| W.W.S.1 Salamandra in Finnish Aviation Museum | |
| Role | Glider |
| National origin | Poland |
| Manufacturer | Wojskowe Warsztaty Szybowcowe |
| Designer | Wacław Czerwiński |
| First flight | 1936[1] |
| Introduction | 1950 |
| Number built | 500+ worldwide[2] |
The W.W.S. 1 Salamandra (Salamander) was a single-seat training glider designed and built in Poland from Autumn 1935.
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As the head of the W.W.S. ( Wojskowe Warsztaty Szybowcowe) Wacław Czerwiński designed the W.W.S. 1 Salamander during the mid 1930s. The excellent handling properties, ideal for the solo training methods then in use, led to mass production in various workshops throughout Poland. Production in Poland resumed after WWII with a re-engineered version from the IS (Instytucie Szybownictwa – gliding institute).
Construction of the Salamandra was entirely of wood with fabric covering on wings and tail unit. The fuselage consisted of a plywood covered nacelle for the single seat cockpit, with a wire-braced open strut rear fuselage supporting the cruciform style tail-unit. The high mounted wire braced wings were supported by struts from the bottom of the fuselage to approx 1/5 span. Later versions introduced windscreens and airbrakes in the wings. Wooden skids under the tail and fuselage nacelle comprised the undercariage.
The most notable feat by a W.W.S. 1 Salamandra, in Poland, was an 11hr 15min flight by Buraka, between Brasław and Wilna, on22 Aug 1938. Another marathon flight of 23 hours took place in Romania with a licence built version pilotted by G. Braescu.
Post war production continued in Poland, China and Yugoslavia, with improvements such as windscreens and airbrakes introduced in later versions. After migrating to Canada as a refugee Czerwiński designed a modified Salamandra as the Czerwiński Sparrow, as well as an improved Sparrow designated Czerwiński Robin.
Data from http://www.piotrp.de/SZYBOWCE/pwws1.htm
General characteristics
Performance
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