PZL.55

PZL.55
Schematic drawings of the PZL.55
Role	Fighter aircraft
National origin	Poland
Manufacturer	Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze
Status	Project
Primary user	Polish Air Force (planned)
Developed from	PZL.26

PZL.55 was a Polish pre-war project of a fighter aircraft, designed by Jerzy Dąbrowski at the Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze. The design was for a single-seat low-wing all-metal monoplane, developed based on experience with the PZL.26 sports plane and the project of a private sports plane created by Jerzy Dąbrowski for his own use.

Design and development

At the end of the 1930s, Polish Military Aviation urgently needed a modern high-performance fighter with strong armament which would be an answer to the latest German designs such as the Bf 109 and Fw 190. In the summer of 1939, the PZL.55 defeated the PZL.56 and PZL.63 fighter designs in a competition and completed a series of tests in the wind tunnel, giving very promising results. The aviation command showed great interest in the PZL.55 project. In August 1939, the design and model of the fighter were approved and two prototypes were ordered. Due to the German-Soviet invasion in September 1939, the implementation of the PZL.55 project was stopped shortly after it had started.

It was intended to use several very modern solutions for the Polish conditions at that time. The fighter was to have a fully retractable landing gear with air-oil shock absorbers, and powerful armament consisting of 6-8 machine guns was to be placed in the wings. The rest of the internal wing structure was to be taken up by integral fuel tanks. The wings were also equipped with flaps and automatic Handley Page slots. The wing armament was to be complemented by a cannon firing through the propeller shaft. A retractable engine coolant radiator was placed under the fuselage, but there is a high probability that this rather problematic solution would be abandoned during work on the plane. The pilot's cabin was fully adapted to night flights and had heating, air conditioning and instruments for piloting without ground visibility. The plane was also equipped with a transmitting and receiving radio station, an oxygen installation and armored pilot's seat. The windshield was also to be made of thick armored glass. Some of these solutions have already been successfully used in the PZL P.24 and PZL.50.

The first prototype PZL.55/I was designed for the Hispano-Suiza 12Y49 inline engine but the final production version was to be powered by the more powerful, license-built Hispano-Suiza 12Z series engines which were still in development at the time. In 1939, Hispano-Suiza provided the PZL with information that the 12Z engines were to ultimately achieve a maximum power of 1,400-1,600 hp. The approved design assumed that such power would translate into a maximum speed of 650-700 km/h, which was an unprecedented speed at that time. Ultimately, the surrender of France during World War II halted development of the 12Z engines and full-scale production did not begin until the end of the war. The Allison V-1710-23 engine was also considered, which, however, was not very realistic because deliveries from the USA would be long, expensive and prone to delays, and the Americans did not license the production of aircraft engines to other countries.

Planned specifications (PZL.55)

Data from

General characteristics

• Length: 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in)
• Wingspan: 11.25 m (36 ft 11 in)
• Height: 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in)
• Wing area: 22.5 m² (242 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 2,300 kg (5,071 lb)
• Gross weight: 3,250 kg (7,165 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Z V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine, 1,200 kW (1,600 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 660 km/h (410 mph, 360 kn)
• Range: 800 km (500 mi, 430 nmi)

Armament

• Guns: 1 x Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20 mm (0.787 in) cannon, 6-8 x 7.92 mm (0.312 in) PWU wz.36 machine guns

References

Bibliography

• Glass, Andrzej. Polskie Konstrukcje Lotnicze Vol.3 (In Polish). Sandomierz, Poland: Wydawnictwo Stratus, 2008.

See also

Related development

• PZL.26