During the 19th century, Poland did not exist as a nation. It had been taken over and incorporated into surrounding countries. With the end of WWI and the loss in that conflict of Germany and Russia, Poland was provided the opportunity to become its own nation once again. Starting a fairly large nation as Poland from basically scratch, the nation had to rebuild its military. That included aviation. Fortunately, there were a fair number of unused German aircraft scattered throughout the nation. Thus, most of Poland's postwar air force consisted of various German types.

This did not mean that there were not any locally produced aircraft, however, it just took time to develop. This started slowly and by the late 1920s, had blossomed into a vibrant aviation industry. In the 30s, things were going so well that Poland was producting world class aircraft and was able to establish an export business to other nations in the region. Better things were in development, but the start of WWII in September 1939 caught Poland in a position where its air arm was reaching obsolescence and the replacements had not yet gone into mass production.

This book provides a running history of Polish aviation between the two world wars. The majority of the book consists of photographs of the various types operated by the PAF, with some types getting more images than others depending on the importance of the aircraft. Some of the chapters provide aircraft information in alphabetical order while others depend of specific subjects, like the start of WWII. Throughout are some outstanding period images that have been brought together under one cover. A must have book for those with an interest in this time period in general and Poland's air force in particular. Highly recommended.

 May 2026

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