Customer Reviews

Pzl P11c

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This was an early Mushroom Model Publications Yellow Series book (No 6108). It dates from 2003. Despite this it remains the best reference on this aircraft in English. For a Polish type this might not seem to be high praise but the book is excellent.

Physically, the book is a 6-1/2" x 9-1/2" square bound card cover with 128 pages. Like most Yellow Series the book is divided into three sections.

The first section is a detailed development and service history supported by many black and white photographs and line drawings. The service history is very detailed. In a unit by unit narration the successes and losses of the P.11 (and the remaining P.7) units are laid out. This section covers the first 64 pages.

The second section consists of detailed color photos of a preserved example supplemented by many technical manual drawings. This section runs from page 65 to 96.

The remainder of the book (and the rear cover) consists of color profiles. Each unit is represented with the unit badge detailed in a larger scale. The color schemes are fairly monotonous but they are what they are. There are also profiles of P.11s in Romanian and Hungarian service.

Had the aircraft been in service with a major power it would no doubt have achieved much more than it did. Fighters like the Gloster Gladiator and Fiat CR.42 were by no means unsuccessful, and as the authors state, the PZL P.11c deserves to me compared to them.

The only thing I was left wondering about was whether the victories over the Bf 109 were over the C and D models still in service or the later E model. It would be interesting to know if that information was available.

As the authors point out the P.11c was the first Allied fighter aircraft to engage the Luftwaffe. For this reason alone the aircraft deserves to be better known. The book is highly recommended if it can be found out a reasonable price. It seems to command high prices on the secondhand market.