RWD-2

RWD-2
RWD-2 during the Challenge 1930
Role	Sports plane
National origin	Poland
Manufacturer	Warsaw University of Technology workshops
Designer	RWD team
First flight	July 1929
Introduction	1929
Retired	1935
Primary user	Polish civilian aviation
Produced	1929-1930
Number built	4

The RWD-2 was a Polish sports plane of 1929, a single-engine high-wing monoplane constructed by the RWD team.

The RWD-2 was constructed by the RWD team of Stanisław Rogalski, Stanisław Wigura and Jerzy Drzewiecki in the Aviation Section of Mechanic Students' Club of Warsaw University of Technology. It was a development of their first design RWD-1. Its feature was a unique, fish-shaped fuselage, with good aerodynamics, but without a direct view forward from the pilot's seat. For this reason, they were later nicknamed: blind mice.

The first prototype (registration SP-ACE) was completed and flown by the designer Jerzy Drzewiecki in July 1929. Since it appeared successful in sports flying, three more RWD-2s were built in 1930 (registration SP-ADJ, -ADG, -ADH).

In August–September 1929, Franciszek Żwirko and Stanisław Wigura flew the prototype across Europe, on the 5000 km Warsaw-Paris-Barcelona-Warsaw route (it was the first long foreign raid of the Polish-designed aircraft). On 16 October, 1929, Żwirko and Antoni Kocjan set an international FAI altitude record of 4,004 m (13,133 ft) in the light tourist plane class (below 280 kg / 616 lb empty weight).

Three serial aircraft took part in the Challenge 1930 international touring planes competition in July 1930. Stanisław Płonczyński took the 19th place, as the best Pole (for 35 qualified and 60 starting crews), and Edward Więckowski took the 21st place (the third Józef Muślewski was disqualified due to time exceeding, but he completed the rally off the contest). In the Challenge, RWD-2s won the trial of lowest fuel consumption (5.2 kg / 100 km). According to Flight, they "appear to possess particularly good air-sailing qualities".

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Wikipedia