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RWD was a team of three Polish aircraft designers, Stanisław Rogalski, Stanisław Wigura and Jerzy Drzewiecki (hence the initials RWD) working in Warsaw in the late 1920s and 1930s. Working under the auspices of the Warsaw University of Technology where they built their first designs, they eventually moved production to the Doświadczalne Warsztaty Lotnicze (DWL, "Aeronautical Experimental Works") from 1933 onwards. Their designs performed well in competitions (the RWD-6 and RWD-9 won the Challenge 1932 and Challenge 1934 international contest). The RWD-5 was the lightest plane to fly across the Atlantic. Two types, the RWD-8 and RWD-13 saw mass production, the RWD-8 becoming Polish basic military trainer.
Apart from constructing, J. Drzewiecki was a test pilot of their designs, while S. Wigura flew as a mechanic in competitions. On September 11, 1932, Stanislaw Wigura died in an air crash in the RWD-6 during storm. The designation letter RWD remained for new designs, since Jerzy Wędrychowski joined the team.
Other important designs were aerobatic plane RWD-10 (1933), reconnaissance plane RWD-14 Czapla (1938), aerobatic-trainer plane RWD-17 (1937) and light sport plane RWD-21 (1939). The World War II prevented from further development and serial production of later RWD designs, and put an end to the RWD construction bureau and the DWL workshops.
RWD aircraft:
List of designs
List of designs by RWD
| Design | First flight | Type | Seats | Engines | No. built
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| RWD-1 | 1928 | sport high-wing | 2 | 1 | 1
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| RWD-2 | 1929 | sport high-wing | 2 | 1 | 4
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| RWD-3 | 1930 | sport high-wing | 2 | 1 | 1
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| RWD-4 | 1930 | sport high-wing | 2 | 1 | 9
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| RWD-5 (RWD-5bis) | 1931 | sport high-wing | 2 | 1 | 20
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| RWD-6 | 1932 | sport high-wing | 2 | 1 | 3
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| RWD-7 | 1931 | sport high-wing 1 | 2 | 1 | 1
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| RWD-8 | 1933 | primary trainer high-wing | 2 | 1 | ~ 470
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| RWD-9 | 1933 | sport high-wing | 4 | 1 | 8
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| RWD-10 | 1933 | aerobatic-trainer high-wing | 1 | 1 | 23
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| RWD-11 | 1936 | passenger low-wing | 2+6 | 2 | 1
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| RWD-12 | (unfinished) | Parasol-wing observation aircraft 2 | 1 | 1 |
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| RWD-13 | 1935 | sport and touring high-wing | 3 | 1 | ~100
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| RWD-14 Czapla | 1935 | reconnaissance aircraft, high-wing | 2 | 1 | 65 3
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| RWD-15 | 1937 | touring high-wing | 5 | 1 | 6 (+10 unfinished)
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| RWD-16 | 1936 | sport low-wing | 2 | 1 | 1
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| RWD-16bis | 1938 | sport low-wing | 2 | 1 | 2
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| RWD-17 | 1937 | high-wing trainer-aerobatic plane | 2 | 1 | 10
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| RWD-17W | 1938 | trainer floatplane | 2 | 1 | ~104
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| RWD-18 | (19395) | touring and ambulance high-wing | 5 | 2 | 0
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| RWD-19 | 1938 | sport low-wing | 2 | 1 | 1
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| RWD-20 | 1937 | experimental touring high-wing 6 | 2 | 1 | 1
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| RWD-21 | 1939 | sport and touring low-wing | 2 | 1 | 4 (+10 unfinished)
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| RWD-22 | (late 1940) | torpedo floatplane project | 3 | 2 | 0
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| RWD-23 | 1938 | trainer low-wing7 | 2 | 1 | ~1
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| RWD-24 | (late 1940) | light bomber project 8 | 3 | 2 | 0
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| RWD-25 | (1939) | low-wing, fixed-wheels fighter project | 1 | 1 | 0
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| RWD-26 | (late 1940) | trainer low-wing project | 2 | 1 | 0
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Notes:
- Built as a record plane, it set off after less than 20 metres runway.
- Derived from RWD-8.
- Entered production in the spring of 1938, all commisioned by Polish Airforce.
- Out of 125 ordered by the Polish Army (120) and Polish Navy (5).
- First flight planned in December 1939; it was one of the first two engine civilian planes in the world.
- Based on a RWD-9 prototype, designed to test a 3-wheel gear for the RWD-18.
- Designed as a successor of the RWD-8.
- Land-based version of the RWD-22.
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