2021 rok.
Marek Kaiper
Swords, bayonets and knives in the air forces of the Polish People’s Republic.
In the military aviation in the times of the Polish People’s Republic, apart from gala swords and combat bayonets, aviation rescue and survival knives, sapper knives and many types of assembly knives were used. Knife bayonets 56-H-212 were used in the companies of aviation regiments for the AKM Kbk with a wooden butt and the later 6H3 bayonets for the AKM Kbk. In the 1950s and 1960s, the guard companies used the wz. 44 (Mosin) square stabbing bayonets 38.2 cm long, hinged on a rifle. That is why the soldiers of these companies for many years, even after having been rearmed with the AK kbk, were called "kabki". At that time, the remaining soldiers of air squadrons, communication companies, UL companies, transport (car) companies and supply battalions were armed with pm wz. 43 or its version with a wooden stock called the pm wz. 43/52, a weapon without bayonets.
Knives were also present in the necessities produced by the Lefana company from Legnica. They were produced in 3 types: 1NT (Tourist Essentials), 2NT and 3NT. The 1NT toolkit consisted of 4 parts of a knife, fork, spoon, knife opener and bottle caps. The opener was also a container for the remaining parts that were inserted into its handle. These essentials were issued to the staff. The next type was the 2NT toolkit, it consisted of 3 parts, in which the knife was connected to the can opener and the spoon and fork were inserted into the handle of the knife – opener. The 3NT kit also consisted of 3 parts, a spoon, a fork and a knife. The spoon was equipped at the end of the handle with a special T-shaped connector on which a fork and knife were placed at an angle of 90 ° to the spoon, and then rotated over the spoon, which blocked the cutlery. Essentials soldiers of the basic service wore with them in uniforms of the "rain" type wz. 58 in the front inner pocket for a personal dressing or in the side sweatshirt pocket. In "camo" uniforms wz. 68 or "puma" wz. 89 in the side thigh pockets, and in the "panther" type uniforms wz. 93 most often in the thigh pocket for an assault knife.
Cord wz. 1954.It was used for the gala uniform on special occasions. They were mainly produced with aviation enameled checkerboard on the scabbard, aviation darts and sailors wz. 1954 were modeled on the swords (air, navy and land forces) of the USSR army wz. 1945, and the one on the tsarist sword wz. 1914.
Similar cords were also introduced in Czechoslovakia and Romania. Unfortunately, the Polish pre-war design of the sword (model 1924 was not accepted as ideologically incorrect. The sword is connected to the scabbard with a lock (latch) opened with a button on the handle. blade-16 mm, length of the scabbard 255 mm The sword was worn on white rapts attached to a belt from the trousers.
Written by Marek Kaiper