Poland Krakow & Radom Show 27 Aug - 1 Sep Eddie Douglas
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A short trip to Poland was put together for late August to take in the Krakow Aviation museum, the Radom Airshow and a flying visit to Warsaw for a tourist look round. The Ryanair B 737 flight out of Edinburgh on Thursday 27 August in EI-DYX was uneventful and found the only aircraft of note on the Krakow ramp to be a Saab 340 of Sky Express SP-KPE. The hire car was quickly picked up at the airport, the many bumps and chips were identified by torchlight and added to the checkout logsheet and we headed off into the city. The following day dawned misty but this soon started to lift as we navigated to the Polish Air Museum at Rakowice in the city suburbs, not difficult to find but the turnoff the main carriageway was poorly signposted and easily missed. The excellent collection of aircraft, gliders and helicopters are located in one large hanger, five smaller ones and in the open around what remains of the airfield that is now in part surrounded by developments. A larger new museum building is under construction and when complete will probably result in an increase in the current entry fee of about £1.50 ! I have a full list if anyone wants a copy.
Many unusual types were from the Polish manufacturers PZL and WSK and the lineup of Migs was outstanding. The modern Migs and Lims are parked in a V arrangement below an embankment on the perimeter of the museum and this gives a great elevated position for photography. Early morning or late afternoon are best for the light, otherwise it is into the sun. Some really rare vintage aircraft were on show but a real surprise was the engineless ME 209 fuselage in the corner of a brick hanger. This aircraft as the Me109R took the air speed record around 1939 and was only broken by a modified Bearcat in 1969. The areas behind the hangers held other semi derelict airframes that could not be accessed on the day.
We had bumped into an Ian Allen trip at the museum who were also heading up the E7 toward Warsaw and hoped to do some Friday arrivals at Radom – some hope as it took 90 minutes to get out of the city and the traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and roadworks on a major road were some fun. Our veteran trip headed for their hotel and some rest, grub and grog.
At Radom on Saturday 29th the static had a good selection of types from Poland and neighbouring countries but was poorly lit with thundershowers forecast. Luckily the heavier of these held off until about 1300 but the flying had to be cancelled and we got drenched. The list below is for the Sunday also.
Polish Internationl Airshow Radom – Sadow 29-30.08.09
Static
PZL SW4 Polish AF 6610
Mi2 Hoplite 5338
Mi24 Czech AF 7354
M28 Bryza Polish Navy 0810
Mi2 Polish AF 7332
Mi17 Polish AF 607
PZL W3WA Polish AF 0904
PZL W3R Polish AF 0419
Mi8 Polish AF 619
Orlik Polish AF 052
Su22UM Polish AF all black 305
F16 Polish AF 4072
Mig27 Polish AF 105
Iskra Polish AF 1413
Hawk Finish AF HW-352
A10 USAF 81-992/SP
A10 USAF 81-960/SP
Su24MK Belarus AF 42
Gripen Czech AF 9820
Tornado German AF 43+10
Typhoon RAF ZJ939/DXI
Typhoon RAF ZJ926/QOY
Hawk RAF XX184/CQ
F16 KLu J-688
Gripen Hungarian AF 42
Mirage 2000 Greek AF 508
L159 Czech AF 6072
C17 USAF March 05-5140
C130H Belgian AF CH-13
PZL11 Polish AF (only one) 8.63/2
An26 Hungarian AF 603
CN235 Spanish AF T21-11/35-49
Mi8 Polish AF 0808
CN235 Finish AF 035/CC-1
AH64 Klu Q-19
S70 Austrian AF 6M-BB
Bryza Polish Border Guard SN-60YG
IL76 Belarus AF EW0050E
A26 Czech AF 2507
EM11c ORKA SP-MIM
Tiger Moth T7230
Sonex Homebuid SP-YWL
Wilga SP-NWA
Embraer 175 LOT SP-LIB
RWD5R SP-LOT
Skyleader 500 SP-SKYL
Let410 SP-TPA
Veri Easy SP-YXY
Flightlines/Flying
Gripen Hungarian AF 38
Alpha Jet French AF /314-AB
Alpha Jet French AF /705-RW
F18 Spanish AF C15-45/12-03
F18 Spanish AF C15-48/12-06
L159 Czech AF 6049
L159 Czech AF 6053
Su27 Belarus AF 63
Rafale French AF 103/13-HR
Rafale French AF 102/330-EF
Mi35 Czech AF 3367
Mi35 Czech AF 3371
Mi24 Polish AF 271
SW4 6606, 6614
Bryza SP-DDA
Yak40 042
SP-YSL
W3WARM Rescue 0815
Let 410 Czech AF 2602
Jet Ranger Police SN-16XP
C130E Polish Air Force 1501
Iskra SP-YIR
F16 Belgian AF FA116, +1
EM11c ORKA SP-MEO
Display Team 1,2,4,6,7,8,9,10,
Hawk Display Team Finish AF 06, 26, 27, 34, 47
Mig 29 Polish Air Force 114, +1
F16 KLu J-646, J-015
Hawks Red Arrows 10 aircraft
Hardship Red Display SP-AUA, AUC, AUD, AUP
Orlik Display Team (from) TC-1 025, 046, 045, 050, 035,
024, 022, 020, 044, 026,
TC-2 037,047
Aero 80 SP-ICY
Aero 80 SP-TPG
Aero 80 SP-TPC
Piper Cub SP-AFY
SP-APW
Curtis JN2 SP-SHUF
Seneca SP-ALM
Trener 02 SP-YBS
RWD5R SP-LOT
PZL Milec SP-DIF
Stored Aircraft
Mi2 Polish AF 4713, 5831,
3607, 6046
Orlik Polish AF 012, 018, 038,
043, 049
In the flying display a Polish AF transport formation of 2 Bryzas, 0211,0215 a C130E 1501 and 2 unidentified CN 235s made a single pass before a fighter formation flypast of 4 Su22, 3 F16 and 3 MIG29. The planned “dogfight” between two F16 and Mig19 did not take place. The day was marred by the crash of the Belarus Su27 during its display routine when it failed to pull out a decent from a high manouver and exploded behind some trees, about 1 mile from the airfield. There appeared to be time for an ejection but no chutes were seen and the flying display was cancelled as a mark of respect for the sad loss of the two crew. A worryingly similar Su27 crash in the Ukraine in 2002 killed 84 people on the airfield.
After a quick visit to Warsaw on the Monday it was back down the E7 to Krakow on Tuesday for the flight home and our early arrival allowed a bit of time on the observation deck where photo chances are good.
Krakow-Belice 01.09.09
ATR42 Eurolot SP-EDA
EMB170 LOT SP-LDF
B200 SP-IKY
Malibu SP-CLS
Navajo SP-OOI
Diamond SP-TRL
Avanti SP-MXI
A320 Air Cairo SU-BPW
B737 Norweg LN-KKT
Citation HB-VWE
Gulf 5 G-TFKR
HS146 Euro wings D-AQUA
B737-8000 Ryanair EI-DLG, DCH, DLG
A320 Aer Lingus EI-CVB
We found the Polish people were friendly and helpful, in the countryside and city, and the cost of eating out and hotels was lower than the UK. Our survival tips for the main roads are to allow 2 hours extra getting into the cities at the peak hours and to watch out for overtakers going like Polish Battle of Britain pilots out to get the enemy. On the minor roads watch out for potholes like tank traps and cows on a lead.