Lublin R-XIII - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Lublin R-XIII was the Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

army-cooperation plane (observation and liaison

Liaison aircraft

A liaison aircraft is a small, usually unarmed aircraft primarily used by military forces for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages. The concept developed before World War II and included also battlefield reconnaissance, air ambulance, column control, light cargo delivery...

plane), designed in the early-1930s in the Plage i Laśkiewicz

Plage i Laskiewicz

Plage i Laśkiewicz was the first Polish aerospace manufacturer, located in Lublin and manufacturing aircraft under Lublin name. Full name was: Zakłady Mechaniczne E. Plage i T. Laśkiewicz - Mechanical Works E. Plage & T. Laśkiewicz...

factory in Lublin

Lublin

Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...

. It was the main army cooperation plane in the Invasion of Poland

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...

. Its variant Lublin R-XIV was a military trainer aircraft.

Design and development

In 1927, the Polish aviation authorities announced a contest for an army-cooperation plane (in Polish: samolot towarzyszący, literally: "acompanying plane"). In Polish doctrine it was a close reconnaissance, observation and liaison aircraft, operating from casual airfields, providing big Army land units with information about the enemy. The PZL

PZL

PZL was the main Polish aerospace manufacturer of the interwar period, based in Warsaw, functioning in 1928-1939...

state factory proposed the PZL Ł-2, built in a series of 25 aircraft, while private factory Plage i Laśkiewicz in Lublin proposed the Lublin R-X, designed by Jerzy Rudlicki

Jerzy Rudlicki

Rudlicki Jerzy was a Polish aerospace engineer who invented and in 1930 patented the V-tail configuration for aircraft combining the ailerons and elevators in one system. He both worked in the World War I and World War II on aircraft...

. It was flown on February 1, 1929. Five aircraft were built for the Air Force as R-Xa, and one was built as a long-distance sports plane. The third competitor was the PWS-5t2.

The contest was won by the R-Xa, having the shortest take-off and landing, and good performance, but the factory was ordered to develop design further. At that time, Rudlicki was working upon an unarmed trainer aircraft R-XIV and an observation aircraft R-XV. Both were new designs, basing upon the R-X construction. Number XIII was initially omitted in designations as "unlucky". In February 1930, the Polish Air Force

Polish Air Force

The Polish Air Force is the military Air Force wing of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej...

ordered 15 of R-XIV. The first serial plane was built in June 1930, without an earlier prototype, and all were delivered by July 1931. The R-XIV was a two-seater, parasol wing

Parasol wing

A parasol wing monoplane is an aircraft design in which the wing is not mounted directly to the fuselage, but rather, the fuselage is supported beneath it by a set of struts, called cabane struts...

aircraft, with a 220 hp radial engine

Radial engine

The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central crankshaft like the spokes on a wheel...

and fixed landing gear

Landing Gear

Landing Gear is Devin the Dude's fifth studio album. It was released on October 7, 2008. It was his first studio album since signing with the label Razor & Tie. It features a high-profile guest appearance from Snoop Dogg. As of October 30, 2008, the album has sold 18,906 copies.-Track...

. The crewman sat in open cabs in tandem

Tandem

Tandem is an arrangement where a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction....

. The R-XV was not ordered, but the Air Force demanded instead, that two R-XIV should be armed with an observer's machine gun

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....

, for testing. Thus armed, the R-XIV, fitted also with other minor modifications, most notably a changed shape of a tail fin

Fin

A fin is a surface used for stability and/or to produce lift and thrust or to steer while traveling in water, air, or other fluid media, . The first use of the word was for the limbs of fish, but has been extended to include other animal limbs and man-made devices...

, became the first prototype of the army-cooperation plane, that received a designation Lublin R-XIII.

On July 21, 1931, 50 aircraft R-XIII were ordered. The first series of 30 were designated R-XIIIA, the next 20 were R-XIIIB. Both variants differed mostly in a type of a machine gun ring mounting. The first serial R-XIII was built on June 7, 1932. By March 11, 1933, all were given to the Air Force.

In 1932, next 170 aircraft were ordered. 48 were built in R-XIIIC variant with minor modifications, then 95 were built in a most numerous R-XIIID variant. It introduced visible changes, like a Townend ring

Townend ring

A Townend Ring is a narrow-chord cowling ring fitted around the cylinders of an aircraft radial engine to reduce drag and improve cooling.-Development:...

on a radial engine, and a new engine cowling. It also had new type of a machine gun ring mounting. The first R-XIIID was tested in February, 1933. All aircraft were given to the Air Force by March 2, 1935. During repairs, older models A, B and C were modified to R-XIIID standard as well.

In 1933, Jerzy Rudlicki proposed a new design R-XXI, for a new contest for R-XIII successor, but it was not accepted (the contest was won by the RWD-14 Czapla

RWD-14 Czapla

|-References:*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 -See also:...

