Polish Air Force 1939 Through German eyes Table of contents Glossary ..........................................................................................................................................................................................6 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................................7 Chapter I - POLISH AIR FORCE IN SEPTEMBER 1939 ............................................................................................................9 POLISH AIR FORCE IN SEPTEMBER 1939 ............................................................................................................................10 GERMAN BOMBING OF POLISH AIRFIELDS .......................................................................................................................14 Chapter II - NAVAL AIR SQUADRON ......................................................................................................................................17 NAVAL AIR SQUADRON .........................................................................................................................................................18 RUMIA .........................................................................................................................................................................................26 Chapter III - POMERANIA ..........................................................................................................................................................29 AIRFIELDS OF THE 4TH AIR REGIMENT ................................................................................................................................30 AIR COMPONENT OF THE ‘POMORZE’ ARMY ...................................................................................................................38 Chapter IV - WIELKOPOLSKA ..................................................................................................................................................43 POZNAŃ-ŁAWICA AIRFIELD (BASE OF THE 3RD AIR REGIMENT) ...............................................................................44 AIR COMPONENT OF THE ‘POZNAŃ’ ARMY ......................................................................................................................49 Chapter V - ŁÓDŹ REGION ........................................................................................................................................................59 ŁÓDŹ-LUBLINEK AIRFIELD ...................................................................................................................................................60 OF THE ‘ŁÓDŹ’ ARMY .............................................................................................................................................................73 AIR COMPONENT ......................................................................................................................................................................73 Chapter VI - MAZOWSZE ...........................................................................................................................................................83 WARSAW - OKĘCIE ..................................................................................................................................................................84 WARSZAWA - WP1 ....................................................................................................................................................................86 WARSZAWA - WS 1, ITL, DWL, LOT .................................................................................................................................... 111 WARSZAWA - BASE OF THE 1st AIR REGIMENT ...............................................................................................................114 WARSAW-MOKOTÓW AND WARSAW-BIELANY ...............................................................SAMPLE.............................................126 Chapter VII - PURSUIT BRIGADE ..........................................................................................................................................129 PURSUIT BRIGADE .................................................................................................................................................................130 Chapter VIII - BOMBER BRIGADE .........................................................................................................................................145 BOMBER BRIGADE .................................................................................................................................................................146 Chapter IX - NO. 1 AIR FORCE TRAINING CENTRE (CWL-1) ...........................................................................................165 DĘBLIN-IRENA ........................................................................................................................................................................166 UŁĘŻ ..........................................................................................................................................................................................223 BOROWINA ...............................................................................................................................................................................233 SPRL - RADOM .........................................................................................................................................................................239 Chapter X - ŚWIĘTOKRZYSKIE REGION ..............................................................................................................................259 KIELCEMMP - MASŁÓW, POLICHNO ............................................................... ............................................................................260 Photo credits ...............................................................................................................................................................................262 Name index .................................................................................................................................................................................262 Aircraft index ..............................................................................................................................................................................263 5 Polish Air Force 1939 Through German eyes POLISH AIR FORCE IN SEPTEMBER 1939 Polish aviation in 1939 included the air force, the airlines a 1, 2, 4 or 5 for line (reconnaissance) flights, or a 3 or 6 for and sports/general aviation. accompanying (observation) flights. Until Summer 1939 the Polish Air Force was organised Air force training establishments were combined in two centres: into air regiments. The 1st Air Regiment (1 Pułk Lotniczy – 1 – No. 1 Air Force Training Centre (CWL-1) that included the PL) was based in Warsaw at Okęcie, the 2nd Air Regiment (2 Air Force Cadet Officers’ School (SPL) at Dęblin, the Flying PL) in Cracow at Rakowice-Czyżyny, the 3rd Air Regiment (3 School (SP) at Ułęż, the Air Force Reserve Cadet Officers’ PL) in Poznań at Ławica, the 4th Air Regiment (4 PL) in Toruń, School (SPRL) at Radom and the Engineering Class of the Air the 5th Air Regiment (5 PL) in Lida (now in Belarus) and in Force Cadet Officers’ School (SPL-GT) in Warsaw at Mokotów; Wilno (now Vilnius in Lithuania), and the 6th Air Regiment (6 – No. 2 Air Force Training Centre (CWL-2) that included PL) in Lwów (now Lviv in Ukraine) at Skniłów. The air regi- the Air Force NCO School for Minors (SPLdM) at Krosno ments had their permanent bases at these airfields, including (transferred from Bydgoszcz). hangars, utility buildings and workshops (the latter known as The Naval Air Squadron (Morski Dywizjon Lotniczy – ‘parks’). The regiments had their permanently assigned combat MDLot) based at Puck reported to the Polish Navy. flights (eskadra), training squadrons (dywizjon), and transport Allocation to a particular unit was marked on aircraft by and medical evacuation aircraft. Combat units included fighter, applying code letters on wing undersurfaces. The codes were: bomber, line (renamed ‘reconnaissance flights’ during the mobi- N for the 1 PL, K for the 2 PL, P for the 3 PL, T for the 4 PL, lisation) and accompanying (renamed ‘observation flights’ in L for the 5 PL, and S for the 6 PL, while training units used August 1939) flights, usually organised in two-flight squadrons. the following letters: 1 PL – A, 2 PL – E, 3 PL – F, 6 PL – J, The fighter flights were identified with three-digit numbers, SPL – D, SPRL – R, SP – U, SPLdM – M, Staff Training starting with a 1, followed by the second digit that identified Flight (Sztabowa Eskadra Treningowa) – Z, Aviation Technical the regiment. Line and accompanying flights had two-digit Institute (ITL) – W. Other underwing code letters included B, numbers, beginning with the regiment number, followed by used by the SPLdM at Bydgoszcz (prior to the move to Krosno). Numbers of Polish Air Force aircraft on 1 September 1939 (not including naval aviation) Role Type Number Allocation Combat units Training Reserve Overhauls A. Combat aircraft Fighter PZL P.11 165 128 6 5 26 PZL P.7 105 30 40 10 25 Bomber PZL.37 Łoś 84 SAMPLE36 20 16 12