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Wroclaw 16 - 19th September 2024  Richard Bowater

This year’s trip turned out to be a very short but very enjoyable return trip to Poland and the city of Wroclaw. Our annual trip to the Strathaven Hot air Balloon Festival was cancelled due to the continuing poor weather so we had to find somewhere to visit to make up for it. We had enjoyed Krakow last year, so Poland was first choice for a short break. Wroclaw came out as the best price but not the best for its aviation content. The flight was unfortunately from Newcastle again and with Ryanair.

 

The outbound flight was a first trip on a 737 max, with the aircraft being EI-IKC a recent addition to the fleet. It was a nice to fly in a virtually new aircraft. Downside the pressurisation was hard on the ears.

 

We arrived in the dark and as expected there wasn’t much to be seen, a single LOT ERJ 175 and an Enter Air 738. The bus to the city was from the front of the terminal and about a 30 minute ride. The accommodation was a top floor apartment overlooking the city main square. Over flights could be seen at breakfast. Nothing fantastic was seen over the two days. A JU- registration or flight number disappeared into a cloud on one of the days unfortunately. I will have to run the playback to see what it was.

 

The plan for the first day was to visit the city zoo. In the same direction there is the, “Wroclaw University of Technology” and its department of Vehicle engineering. We had tried to arrange a visit but had no reply. The university has three aircraft parked outside a Mig 29 a Su 22M4 and an AN-2.

 

On arrival the gate was open so we took it as fair game to go in. There were also no obvious “keep out signs”. The jets were easy to photograph. The AN-2 was further in past a little cabin. This is when we discovered the gate was open for the bin cart and not us, so when we asked the guard to photograph the Antonov 2 we got “Nit” which is no in Polish. We left quietly. The adjacent river bank provided a reasonable vantage point for further photographs of the Mig 29.

 

 

 

 

 

The zoo produced a few more over flights and a chance to see both of the Wroclaw Police Bell 407s. SN-84XP and SN-86XP, these were on patrol as the city was on high flood alert from the previous days downpours. Thankfully the flood did not happen. A pair of air ambulances also plotted a couple of times but didn’t come within sight.

 

Wednesday we planned another aircraft visit again no pre arrangement as no one replied to an email for a second time. “Technical school number 6”, the mistake here was to arrive at lunchtime as the students were milling about. The school has five aircraft outside and at least three more inside the building. These were noted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SP-DNA AN-2 SP-SCE Mil 2 706 Istra 5609 Mig 21PFM 7502 Mig 21UM.

 

There are a few more preserved aircraft about the city, Migs and an Istra at a hotel, a couple more Mig on the roadside and a Saab 340 near to the general aviation terminal. We would definitely go back again to see more of the city. The city is known for its 300+ cast bronze gnome statues. We managed to track down and photograph quite a few.

 

 

 

The flight back to Newcastle departs at 05:45 so we decided to stay in the city until late and spend a few hours at the airport before departure. The cafe has a couple of comfy chairs if you are quick. Outside the airport has a long apron in front of the terminal with some mesh fence and some glass walls overlooking the ramp. The night stoppers consisted of Ryanair Buzz, Enter Air a couple of Lufthansa CRJs and a Wizz Air A320. The following shots were taken with a phone camera before the flight home on SP-RNB an elderly 737 800.