The LWS-3 Mewa ("Seagull") was a Polish observation and close reconnaissance aircraft, designed in the late-1930s by the LWS factory.

It was ordered by the Polish Military Aviation, but did not manage to enter service before the outbreak of World War II.

First sketches were drawn in 1936 by Zbysław Ciołkosz, the chief designer of the LWS factory (Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów).

The first prototype was exhibited at the 16th International Paris Aviation Salon in November 1938 (as "PZL Mewa"), where it met with interest.

Drawings of LWS-7 were evacuated in September 1939 to the Polish embassy in Romania by the LWS director Aleksander Sipowicz.

None of the aircraft entered service in the Polish Air Force before the outbreak of the World War II on September 1, 1939.

The first two aircraft were ready for delivery on September 2, but one of them was damaged on the factory airfield in Lublin by German bombers.

One of them crashed during a night landing on Medyka airfield near Przemyśl on the same day, the other was burned on September 17, when it could not be evacuated.

Contrary to its direct predecessor, RWD-14 Czapla, the Mewa was a modern close reconnaissance plane, comparable with leading foreign aircraft of that period, like Henschel Hs 126 or Westland Lysander.

Mixed construction (steel and wood) monoplane, conventional in layout, with braced high wings, canvas and plywood covered.