Stanisław Wigura

Who was Stanisław Wigura?

Stanisław Wigura was a Polish aircraft designer and aviator, co-founder of the RWD aircraft construction team and lecturer at the Warsaw University of Technology. Along with Franciszek Żwirko, he won the international air contest Challenge 1932 NB Polish Wikipedia site gives his year of birth as 1901.

He was born in Warsaw. In his youth he was interested in mechanics and aviation, and he was also a Boy Scout. In 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War, he volunteered for the 8th Field Artillery Regiment. In 1921, he started studies at Warsaw University of Technology, where he met Stanislaw Rogalski and Jerzy Drzewiecki. He was one of founders of the Aviation Section of Students' Mechanical Club. In December 1925, students of the Section founded their own workshop, where they built aircraft. In 1926, Wigura and Rogalski designed their first light aircraft WR-1, built in 1927.

In 1927, three designers: Rogalski, Wigura, and Drzewiecki started working together, creating the RWD team. Wigura's task was for all the initial design calculations and development. In 1928, they built their first sportsplane RWD-1. In 1929, Wigura graduated from Warsaw Tech, receiving the Engineer title. In the same year, he completed a pilot course in the Academic Aeroclub. The RWD team began constructing more successful aircraft - sportsplane RWD-2 of 1929 and the bigger RWD-4 of 1930. They were used in Polish sports aviation, with some success.