Launched in October 2024, Hangar No. 5 fills with aerial exhibits. It is there – a fresh permanent exhibition “With wind and against wind” is being created on the awesome exhibition surface over 3000 m2. civilian aviation”, which the Museum plans to open at the end of the holiday.
The fresh exhibition will talk about the past of Polish aviation from legendary pioneers of our aviation to modern times with peculiar emphasis on aviation, transport, sanitary and agri-aircraft. We want to emphasize the success of Polish pilots and constructors who built the prestige of Polish wings for years. The exhibition, in addition to its educational functions, besides has an crucial mission to fulfill, to remind about people who can be an example to follow especially for young people – says Tomasz Kosecki, manager of the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow.
The first works related to the construction of the exhibition have already begun and the restored gliders and aircraft are being taken to the historical airport Rakowiche-Czyny Hangar No. 5, which will be the home of the fresh exhibition.
Already in 2022 with a view to the fresh permanent exhibition “With wind and against wind. civilian Aviation” started the process of renovation of exceptional Polish gliders reflecting the past of the improvement of Polish civilian aviation – explains Ewa Cuber-Strutyńska, Head of the Collections Department.
We speak, among others, of WWS Wrona bis, IS-B Komar 49, IS-A Salamandra, IS-C Crane, IS-1 Vulture and SZD-10 bis Czapla, SZD-9 Stork. In addition, the exhibition will include:
• actual pearl: prototype glider PW-5 Smyk donated by the Warsaw University of Technology, which won the competition in 1994 and was recognized by the global Aviation Federation (FAI) as a world-class glider for the Olympic competition.
• The S-1 Swift prototype, in the 1990s by Edward Margański and Jerzy Cisowski, was a breakthrough task in the field of glider acrobatics, and its plan became the foundation for further innovations in this field – including the fresh JAY Institute of Aviation acrobatics.
• IS-4 hawk aerobatic glider, which was able to drive up to 450 km/h!
There will besides be no shortage of relics from the very beginnings of aviation improvement in our country – the exhibition will be exhibited by Czesław Tański Air Museum from 1895 and a replica of SL-1 Akar glider made by Warsaw University of Technology, on which Tadeusz Karpiński won the first sailplane competition in Poland in 1923.
Apart from gliders at the exhibition, visitors will besides be able to admire exceptional sports and civilian aircraft, including:
• PZL-106 Kruk- the first Polish construction of a specialized agricultural aircraft (with a tight compartment with hypertensive and air filtration), designed in WSK PZL Warszawa Okęcie;
• CSS S-13 – a multitasking aircraft, which was created in the Central Plane survey in Warsaw, the exhibit presented at the Museum served for sanitary purposes – has a peculiar seat in the hull on a stretcher with the patient;
• Albatross B.II of 1919 in peculiar painting with advertising of the E. Wedel chocolate mill – it was the first aircraft utilized for marketing purposes;
• a replica of the interwar RWD-8 aircraft built by the Museum, which was the most widely produced aircraft before the war, but until our time no copy has been preserved;
• recently restored PZL-104 Wilga aircraft – a flagship product of the post-war aviation industry, where Poles competed in the planet championships in precision and racing flying, winning many medals;
• amateur aircraft – among another things: Kukułko Eugeniusz Pieniażka, which he escaped from PRL to Yugoslavia and a collection of excellent Polish constructor Jarosław Janowski: built in an flat in a tenement home in Łódź from 1969 to 1970 J-1 Prząśnica, J-2 Polonez – whose first unit was powered by a modified motor from the Trabant car and J-5 Marco – the first composite ultra light motorboat in Poland.
The exhibition was designed to present as far as possible the heritage of Polish civilian and sports aviation. It includes not only air ships but besides many small-scale exhibits specified as documents, photographs, uniforms, cups, decorations etc. The exhibition layout was designed as 7 mutually complementary thematic areas:
1. The beginnings of aviation in Poland,
2. Sailing and sports aviation,
3. Women in Polish Aviation,
4. Amateur aviation,
5. Services aviation – postal, sanitary, agri-aircraft,
6. Polish LOT airlines,
7. Paratroversy and aviation,
8. Air modeling.
Opening of the exhibition “With wind and against wind. civilian aviation will surely be 1 of the most crucial cultural events of this year. We will keep you informed about the advancement of the exhibition – this is an highly interesting creative process that we would like to share with aviation sympathizers – says Zuzanna Kaczorowska, specialist in the promotion and marketing of the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow.
Source: Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków
