Bartłomiej Belcarz (1961–2024)

It's better to start with what this book is not, rather then what it is. It's not really about Polish warplanes (though there's no shortage of sharp photos); for that you would be better off with Jerzy Cynk's 1971 tome on the history of Polish aviation. It's also not really about Polish military aviators; Adam Zamoyski's "The Forgotten Few" is an accessible popular work on that topic. What this work gives you is a comprehensive history of the organization of the Polish Air Force, its units, show more and how it evolved from its creation at the end of World War I up to its defeat in 1939.

If I have to mark this reference work down for anything, it's that a chapter explicitly dealing with aviation doctrine and strategy in Poland would have been a good thing. Though anyone likely to look at this book will probably have enough background to pick up the implicit analysis. show less

While dealing with three aircraft of French origin, two-thirds of this book deals with the Breguet 19, which at one point was the workhorse of Poland's army-cooperation units. There are some interesting stories associated with the Goliath and the Amiot (in particular, Polish trans-Atlantic attempts), but you're buying this book for coverage of the Breguet.