PZL.26

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
PZL.26
PZL.26 SP-PZM of Ignacy Giedgowd during the Challenge 1934
Role Sports plane
Manufacturer PZL
First flight 1934
Introduction 1934
Retired 1939
Primary user Polish civilian aviation
Produced 1934
Number built 5
Variants PZL.55

PZL.26 was a Polish sports plane built in 1934 in the

Challenge 1934
International Touring Aircraft Contest.

Design and development

The PZL.26 was a development of the

Challenge 1932 contest. Like its predecessor, it was designed by Jerzy Dąbrowski and Franciszek Misztal in 1933. The plane was an all-metal cantilever low-wing monoplane
with a fixed landing gear and a closed canopy. It retained wings and tail of the PZL.19, with minor changes. A fuselage, wings and landing gear were more streamlined and strengthened. The main change was a stronger engine, a US-made 265 hp Menasco Buccaneer B-6S3 engine. The engine choice appeared to be a failure, though. Five aircraft were built in 1934 and one prototype for static trials. They carried registration markings: SP-PZL to PZP.

Operational history

All five PZL.26s took part in the

Challenge from August 28 to September 16, 1934. A 9538 km long rally over Europe appeared too difficult for engines, and three aircraft failed to finish the rally due to engine breakdowns (pilots: Szczepan Grzeszczyk, Andrzej Włodarkiewicz and Jan Balcer). Piotr Dudziński (SP-PZL) took the 11th place and Ignacy Giedgowd
(SP-PZM) the 17th place (by coincidence, these results were similar to those of PZL.19s, two years earlier). Giedgowd's engine failed during a maximum speed trial, though. It is noteworthy, that they had the 2nd and 4th results of average speed in the rally - 211 and 213 km/h.

In Autumn 1934, the PZL.26 SP-PZM was presented at the Paris Air Show. Because of unreliable engines and quite big fuel consumption resulting from their high power output, most PZL.26s were not used in Polish sports aviation much after the Challenge. SP-PZL, -PZM, -PZN and - PZP were removed from the registry on July 1, 1936. The SP-PZO was used until the war in 1939 by the Pomeranian Aeroclub in Toruń. Possibly also the other one was used in this Aeroclub.

In 1939 Jerzy Dąbrowski made a preliminary design of a fast fighter plane PZL.55, being a far development of the PZL.26's construction, powered by Hispano-Suiza 1100 hp engine, but it was not realized due to World War II.

Description

Metal construction low-wing

flaps. Wings were folding rearwards. Cab had three seats in tandem, under a common multi-part canopy, with double controls for the first two crewmen. Fixed landing gear
with a rear skid, main wheels in massive aerodynamical covers. Two-blade metal propeller. Fuel tanks in wings and smaller one in the fuselage (180 L). Cruise fuel consumption 60 L/h.

Specifications

Data from Polish aircraft 1893-1939[1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Capacity: 2 / 445 kg (981 lb) payload
  • Length: 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
  • Wingspan: 10.42 m (34 ft 2 in)
  • Height: 2 m (6 ft 7 in)
  • Wing area: 16.3 m2 (175 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: 560 kg (1,235 lb)
  • Max takeoff weight: 1,005 kg (2,216 lb)
  • Fuel capacity: 180 L (48 US gal; 40 imp gal) in wing centre-section tanks with a 15 L (4.0 US gal; 3.3 imp gal) gravity collector tank in the fuselage ; 15 L (4.0 US gal; 3.3 imp gal) oil tank
  • Powerplant: ×
    Menasco Buccaneer B-6S.3
    6-cylinder air-cooledinverted in-line piston engine, 150 kW (200 hp) max. continuous power
198 kW (265 hp) for take-off
  • Propellers: 2-bladed Letov adjustable-pitch metal propeller

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 302 km/h (188 mph, 163 kn) at sea level
  • Cruise speed: 250 km/h (160 mph, 130 kn)
  • Minimum speed: 60 km/h (37 mph; 32 kn)
  • Range: 800 km (500 mi, 430 nmi) [citation needed]
  • Ferry range: 1,000 km (620 mi, 540 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 7,500 m (24,600 ft)
  • Rate of climb: 5 m/s (980 ft/min) [citation needed]
  • Wing loading: 61.4 kg/m2 (12.6 lb/sq ft)
  • Power/mass: 0.1981 kW/kg (0.1205 hp/lb)
  • Take-off run: 75 m (246 ft)
  • Landing run: 80 m (262 ft)

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to PZL.26.
  1. ISBN 0-370-00085-4
    .
  • Andrzej Glass: Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939 ("Polish aviation designs 1893-1939"), WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 (Polish language, no ISBN)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=PZL.26&oldid=1169470933"
This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article: PZL.26. Articles is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; additional terms may apply.Privacy Policy