). However, some of R-XXI features, like higher and rounded in cross-section fuselage and changed shape of a tail fin, were found in latest R-XIII variants. Single prototype of the R-XIIIE was built in 1934, fitted with a stronger 360 hp engine Gnome-Rhone 7K Titan, but it was not produced. Another variant R-XIIIF introduced new, Polish-designed 340 hp engine Skoda

Škoda Auto

Škoda Auto , more commonly known as Škoda, is an automobile manufacturer based in the Czech Republic. Škoda became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group in 2000, positioned as the entry brand to the group...

G-1620A Mors-I. It had no Townend ring

Townend ring

A Townend Ring is a narrow-chord cowling ring fitted around the cylinders of an aircraft radial engine to reduce drag and improve cooling.-Development:...

on cylinders of the radial engine. After one prototype (no. 56.101), a series of 50 R-XIIIF were ordered in 1934. After seven aircraft had been delivered, the Polish aviation authorities refused to buy nearly-completed further 18 aircraft, planning to nationalize

Nationalization

Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

all aviation industry in Poland. As a result, Plage i Laśkiewicz factory went bankrupt

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

in late 1935, and it was next nationalized under a name LWS

LWS (aircraft manufacturer)

LWS - Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów was the Polish aerospace manufacturer, located in Lublin, created in 1936 of Plage i Laśkiewicz works and producing aircraft between 1936 and 1939.-History:...

(Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów - Lublin Aircraft Works). Then, 18 R-XIIIF, bought by scrap price, were completed, and next series of 32 was built. All R-XIIIF were delivered to the Air Force by 1938. However, only 26 of them were completed with Mors engines (and mostly used for training or staff liaison), while 32 had standard 220 hp Wright engines, lowering their performance to R-XIIID level.

In 1931, one R-XIV was tested on floats, as a seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

. Since tests came out well, the Polish Navy

Polish Navy

The Marynarka Wojenna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej - MW RP Polish Navy, is the branch of Republic of Poland Armed Forces responsible for naval operations...

designated it R-XIII bis/hydro and ordered the next three (nos. 700-703). In 1933, the Navy ordered 10 R-XIII ter/hydro, which was a seaplane variant of R-XIIID (nos. 704-713). Finally, in 1934 the Navy bought 6 R-XIIIG seaplanes, differing in details from a previous variant - among others, a metal propeller (nos. 714-720). They were delivered by April 1935. All variants could also be easily converted to wheeled landing gear.

In 1933, one R-XIIIB was converted to a long-distance sport plane R-XIIIDr, named Błękitny Ptak (the Blue Bird), meant for a flight to Australia, however it was crashed in 1935 in Siam by Stanisław Karpiński. Several aircraft were converted to civilian sport ones, used in Polish Aero Club

Polish Aero Club

Aeroklub Polski is the Polish central association of persons practising air sports or recreational flying. It was founded in 1921 and is a member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. It has a headquarters in Warsaw....

s.

12 R-XIII's were converted to blind flying trainers R-XIIIt in 1934, with higher closed trainee cab. Some were converted to simple liaison aircraft

Liaison aircraft

, removig armament and mounting a windscreen in the second cab. Several R-XIII were used to tow gliders

Military glider

Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...

, using a special frame with a hook, attached to a fuselage.

The R-XIII prototype was converted in 1932 to an experimental variant R-XIX, with V-tail

V-tail

In aircraft, a V-tail is an unconventional arrangement of the tail control surfaces that replaces the traditional fin and horizontal surfaces with two surfaces set in a V-shaped configuration when viewed from the front or rear of the aircraft...

of Rudlicki's design, but it was not accepted by the authorities, despite it had better field of machine gun fire.

In total, 15 R-XIV and 273 R-XIII were built, including 20 seaplanes.

Combat use

In the early 1930s the R-XIII was quite a successful plane for its purpose. It had a very short take-off (68 m for R-XIIIA) and landing, enabling it to operate from fields and meadows. However, only some of R-XIIIs were equipped with a radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

and a camera

Camera

A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...

, which lowered their usefulness. In 1932-1936 they were used in three-aircraft liaison platoons, being a basic Polish army-cooperation plane. In 1937 they were formed into army-cooperation escadres (eskadra towarzysząca), in 1939 reformed into observation escadres (eskadra obserwacyjna). Only in 1939, part of R-XIII were replaced by the RWD-14b Czapla

RWD-14 Czapla

|-References:*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 -See also:...

, which was not much more modern. A planned replacement was a modern LWS-3 Mewa

LWS-3 Mewa

-Bibliography:* Glass, Andrzej. LWS 3 Mewa, Wydawnictwo Militaria 11. Warszawa, Poland: Wydawnictwo Militaria, 1996. ISBN 83-86209-61-5.* Glass, Andrzej. Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939 . Warszawa, Poland: Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności , 1977. .-See also:...

, but it was not introduced due to war outbreak.

