killed while flying the S.61. Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928, Aviafrance:S.61/2 General characteristics Performance Armament 2 × fixed, forward-firing 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine-guns Related lists Bl%C3%A9riot-SPAD S.51 The Bleriot-SPAD S.51

104-573: The Polish Air Force starting from 1932. It was used in cadres nos. 122, 131, 132, 141. Their flight characteristics and performance were mediocre. As soon, as in 1933 they were replaced in combat units by PZL P.7 and moved to aviation school in Dęblin . Some were used there by the outbreak of World War II and in summer 1939 all remaining airworthy aircraft were gathered in Ułęż . In late 1936, during

117-566: The S.51 used metal construction for the wings. The prototype S.51 was rejected by the French authorities, but revised versions found export customers in the Polish Air Force, which bought 50 of them, and the Turkish and Soviet air forces which each bought a single example. Another development, the S.51/3, was experimentally fitted with the first controllable-pitch propeller developed in France, also designed by Herbemont. Data from Jane's all

130-613: The end of 1938. Spanish aircraft received the name Chiquita , or unofficial Pavipollo and they had numbers from 4-1 to 4-20. Some were lost in crashes or scrapped, the remaining 11 were operated till the end of the 1938 and were retired in 1939. During the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, they were too obsolete to be used in combat, but some were used for reconnaissance flights in an improvised Dęblin Group during first days of

143-566: The factory's initiative. It first flew in the spring of 1931. It offered better maneuverability and climb ratio with a slightly lower maximum speed. PWS-15 was not produced and was soon broken up. Mixed construction high-wing parasol monoplane , canvas and plywood covered. A fuselage of a metal frame, covered with duralumin in the front section and canvas in the rear section. Two-spar elliptic wings, of wooden construction, canvas, and plywood covered. Stabilizers, rudder, and elevator of metal construction, canvas-covered. Open pilot's cockpit , with

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156-414: The war. Data from Polish Aircraft 1893–1939 General characteristics Performance Armament Related lists SPAD 61 The Blériot-SPAD S.61 was a French fighter aircraft developed in 1923. Designed by André Herbemont , the S.61 was a conventional biplane , abandoning the swept upper wing used by Herbemont in several previous designs. The prototype S.61 was evaluated by

169-409: Was a French fighter aircraft developed in 1924 in response to a French Air Force requirement for an aircraft to replace their obsolete Nieuport-Delage NiD.29s . Designed by André Herbemont , the S.51 shared its basic configuration with his other aircraft of the period, being a biplane with a swept upper wing and unswept lower wing, joined by I-shaped interplane struts . Unlike earlier designs,

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