Let me give you a little background to this Blog. I've always been interested in aircraft and spent my childhood making Airfix plastic models of planes and reading endless books about the history of aviation. In 1974 my family moved to south west London which gave me a chance to watch an endless sucession of aircraft inbound to London Heathrow airport ( LHR ). I quickly discovered that the 285 bus would take me to Heathrow central and that the airport had a large rooftop viewing terrace at the Queens building between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Here in front of me were aircraft from all over the world, national airlines, regional airlines, cargo airlines, buisness jets and occasionally some military aircraft too - each with their own unique registration letters which I could scribble into my notebook ( log ). And so began a lifetime of watching, photographing and researching aircraft.
In 1994 I married my wife who I'd met whilst working in London. Bea was Polish with a family in Warsaw the capitol city. In December 1994 we flew from Heathrow to visit her family for Christmas flying on British Airways Boeing 757 G-BIKF ( Flight BA 850 ). This would be my first visit to Poland. Before we went I did some research about airfields near Warsaw and learned about the general aviation airfield at Bemowo - Babice. Could I find the opportunity to get to Bemowo, how could I get to Bemowo, would I be able to get into the airfield at Bemowo, was it safe to go and look at aircraft at Bemowo as a foreigner, I didn't want to be arrested!
Monday 26th December 1994 - my first visit to Bemowo airfield
I managed to borrow my father in-laws car and drove very carefully from the centre of Warsaw out to the north west suburb of Bemowo using a local A-Z map ( this is 1994 pre WWW pre internet ). I was rather nervous of the extensive tram network that criss-crossed the roads - trams have priority. As it was Boxing Day ( the day after Christmas ) there was not too much traffic on the roads. The airfield at Bemowo is large, it was a former Polish airforce fast jet base - over the years the city had expanded and now the airfield was surrounded by blocks and blocks of flats. The A-Z map had the location of the "Aeroklub Warszawa" hangar marked on the map ( on the north side of the airfield near some residential flats ), this was my target.
The entrance to the airfield was controlled by a man in a small hut who controlled a metal barrier. Without saying a word he raised the barrier and I drove in. I guess the local Warsaw type registration plate on the car may have helped.
The airfield was completely dead, it was mid winter and it was the Christmas holidays. I parked the car and went for a walk by the many hangars. No more fences or gates. Lots of locals were enjoying a Boxing day walk in front of the hangars with their children and pet dogs.
Parked on the frozen grass in front of the hangars was a long line of An-2 biplanes, this was for me was very good. Among the An-2 were half a dozen guard dog kennels, thankfully these appeared empty. Some of these aircraft were beginning to look a little tatty parked outside among the long grass. Here is my log,
SP-TBA, SP-TBD, SP-TBF, SP-TBK, SP-TBL, SP-TBM, SP-TCA, SP-TCB, SP-TCC, SP-TCD, SP-TCE, SP-TCF and SP-TVN all An-2 - All part of the Aeropol fleet - note that TCA and TCB both had some fabric damage.
SP-TBF s/n 1G159-47 modified for photo survey
SP-TCA s/n 1G167-10 with some fabric damage
The Polish National Archive has an interesting photo from 1984 showing the same Aeropol An-2 line up including SP-TBF which features just a few lines above
The Aeroklub Warszawa hangars were all locked up, however the final hangar in the row was open - at the time this was the Aeropol hanger ( later IBEX and now Enter ), aircraft seen were
SP-TAA Let 410 Aeropol - s/n 822038 - white/blue
SP-TAB Let 410 Aeropol - white/orange
SP-TAC Let 410 Aeropol - white/orange
SP-FSW Mi-2
SP-SAE Mi-2 Aeropol
SP-FAU Let 200
Outside on the grass nearby
SP-FSH Mi-2 - white/blue
SP-FSI Mi-2 - s/n 542503072 - white/blue ( once PWL 2503 )
SP-SWW Mi-8P white/green/blue - s/n 10650 built 1980 ( with signs of its previous registration SP-SWT underneath SWW )
I was very happy to see all the above aircraft. Polish registered aircraft ( ie "SP-" ) were very rare visitors to the UK usually only being seen at aviation trade shows such as Farnborough. Remember at this time Poland was only just emerging from decades of communist party rule and control by the USSR.
You will notice from the above listing of aircraft a complete absence of Western aircraft types - the deluge of Cessna and Pipers would arrive very soon. As an aviation enthusiast it was great to see these Polish and Czech built aircraft.
Also of note are the handful of SP-F...... registered aircraft - at the time the SP-F..... sequence was used for aircraft privately owned, a small but rapidly growing registration sequence in the 1990's.
