Messrs. Rhade and Eswube gladly introduce the "Polish Wings" thread.
It is our intent to present in FD scale as many as is possible of the aircraft that flew under the Polish flag.
First segment (done by abovesigned Eswube and planned for several parts) is devoted to the history of Polish airlines, or more specifically, Polish Flag Carrier "Lot" and it's predecessors.
Language note: airline in Polish is "linia lotnicza" (plur.: "linie lotnicze"), but before revision of orthography that took place in 1935 it was written "linja lotnicza" ("linje lotnicze"). Throughout the text I shall use form proper for the year of the described events/planes.
Disclaimer: this thread has no commercial purpose, I am in no way connected to Polish Airlines "LOT". It is done purely for historical and hobbystic purpose.
Polskie Towarzystwo Żeglugi Napowietrznej
First attempt to create airline in Poland dates back to 1919, when the
Polskie Towarzystwo Żeglugi Napowietrznej (
Polish Society for Aerial Navigation) was created, with its shareholders being Government of Poland, British company
Handley-Page Transport and group of Polish entrepreneurs. Although actual operations never actually started, the line managed to acquire single Handley-Page O/400 airplane. It was based at Warsaw's Pole Mokotowskie airfield (still with British markings) and maintained by military technicians. There were plans to comission the aircraft into military service (although adapted as passenger aircraft, it still had bomb racks and machine-gun stations intact), but ultimately it was scrapped in 1926.
Poland, Handley-Page O/400
"Aero-Targ" Spółka Akcyjna z o.o.
First actual Polish airline, albeit short-lived was
"Aero-Targ" Spółka Akcyjna z o.o. (
"Aero-Fair" Joint-Stock Company Ltd.) that was formed in 1921 for the purpose of operating line Warsaw-Poznań and Poznań-Gdańsk (then called Danzig) during Poznań International Fair. It used six Junkers F-13 planes loaned from the based in the Free City of Gdańsk airline
Danziger Luftpost.
Poland, Junkers F-13
Polska Linja Lotnicza "Aerolloyd" S.A. z o.o./Polska Linja Lotnicza "Aerolot" S.A.
In the 1922 the company
Polska Linja Lotnicza "Aerolloyd" S.A. z o.o. (
Polish Air Line "Aerolloyd JSC Ltd.) was created as a semi-private (subsidized by the government) entity. It opened connections between Warsaw and Gdańsk, Lwów, Kraków (from 1923) and Vienna (from 1925). In 1925 it also changed its name from
"Aerolloyd" to
"Aerolot" (
Aeroflight).
Initially
Aerollyoyd's fleet consisted of six Junkers F-13 airplanes (P-PALA "Adam", P-PALB "Bronek", P-PALC "Cezar", P-PALD "Daniel", P-PALE "Edward", P-PALF "Franek"). In 1923 three more were added (P-PALG "Gustaw", P-PALH "Henryk", P-PALK "Karol"), in 1925 another three (P-PALL "Ludwik", P-PALM "Mietek", P-PALN "Nasiek) and final four in 1926 (P-PALO "Olek", P-PALP "Paweł", P-PALR "Roman", P-PALS "Stefan").
Poland, Junkers F-13
In the 1925
Aerolot attempted to open international airline Warsaw-Gdańsk-Malmo-Copenhague. For that purpose one Junkers G-23W was obtained from Junkers factory in Sweden and registered as P-PAWA, but after trial flight on the planned line it was returned to producer. Year later another attempt was made, but this time plane wasn't bought but only loaned (registration number S-504), although after several weeks it also returned to factory.
Poland, Junkers G-23
"Aero" Komunikacja Powietrzna S.A.
Next airline was created in 1925 and was named
"Aero" Komunikacja Powietrzna S.A. ("Aero" Aerial Communication JSC). It operated line between Warsaw and Poznań and later to Łódź. It used five French-built Farman F.70 planes (P-POZA, P-POZB, P-POZC, P-POZD, P-POZE), however due to very fragile and unreliable engines rarely more than one or two were serviceable at any given time.
Poland, Farman F.70