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 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. 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 1–4, 1933 the prototype R-XVIb took part in the 2nd InternationalAir 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, 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. 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. The R-XVIb's were used during the German invasion on Poland in 1939. At least one with light damage was captured by the Germans. Their fate during the World War II is not known. None survived the war.
The R-XVI was a mixed construction cantilever high-wing monoplane, conventional in layout. It had a steel framed, canvas covered fuselage 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 or four: a pilot, a doctor, and two lying on stretchers. It had a 9-cylinder air-cooled Polish Skoda WorksWright Whirlwind J-5radial engine delivering 240 hp take-off power and 220 hp nominal power, driving a two-blade propeller. A 250-litre fuel tank was fitted in wing. The cruise fuel consumption was 50 l/h.
