Polish Assault Gliders

[hesham]

Hi,


here is a four series of transport glider projects,created by a Polish designers
who worked in UK,and they called their products,Model No.1,No.2,No.3 and
No.4,the No.1 was a twin boom as I see,but I am not sure,the other three
designs were a high-wing medium size aircraft.

samolotypolskie.pl - Szybowiec transportowy nr 1 / nr 2 / nr 3 / nr 4

 

[hesham]

Re: Polish/UK Transport Glider Projects

Hi,

here is the same four Projects,and addition powered glider version Project,fitted with
strange landing gear.

http://www.smil.org.pl/ptl/wyklady/46_Wklad_Polakow_w_rozwoj_samolotow_za_granica_1940-1980.pdf

 

[Petrus]

After the defeat of France in 1940 approx. 500 Polish aviation engineers and specialists arrived to Great Britain. Some of them formed a Polish Technology Group (Polska Grupa Techniczna) under leadership of Krzysztof Dobrowolski. The Group worked within the Polish Military Technology Institute (Wojskowy Instytut Techniczny) and focused on assault glider projects. There were four preliminary designs prepared: 1) a tank-carrying glider (length 22m, wingspan 40m, AUW 15,500 kg), 2) large glider (capacity 40 men, length 20m, wingspan 32m, AUW 10,000 kg), 2) medium glider (length 15m, wingspan 25m, AUW 5,500 kg), 4) small glider (capacity 15 men, length 13.7m, wingspan 16m, AUW 2,600kg).

The projects were presented to the Ministry of Air Production but obviously the British were uninterested for they had their own projects.

Below you've got the sketches showing the gliders.

EDIT: The information as well as the drawings come from "Polskie Siły Powietrzne w wojnie" Vol. 2 by Jerzy B. Cynk (the original English-language edition: "The Polish Air Force at War. The Official History. Vol. 2 1945-1945")

 

[hesham]

A clearer views,thank you my dear Pertus,

but we must merge those topics;

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,18362.msg176157.html#msg176157

done

 

[fortrena]

Two Polish engineers who had moved to Canada during the Second World War, Waclaw Czerwinski and Wsiewołod "Jaki” Jakimiuk, published an article in the March 1942 issue of the monthly Canadian Aviation in which they proposed the design and production of transport gliders by their employer, de Havilland Aircraft of Canada of Downsview, Ontario. Jakimiuk was not some guy off the street He was the former chief engineer of the state-owned form Państowe Zakłady Lotnicze (PZL), the most important Polish aircraft manufacturer of the interwar period.

Interested in creating an airmobile force capable of responding quickly to attacks, apparently Japanese ones, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) authorized Jakimiuk to prepare the plans of a transport glider. The project the engineer proposed in April, known as SK. 1920, did not find favor with this service. The RCAF was much more interested in the production in Canada of American or British transport gliders.

Jakimiuk had another go at it in May with two new projects, the SK.3019 heavy glider and the SK.3012 medium glider. The RCAF politely rejected both. The SK. 3073, even bigger than the SK. 3019, suffered the same fate in June. Ultimately, the RCAF abandoned its plans to encourage the production of transport gliders at home. This service did not actually use any such aircraft during the Second World War.

That said, Canada was the starting point of one of the most remarkable glider flights of the age.

It was magnificent. It was splendid. It was pointless. | The Channel

Greetings, my reading friend. How are you today?

ingeniumcanada.org

 

[riggerrob]

Three of those proposals were inspired by General Aviation Limited's Hotspur glider, though the Polish engineers had the good sense to move the wing to the top of the fusleage, freeing up space in the cargo compartment.

 

[riggerrob]

The RCAF never did operate gliders in Canada. When they needed gliders to re-supply (post WW2) "Operation Musk Ox' they borrowed some Waco "Hadrian" gliders from the USA. When an American glider pilot was injured, they "snatched" another Waco "Hadrian" glider to evacuate him to a hospital. Other RCAF supply planes were C-47 Dackota and Noordyn Norseman.

 

[fortrena]

If I may, it looks as if the RCAF may have taken on strength 28 or so Waco Hadrians registered in the 9501-9530 range in 1946-47 but they may not have been flown much between that time and the removal from the books of the last ones, in 1955.

