Krakow’s Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego has existed at the historic Rakowice-Czyzyny airfield since 1964 and currently hosts a collection of around 200 aircraft plus vehicles, engines, armaments and documents. Established in 1912 under the auspices of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the airfield had been the site of balloon aviation since the 19th Century. Used by Austrian forces during WW1, it became the first operational airfield of interwar Poland. At the start of WW2, the airfield was occupied by the Luftwaffe who extended the runway and used the aerodrome to supply the Eastern Front. Taken by the Russians in January 1945, the airfield was returned to the Polish Air Force until increasing urbanisation led to its closure in the early sixties.
The Museum is therefore very important in the history of Polish aviation and it was only right that an Li-2 should be prominently represented. The photographs here were taken in December 2018 and some of the outdoor exhibits were suffering in the weather but, since then, both the Li-2 and the Junkers Ju-52 have been moved to an indoor display.
The Li-2T was known as the ‘Litka’ in Polish service and operated with the Polish Air Force during the last couple of months of WW2. These aircraft were fitted with armaments and were initially used for communications flights with Russian aircrew. By 1947, an Officers’ Flying School had been established in Deblin, around fifty miles north-west of Lublin, and Li-2s were used to train Polish personnel. Also in Spring 1947, AIr Force Li-2s were used for flood relief during March and military support combating UPA insurgents on the border with Ukraine (1) during April to July. In parallel, the Polish Air Force used Li-2s for air survey, navigation training and bombing training (2).
(1) The UPA were Ukrainian nationalist fighters who had fought both with and against the Nazis during WW2 and continued to fight Soviet-allied forces during the mid-1940s. A highly controversial organisation, the UPA legacy continues to polarise Europeans to this day with Putin quoting its fascist influence as a reason for the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine. As they say, history may not repeat itself but it certainly hums along to the same tune.
(2) Detail from ‘Lisunov Li-2: the Soviet DC-3’ by Yefim Gordon, Sergey & Dmitry Komissarov, published by Midland/ Ian Allan, 2006.
Krakow’s Li-2 is a ‘T’ model which served with the Air Force until the mid-seventies with a brief spell of civil service as SP-LDA when leased to LOT, the Polish state airline, in Spring 1965.
The serial number 184 39102, painted on the tail, indicates that the Li-2 was built at plant #84 which would have been at Tashkent, Uzbekistan, probably in the early 1950s. It is an Li-2T and served with the Polish Air Force from August 1951(3) with, for at least part of the time, the Flying School at Deblin. During May 1965, the Li-2 was leased to LOT and was briefly registered SP-LDA. Returning to the Air Force as ‘027’, the Li-2 continued to serve until (reportedly) withdrawn from use on 3rd January 1971. The aircraft, however, seems to have continued in service until 5th February 1975 (2). It was then flown to Krakow’s Belice air base before transfer just down the road to the air museum.
(3) Information from Air Museum data plate.
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