On the eve of the Invasion of Poland

Invasion of Poland (1939)

in 1939, the Polish Air Force

Polish Air Force

The Polish Air Force is the military Air Force wing of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej...

had about 150 R-XIII. Of them, 49 were in combat units, 30 in reserve, about 30 in training units and about 40 in repairs. In combat units, R-XIII were used in 7 observation escadres (out of 12): numbers 16, 26, 36, 43, 46, 56 and 66. Each escadre had 7 aircraft. The 16th Escadre was in C-in-C reserve, while the others were distributed among the field Armies. The R-XIII was no match for any of the Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

fighters

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

, bomber

Bomber

A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

s or even reconnaissance aircraft

Reconnaissance aircraft

A reconnaissance aircraft is a manned military aircraft designed, or adapted, to carry out aerial reconnaissance.-History:The majority of World War I aircraft were reconnaissance designs...

, being much slower, and armed with only one machine gun, but they were actively used for close reconnaissance

Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

and liaison

Liaison aircraft

tasks.

About 40 R-XIII from combat units were destroyed during the campaign, but only part of those were shot down by the German aircraft or flak. During the campaign, 9 aircraft were given to observation escadres as replenishment. Some planes were also used in a wartime improvised units in air bases. About 10 combat aircraft and 7 from other units were withdrawn to Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. A number of aircraft were bombed by the Germans in air bases or burned by withdrawing Poles. None have survived to today.

In the Naval Air Squadron, 11 R-XIIIter and R-XIIIG floatplanes were used in 1939. One of them made a night bombing raid on Danzig on September 7, searching in vain for the Schleswig-Holstein

German battleship Schleswig-Holstein

SMS Schleswig-Holstein, one of the five s, was the last pre-dreadnought battleship built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship was laid down in the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel in August 1905 and commissioned into the fleet nearly three years later in July 1908...

. On September 8 all planes were bombed, while stationed on the sea near Hel

Hel, Poland

Hel is a town in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, located on the tip of the Hel Peninsula, some 33 kilometres from the Polish mainland.-Early developments:...

on the Hel Peninsula

Hel Peninsula

Hel Peninsula |Nehrung]]) is a 35-km-long sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is located in Puck County of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.- Geography :...

Variants

R-XIII prototype (conversion of R-XIV, no. 56.1)
R-XIIIA - army cooperation aircraft, 30 produced from 1931 (nos 56.2-56.31)
R-XIIIB - army cooperation aircraft, 20 produced from 1932 (nos 56.32-56.51)
R-XIIIC - army cooperation aircraft, 48 produced from 1933 (nos. 56.52-56.99)
R-XIIID - standard variant of army cooperation aircraft, 95 produced from 1933 (nos 56.102-56.196)
R-XIIIE - one prototype of 1934 with 360 hp Gnome-Rhone 7K Titan engine (no. 56.100)
R-XIIIF - army cooperation aircraft with modified fuselage, part with 340 hp Skoda G-1620A Mors-I engine, 58 produced from 1934 (nos. 56.101, 58.01-58.57)
R-XIII bis/hydro - seaplane, 4 produced from 1931 (nos. 700-703)
R-XIII ter/hydro - seaplane, 10 produced from 1934 (nos. 704-713)
R-XIIIG - seaplane, 6 produced from 1934 (nos. 714-720)
R-XIIIDr - long-distance sport conversion, 1 made (no. 56.51)
R-XIIIt - trainer conversion, at least 12 made
R-XIV - trainer, 15 produced from 1930 (nos. 54.1-54.15)
R-XV - army cooperation variant of R-XIV, not built
R-XIX - one prototype with V-tail of 1932 (no. 56.1)
R-XXIII - This was the original designation of the R-XIIIDr.

Description

Mixed construction (steel and wood) monoplane, conventional in layout, with braced high wings, canvas and plywood covered (front part of fuselage was metal covered). Conventional fixed landing gear

Landing Gear

, with a tailskid. Crew of two, sitting in tandem

Tandem

Tandem is an arrangement where a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction....

in an open cockpit

Cockpit

A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...

, with twin controls. The observer had a 7.7 mm Vickers K or Lewis machine gun

Lewis Gun

The Lewis Gun is a World War I–era light machine gun of American design that was perfected and widely used by the British Empire. It was first used in combat in World War I, and continued in service with a number of armed forces through to the end of the Korean War...

on a ring mounting (rarely, 2 machine guns). The aircraft could be fitted with racks for small bombs 12–25 kg. A 9 cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Radial engine

The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central crankshaft like the spokes on a wheel...

Wright Whirlwind J-5 (produced in Poland) with 162 kW (220 hp) nominal power and 176 kW (240 hp) take-off power (on 22 aircraft R-XIIIF, 250 kW (340 hp) engine Skoda G-1620A Mors-I). Two-blade wooden or metal propeller

Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

. Fuel tank 200 liters in the fuselage, could be dropped in case of fire emergency (R-XIV - 135 liter tank).

Design and development

Combat use

Variants

Description

Specifications (R-XIIID)

See also

Further reading