PWS-17M2 – the Polish two sit fighter

At the beginning of the thirties of the XXth century, the PWS (Polish - Podlaska Wytwornia Samolotow) aircraft factory designed two aircraft, based on the same aerodynamic concept: the PWS-19 attack aircraft and the PWS-17 two-seat fighter. Both aircraft were high-wing monoplanes with doubled vertical tail surfaces. The PWS-19 was made a prototype and tested in the air, but testing ended in a crash in March 1933. PWS-17 did not go beyond the stage of design work. These planes were designed by Zbignev Ciolkosz and Antoni Uszacki. It was supposed to be a fighter for escorting bombers and night patrolling. At the time, the only night fighter squadron, 113 of the 1st Aviation Regiment, flew Breguet XIX and Potez XXV planes, but these were unsuitable machines due to their original purpose and the fact, that they were already old. The PWS-17M2 will be well armed - four pilot's and one scout-navigator machine guns, had relatively small dimensions and a powerful engine. The start had to be short and the flight speed high. It really could have been a great plane, but the Aeronautics Department wasn't interested in it. This was determined by the prevailing attitude at the time, that fast and well-armed bombers, which would not need any fighter escort, were to be accepted into the arsenal.

A moderately complex, well-designed, if somewhat speculative, model of an airplane, that never even began to be built. It can be glued even by modelers with little experience, if they have someone to advise them in difficult moments. The painting of the plane is fictional, but the squadron is not: the 113th Night Fighter Squadron of the 1st Aviation Regiment, which was based in Warsaw.