 

[robunos]

Three of those proposals were inspired by General Aviation Limited's Hotspur glider, though the Polish engineers had the good sense to move the wing to the top of the fusleage, freeing up space in the cargo compartment.

The reason for the mid-wing on the Hotspur was to meet the Specification requirement of the ability to glide 100 miles from a release at 20,000 feet altitude.
This was to enable surprise attacks by Special Forces, as the Germans did at Eben-Emael using their DFS 230s. The 100 miles requirement proved unattainable, and so was reduced to 80 miles.

cheers,
Robin.

 

[hesham]

Transport glider Project. Poland,

In 1938, preliminary designs for several gliders were prepared for the Military
Gliding Workshops in cooperation with engineers Wacław Czerwiński and
Michał Bleicher. One of them, WWS "Tryton" was intended to transport an
infantry team near the battlefield. The glider had a strong half-shell structure
made of wood.

samolotypolskie.pl - WWS "Tryton"

 

[Apophenia]

Transport glider Project. Poland,

In 1938, preliminary designs for several gliders were prepared for the Military
Gliding Workshops in cooperation with engineers Wacław Czerwiński and
Michał Bleicher. One of them, WWS "Triton" was intended to transport an
infantry team near the battlefield. The glider had a strong half-shell structure
made of wood.

That should be Tryton, not 'Triton'. W.W.W. stood for Wojskowe Warsztaty Szybowcowe (or Military Glider Workshops) of Cracow which was headed by Wacław Czerwiński (who was also head of projects for PWS). FWIW, other W.W.S. products were:

W.W.S. 1 Salamandra - 1936 single-seat training glider
- W.W.S. 1 : High-wing, pod-and-booms, wooden constr., x 500+
- W.W.S. 1 : Span 12.48 m; airfoil Göttingen-378
-- Copy: 1942 de Havilland Canada glider, span 11.35 m
-- aka Czerwiński Sparrow, mod. as Czerwiński Robin
-- Becomes the postwar IS-A Salamandra family

W.W.S. 2 Żaba - 1937 single-seat basic training glider, x 1
- W.W.S. 2 : Wooden constr., high-winged, open-frame fuselage
- W.W.S. 2 : Span 9.33 m; airfoil Göttingen-365
- W.W.S. 2 : Derived from 1933 CW-J bis Skaut

W.W.S. 3 Delphin - 1936 single-seat sailplane, x ~70*
- W.W.S. 3 : High, canilever gull-wing, monocoque fuselage
- W.W.S. 3 : Span 16.00 m; airfoil (??)
-- * ~30 x built by W.W.S., 40 x built by L.W.L. (Lwów)**
-- ** Lwowskie Warsztaty Lotnicze was a branch of PWS

For Wacław Czerwiński's other projects, see:
-- https://www.j2mcl-planeurs.net/dbj2mcl/planeurs-hommes/hommes-fiche_0int.php?code=286

 

[Petrus]

Transport glider Project. Poland,

In 1938, preliminary designs for several gliders were prepared for the Military
Gliding Workshops in cooperation with engineers Wacław Czerwiński and
Michał Bleicher. One of them, WWS "Tryton" was intended to transport an
infantry team near the battlefield. The glider had a strong half-shell structure
made of wood.

samolotypolskie.pl - WWS "Tryton"

The Polish original mentions 'drużyna piechoty' that literally means the infantry section (or infantry squad in the US parlance) rather than an 'infantry team'.
Theoretically it may suggest that the projected glider would have been quite big, for in the Polish army of the late 1930s the infantry section had nineteen soldiers. Realistically however the Polish author could have had in mind an unspecified group of soldiers (perhaps he even didn't know its actual size), so he named it simply the infantry section. Probably we will never know anything more on the WWS Tryton, as a brief remark in "Samoloty wojskowe w Polsce 1924-1939" by Andrzej Morgała, which is quoted at the samolotypolskie.pl, is the only information on the project available in Polish aviation literature.

Btw the 'half-shell structure' means semi-monocoque structure.

Piotr