Author: Karol

  • Polish Aviation Industry – Part 04

    Zakłady Mechaniczne Emil Plage and Teofil Laśkiewicz in Lublin are undoubtedly the first Polish aviation company. She produced aircraft since 1921. From 1928, she produced her own aircraft constructions, and after nationalization under the name Lublin. In 1935, the factory was nationalized.  

  • Polish Aviation Industry – Part 05

    On August 11, 1923, a joint-stock company was established under the name Wielkopolska Wytwórnia Samolotów – Samolot, which became the second company, after Zakłady Mechaniczne E. Plage and T. Laśkiewicz in Lublin, producing airplanes in Poland. The company was founded on the initiative of the president of the Polish Air Force Association, Czesław Wawrzyniak. On…

  • Polish Aviation Industry – Part 03

    In parallel with the Central Aviation Workshops at the Mokotów Airport, the Polish authorities planned to launch new aviation production plants. In 1921, the Ministry of Military Affairs concluded an agreement with the Francopol Joint Stock Company. The company undertook the production of several thousand airplanes and aircraft engines. The construction of the factory began…

  • Polish Aviation Industry – Part 01

    One of the first successful Clerget 9B aircraft engines. The engine is piston, radial, rotary, air-cooled. The engine was designed in 1915 by Pierre Clerget. Its basic version developed a power of 88.26 kW (120 hp) at 1,250 rpm, and the displacement was 16.3 dm3. The engine rotated together with the propeller, and the crankshaft…

  • Polish Aviation Industry – Part 02

    Shortly after the Republic of Poland regained independence and the Germans were expelled from Warsaw, in November 1918, the Military Aviation Workshops were established. They were placed in the buildings of the former School of Observers at 2A Puławska Street. Ultimately, the workshops had: two assembly halls, 22 hangars, 6 workshop buildings, a power plant,…

  • Air escapes from the PRL. Defection to freedom. 2015.

    In 2009, in the history of the Lim-2 fighter, we included a small subchapter titled "Unfortunate events", in which we presented the history of the air escapes of four Polish officers who managed to break out of the communist paradise. We were not supposed to come back to this issue. However, the assessment of these…

  • In the field of flights of the Air Regiment in the 70’s of the 20th century. Radiolocation. 2014.

    The landing support system is described in detail in the article – "Outline of the history of air navigation. Radiolocation at the airport during landing. " In this part, we will only provide additional information on what such a punk looks like in Poland, compared to the flood of photos of such objects in the…

  • Lighting on the take-off area at military airfields in the 1970s.

    In the previous chapters, we mentioned several times about the important role of airport lighting, and above all the landing area. Since the military doctrine of the Muscovite empire provided for mobility as the basic axiom of action, the lighting of the landing field should also be mobile, or at least transportable. In Poland, at…

  • Fuel dispensers and tugs at military airports in the 1970s.

    There was no flight without fuel. Vehicle fuel dispensers are one of the most important vehicles in the flight organization system. This is the basic equipment that guarantees the performance of any flights. In the aviation regiments there were fuel and lubricant depots, called MPS (Propellant and Lubricants). Just like the Car Park, MPS was…

  • Starting units and other technical vehicles at military airports in the 1970s.

    Starting units are devices used to start turbojet and turboprop engines that drive airplanes and helicopters. I will not go into the details of starting the engines. Let me just mention that the typical way of starting aircraft engines was and still is to use the airport’s electricity source. The first turbojet aircraft in Poland,…