Lublin R-XVI

Infobox Aircraft
name=Lublin R-XVI


caption=
type= Passenger plane & Air ambulance
manufacturer=Plage i Laśkiewicz
national origin= Poland
designer=
first flight= February 1932
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=Polish Red Cross
more users=
produced=1935
number built = 7
unit cost=
variants with their own articles=The Lublin R-XVI was the Polish passenger and air ambulance aircraft, designed in the 1930s in the Plage i Laśkiewicz factory in Lublin and built in a small series.

Design and development

The Lublin R-XVI was conceived as a small 4-seater passenger plane, ordered by the Polish Ministry of Communications. It was a development of an unsuccessful Lublin R-XI design. The main designer was Jerzy Rudlicki. The new plane was lighter and introduced a trapezoid-shaped wing instead of an elliptical one. Both designs were partly modeled on a construction of Fokker F.VII, produced under licence by Plage i Laśkiewicz. The first prototype was flown in February 1932. In the same year it was evaluated by the LOT Polish Airlines, flying 12,500 km.

The R-XVI took part in a contest for a successor of Junkers F.13 planes in LOT airlines. The contest was won by PWS-24, because the construction of the R-XVI had to be strengthened, what reduced its payload to 546 kg. This had to reduce its range or number of passengers carried. The prototype R-XVI was modified in the factory by November 1933 (it was also called R-XVIa then). It returned to LOT airlines, but was not used much and was scrapped in 1936.

Rudlicki next developed an air ambulance variant R-XVIb. Its prototype was flown in May 1933 (registration SP-AKP). The plane was evaluated by the Army as quite successful, and a series of 5 air ambulances were ordered and built in 1935. They had registrations SP-AOH to AOM, and, along with the prototype, military numbers 11-1 - 11-6.

Operational history

Between June 1 - June 4, 1933 the prototype R-XVIb took part in the 2nd International Air Ambulance Contest in Madrid in Spain, and won first place and Maurice Raphaël's Cup.

All R-XVIb's were used from 1935 by the Polish Red Cross (PCK), which operated military ambulances in Poland. In 1936 they were removed from the registry, but some served longer after repair and change of registration numbers (among others SP-BNO, BNP, BNR). Some were given military markings then.

Between July 1 and July 4, 1938, one R-XVIb took part in an International Air Ambulance Contest in Esch in Luxembourg, where it performed a parachute jump of three-person medical rescue group (including two women).

The R-XVIb's were used during the German invasion on Poland in 1939. At least one (SP-BNO) with light damage was captured by the Germans. Their fate during the World War II is not known. None survived the war.

Operators

;POL
*Polish Red Cross
*Polish Air Force

Description

The R-XVI was a mixed construction cantilever high-wing monoplane, conventional in layout. It had a steel framed, canvas covered fuselage (engine part covered with duralumin) and a single-piece, plywood covered,two-spar wing of wooden construction. The tail was of steel construction, canvas covered. It had a conventional fixed landing gear, with a rear skid, base 2.68 m. in The closed cabin had a capacity of six: a pilot, a mechanic and 4 passengers (R-XVIa) or four: a pilot, a doctor, and two lying on stretchers (R-XVIb).

It had a 9-cylinder air-cooled Polish Skoda Works Wright Whirlwind J-5 radial engine delivering 240 hp (179 kW) take-off power and 220 hp (164 kW) nominal power, driving a two-blade propeller. A 250 litre fuel tank was fitted in wing (normal capacity: 180 l). The cruise fuel consumption was 50 l/h.

pecifications (R-XVIb)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=Glass, A. (1977)
crew=two, pilot and doctor
capacity=two injured
payload main=
payload alt=
length main= 10.08 m
length alt= 36 ft 2⅞in
span main= 14.93 m
span alt= 48 ft 11⅝in
height main= 2.69 m
height alt= 8 ft 9⅞in
area main= 30.5 m²
area alt= 328 ft²
airfoil=
empty weight main= 1,150 kg
empty weight alt= 2,350 lb
loaded weight main= 1,630 kg
loaded weight alt= 3,586 lb
useful load main= 480 kg
useful load alt= 1,056 lb
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
more general=
engine (prop)= Skoda Wright Whirlwind J-5
type of prop=9-cylinder radial engine
number of props=1
power main= 240 hp
power alt= 180 kW
power original=
max speed main=187 km/h
max speed alt= 101 knots, 116 mph
cruise speed main= 160 km/h
cruise speed alt= 86 knots, 99 mph
stall speed main=<80 km/h
stall speed alt= 43 knots, 50 mph
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
range main= 480 km
range alt= 259 nm, 298 mi
ceiling main= 4,000 m
ceiling alt= 13,120 ft
climb rate main= 3.6 m/s
climb rate alt= 710 ft/min
loading main= 53.5 kg/m²
loading alt=10.9 lb/ft²
thrust/weight=
power/mass main= 0.11 kW/kg
power/mass alt= 0.067 hp/lb
more performance=
armament=
avionics=

ee also

aircontent
related=
*Lublin R-XI
similar aircraft=
*PWS-24 - LWS-2 - Fokker F.VIIa/1m
lists=
see also=

References

*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" ("Polish aviation constructions 1893-1939"), WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977, p. 160-162 pl icon

External links

* [http://www.airwar.ru/enc/cw1/lublinr16.html Photos and drawings] at Ugolok Neba page
* [http://www.tnn.pl/pm,810.html Drawing]