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After the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Germans captured the remnants of the Polish Air Force. Most of these aircraft were damaged or destroyed, but about one hundred planes were airworthy. Germans captured several RWD-8 and at least two of them were repaired in Mielec factory and used by Luftwaffe. Some sources reports, that Germany used about 15 planes but this info is questionable. After seizing Latvia, Germany recaptured about 10 ex-Polish ex-Soviet RWD-8 and probably those planes were used in German markings by Estonian pilots in 1943.

The beginning of the 1930s found Polish aviation in crisis. The cadets began their journey into the sky on old BM-4 and H-28, which clearly did not meet modern requirements. In this situation, a competition was organized in which the BM-4h, PZL-5bis and RWD-8 were entered . As a result, the latter became the main training aircraft of the Polish Air Force for many years. This aircraft was developed by engineers Stanislav Rogalski, Stanislav Vigura and Jerzy Drzivecki. The first production cars had different engines: Cirrus Hermes II, DH Gipsy III Walter Junior 4 and Skoda G-594.
However, the most acceptable characteristics were obtained when installing Walter Junior 4, which was produced in the country under license. It was with this engine that the first production aircraft were produced.
However, the developer did not have the necessary production capacity to launch large-scale production, and therefore, in the fall of 1933, all the necessary documentation and the SP-AKL prototype were transferred to PWS.
The first production aircraft left the company's gates already in 1934. During the production process, several modifications of the aircraft were built at PWS:
in 1936-37, at the request of the military, 30 aircraft adapted for night flights were built. The main difference is the installation of additional spotlights;
in 1937, several production aircraft were converted for blind flight under a curtain. Why was the second closed cabin installed;
in 1938, one aircraft was converted to perform parachute jumps from the rear cockpit;
In total, PWS produced 270 RWD-8s in 1934-38.
The planes were initially sent to flight schools, but as they were released they found wide use among the troops, not only as training machines to maintain flight readiness, but also as communications vehicles. The RWD-8s were the last Polish aircraft to fly during the September campaign.
On September 17, about 60 RWD-8s (mostly PWS products) were evacuated to Romania, another 40 aircraft flew to Lithuania and two to Hungary. The Germans captured several vehicles in non-flying condition, from which they were able to assemble two normal planes. Since July 1941, these aircraft were used as liaison aircraft in the rear. Soviet troops captured several dozen of these aircraft, which were sent to flight schools mainly in the south. The Romanians and Hungarians used these aircraft extensively at the front.
After the start of aggression against the USSR, the Germans in Lithuania captured another 28 RWD-8s, which were transferred to the troops, where they were used in March 1943. After the end of the war, several flying machines remained in Romania, which were returned to Poland.