Polish Aircraft

Although various Luftwaffe campaigns are discussed in this book, I limit my review to the German blitzkrieg against Poland in 1939. This review is based on the original (1968) edition. What has found its way into innumerable books and encyclopedias is a canard. Bekker comments: "Despite all assertions to the contrary, the Polish Air Force was not destroyed on the ground in the first two days of fighting. The bomber brigade in particular continued to make determined attacks on the German forces up to September 16th. However, the Polish aircraft, inferior both in numbers and in design, could hardly contest the supremacy of the Luftwaffe in the air." (p. 59).

Pilots of the Polish Air Force saw action from the first day of World War 2 until the final victory in Europe. Flying hopelessly outmoded P.11 fighters in defence of their country in September 1939, a handful of aviators inflicted serious losses on the Luftwaffe before being overwhelmed. The survivors escaped to then neutral Hungary and Romania, before being ordered to France by the new C-in-C of exiled Polish Armed Forces, General Sikorski. With the invasion of Western Europe in May 1940, the surviving pilots were once more thrust into desperate action in newly-formed Polish units.