Bemowo airfield was also home to some military helicopters - seen parked over on the southern side of the airfield were,
606 Mi-17 grey camoflague with blue/white tail band
633 Mi-8 olive, square windows with blue/white tail band
634 Mi-8 white, square windows with blue/white tail band
635 Mi-8 white, square windows with blue/white tail band
The blue/white tail band shows that these were all operated by 103 Pułku Lotnictwa ( 103 PL )
I was very happy with all the aircraft I'd been able to see - the contents of the Aeroklub Warszawa hangars would have to wait for another day. Time to return to the family in Warsaw to enjoy Babcia's home cooking.
Second visit - September 1995
On Wednesday 6th September 1995 I visited Bemowo airfield for the second time. I was no longer visiting from the UK, I was now living in Poland. We were now living in a village called Izabelin just outside Warsaw, towards the Kampinos forest. Fortunately for me the drive from Izabelin to Warsaw took me past Bemowo airfield - handy!
The airfield was active and a couple of hangars were open too - here are my notes
Visitors
SP-ASL Zlin 142
SP-ATG Zlin 142
SP-WOW An-2 - red/white/blue
SP-WPE An-2 - cream
SP-ZOI Wilga
Also outside were
SP-BZU RSZ-05 balloon - being inflated - blue
SP-ZUN Dromader
SP-ZUP Dromader
SP-ZWL Dromader
Note that Dromaders were often present in the role of water bombers during the summer forest fire season
The Aeroklub Warszawa hangar was open and revealed (note that not all these belonged to the AK Warszawa, some were privately owned ),
SP-AEU Zlin 42
SP-AFT Wilga
SP-AHB Wilga
SP-AMB Piper J3C-65 Cub
SP-ARN Koliber
SP-ATD Zlin 142
SP-ATS Zlin 142
SP-AUC Zlin 50 - Lotto titles
SP-AWA Yak 12
SP-AZG Zlin 142
SP-CKL Gawron
SP-CSY Zlin 526 Akrobat
SP-EAI Wilga
SP-EBH Wilga - dismantled
SP-FSK Mi-2
SP-FZL Wilga 80
SP-PKT Rand KR-2PM Smigly - homebuilt - white/yellow
Note that at this time the SP-P..... sequence was used for "proby" - prototypes and test flights - in due course this Rand KR-2 would become SP-FKT.
Outside near the AK Warszawa hanger was the fuselage of an old An-2, used for parachute ground training
( 7444 ) An-2 unmarked fuselage only, ground instructional airframe for parachute training - ex Polish Air Force
Also open was the air ambulance hanger ( CZLS ) - the CZLS had it's national HQ at Bemowo with many operating detachments around Poland.
SP-MXA Mewa
SP-UXI An-2
SP-ZXZ Mi-2
Note medical air ambulance aircraft had the letter "X" as a middle letter
Also here were the many An-2 parked out on the grass as logged during my first visit above - note that these aircraft would soon start to disappear, more on this in later reports.
Visible over on the military side of the airfield were
659 Mi-8 olive with blue/white tail band
1918 Mi-2 brown/green with blue/white tail band
Thursday 14th September 1995 - brief visit
Really good to see the Pelikan today, a pusher engine motorglider design from the Politechnic Warszawa
SP-0050 PW-4 Pelikan
SP-AOH - An-2 - visitor
plus over the far side
1462 An-2 - Polish Air Force parked over by the tower - likely a visitor
606 and 608 Mi-17
636 Mi-8 olive with blue/white/tailband - 103 PL
Friday 15th September 1995 - the "far side"
Today I wanted to see if I could find a viewing point over on the "far side" ( south side ) of the airfield to get a better view of the military ramp. Along the boundary here many new houses were being built and this offered some views. I was very aware that I was the only person looking at the military aircraft with binoculars and a camera, so I didn't stay in this area too long. Logged were,
Mi-17 - 606, 607 and 608 all blue/white tail band - 103 PL
Mi-8 - 633, 634, 636, 659 all blue/white tail band - 103 PL
Mi-2 - 2814 - olive - blue/white tail band - 103 PL
Mi-2 - 4514, 4712 and 7837 - camo - all red/white tail band - 42 ELT
An-2 - 0853 - camo - red/white tail tip - 42 ELT
Sunday 24th September 1995
A quick stop today found some Aeroklub Warszawa gliding in progress,
SP-CKL Gawron - active as glider tug
SP-2543 Bocian
SP-2781 Bocian
SP-2943 Pirat
SP-3303 "LK" Junior
Monday 25th September 1995
Another look at the military ramp, this time viewing from behind some private garages.
An-2 - 0853 and 5928 - red/white tail tip - 42 ELT
Mi-2 - 0815 and 4435 - red/white tail band - 42 ELT
Mi-8 660 - blue/white tail band - 103 PL
More to follow soon - check back
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