Polish Air Force 1939-1945 - Foreign Air Forces series (6064) [Paperback]

Dr. Jan Koniarek (Author), Don Greer (Colorist), Tom Tullis (Colorist)

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Squadron/Signal Publications; 1st edition (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897473248
• ISBN-13: 978-0897473248
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,158,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Avenging Poland: The PAF in Action, 1939-45!, July 27, 2008

By 

Michael OConnor "Wordsmith" (Wausau, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Polish Air Force 1939-1945 - Foreign Air Forces series (6064) (Paperback)

The Polish Air Force fought the longest of all the Allied air forces, flying combat from 1 September 1939 to 8 May 1945. Unsuccessful in their defense of their homeland, thousands of PAF fliers and groundcrew eventually escaped to England. This PAF influx was manna to the RAF, providing them with highly trained and combat-experienced personnel. By war's end Polish fliers had earned a combat reputation second to none in all of the RAF's various commands. Fifty years after PAF personnel made history, various publications chronicling that record began appearing, one of the first being this nicely done 1994 Squadron/Signal photo-history by Dr. Jan Koniarek.

Given the inherent limitations of the 64-page format, the author does an excellent job of summarizing the creation and combat history of the PAF. After detailing PAF pre-war activities, Koniarek describes the September blitz followed by the PAF regrouping in France before devoting the bulk of the book to PAF ops in Great Britain. A final chapter details PAF ops on the Russian Front.

Koniarek's narrative is peppered with the names, photos and exploits of legendary Polish pilots and units - 'Dziubek' Horbaczewski, Jan Zumbach, Witold Urbanowicz, 303 Squadron, 'Skalski's Circus' (aka the Polish Fighting Team), the 'Defenders of Warsaw' Squadron, etc. Many first-hand narratives are included in the book, a definite plus.

Along with Koniarek's concise but entertaining text, POLISH AIR FORCE 1939-1945 offers a wealth of illustrative material - over 160 black & white photos, 10 color pix and seven pages of gorgeous color profiles by Don Greer depicting PAF aircraft from PZL fighters to P-51s, Karas bombers to Mossies, Lysanders to Po-2s.

As an introductory history of the PAF, Korniak's book is hard to beat. It's an inexpensive, well-written and well-illustrated overview of some of the greatest Allied pilots to fly combat during World War II. Highly recommended.

****
The definitive history of the PAF is Jerzy Cynk's two volume POLISH AIR FORCE AT WAR (Schiffer, 1998).