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The Museum of Polish Aviation

Aleja Jana Pawła Ii 39, 30-969 Kraków Phone: Sekretariat+48 126409960wew. 0Kasa biletowa+48 126409960wew. 1 http://www.muzeumlotnictwa.pl

About

The Museum of Aviation in Krakow occupies part of the premises of Krakow's former military airport at Rakowice-Czyżyny: one of Europe's oldest airports. Founded in 1964, the Museum of Aviation collects and displays exhibits connected with aviation from all over the world, and its large collection is among the world's best. Displayed here are aeroplanes, gliders, helicopters, anti-air missiles, and aircraft engines. The museum runs also an extremely well stocked library and a large photo collection. Some of the aeroplanes gathered here are world unique. These include fuselages from First World War German fighter planes: Halberstadt Cl.II, Albatros C.I, Aviatik C.III, and Roland D.VI. Our collection boasts of the only surviving intact Grigorovich M.15, Russian airship dating from 1916, a German Albatros B.IIa and the fuselage of a well-known English fighter plane of 1917, the Sopwith F.1 Camel. The aeroplanes are on display thanks to the work of the technical and maintenance department, which has brought these badly damaged relics back to display condition. Work on the reconstruction of further aeroplanes is in progress. The museum is the only place where pre-war Polish military aircraft can be viewed intact. One of these planes is particularly worth your while: it is a PZL P.11c fighter which took part in dogfights in September 1939. Once property of the 121st Fighter Squadron of the II Air Group, the plane was stationed at Rakowice - exactly on the premises of today's museum. Another Polish craft from between the two world wars is the training plane PWS 26. besides these, you can see here two Polish passenger aircraft, an RWD 13 from 1935 and an RWD 21 from 1939. Second World War exhibits include two particularly beautiful models: a British Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk XVI E and Soviet medium-range bomber Tu-2S, one of the best in its class towards the end of war. The collection includes also Polish post-war aeroplanes and foreign planes used by the Polish Air Force and in civil aviation. It has examples of almost all the fighter jets in the history of Polish aviation, including numerous Jak, Il, Su and MiG (and Lim - the Polish versions produced under licence). There are also Polish and licensed helicopters and gliders well-known throughout the world. In a separate part of the exhibition, there are aircraft engines dating from 1908 to the present day. Our constantly growing collection is augmented by rocket engines and anti-air missiles.