PWS-10

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 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 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 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 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.{{cite journal |last1=Kołodziejski |first1=Andrzej |title=PWS-10 |journal=Lotnictwo z Szachownicą |date=2008 |volume=Lotnictwo z Szachownicą |issue=#29 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Sanko |location=Wrocław |language=pl |issn=1643-5702}}

In November 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, 20 PWS-10 were sold in secret to the Spanish Nationalists, via Portuguese company, by the SEPEWE syndicate.{{sfn|Morgała|2003|p=39}} Officially their destination was South America.{{sfn|Morgała|2003|p=39}} Aircraft were transported in crates and were assembled in Leon by PZL workers by January 1937.{{sfn|Morgała|2003|p=39}} First aircraft was flown on 31 December 1936 by a Polish pilot.{{sfn|Morgała|2003|p=39}} 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 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 the war.

• PWS-10 : Single-seat fighter biplane.
• PWS-10M : This was the original designation of the PWS-10.
• PWS-15 : PWS-10 with a new wing, one conversion only, not successful.

;{{flag|Poland}}

• Polish Air Force

;{{flag|Spanish State|1938}}

• Spanish Air Force

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Polish Aircraft 1893–1939{{harvnb|Cynk|1971|p=408}}

|prime units?=met

|crew=1

|length m=7.5

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|span m=11

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|empty weight kg=1115

|empty weight note=

|gross weight kg=1500

|gross weight note=

|max takeoff weight kg=1550

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|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb

|eng1 type=W-12 water-cooled piston engine

|eng1 hp=450

|eng1 note=

|prop blade number=2

|prop name=fixed-pitch propeller

|prop dia m=

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|max speed kmh=258

|max speed note=at sea level

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|never exceed speed kmh=

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|range km=300

|range note=

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|ceiling m=6500

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|time to altitude=5 min 40 sec to {{convert|3000|m|ft|abbr=on}}

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|guns= 2 x 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns{{harvnb|Williams|Gustin2003|p=146}}

}}

{{aircontent|

|related=

|similar aircraft=

|lists=

• List of aircraft of World War II

|see also=

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite magazine|last1=Arraez Cerda|first1=Juan|title=Les avions polonais de l'aviation nationaliste: PWS-10 et RWD-13|magazine=Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire |date=December 2001 |issue=105 |pages=38–43 |trans-title=Polish Aircraft of the Nationalist Air Force: The PWS-10 and RWD-13|language=fr |issn=1243-8650}}
• {{cite book |last=Cynk |first=Jerzy B. |title=Polish Aircraft 1893–1939 |year=1971 |location=London |publisher=Putnam |isbn=0-370-00085-4}}
• {{cite book |last1=Morgała|first1=Andrzej|date= 2003|title=Samoloty wojskowe w Polsce 1924–1939|trans-title= Military aircraft in Poland 1924–1939|language= pl|location=Warsaw |publisher= Bellona|isbn=83-11-09319-9}}
• {{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Anthony G. |last2=Gustin |first2=Emmanuel G. |title=Flying Guns: World War I and its Aftermath 1914–32 |year=2003 |location=Ramsbury, UK |publisher=Airlife Publishing |isbn=1-84037-396-2}}

• {{cite book |last1=Glass |first1=Andrzej |title=Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893–1939 |date=1977 |publisher=WKiŁ |location=Warsaw |language=pl}}

{{Commons category|PWS-10}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100311071934/http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww1/pws10.html Photos and drawings at Ugolok Neba]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101127005220/http://usuarios.multimania.es/mrodval/GC182301.HTM PWS in Spanish Army]

{{PWS aircraft}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:PWS aircraft

Category:1930s Polish fighter aircraft

Category:Parasol-wing aircraft

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Category:Aircraft first flown in 1930

Category:Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear