Polish Aviation Museum

Polish Aviation Museum

The Polish Aviation Museum is Poland’s largest museum of vintage aircraft and aviation engines, located at a disused airport in Kraków. This airport was established by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1912 and is one of the oldest airports in the world. The museum opened in 1964, after the airport closed in 1963.

As of 2005, the museum houses a collection of over 200 aircraft, including gliders, and around 100 aviation engines. Some of the aircraft on display are the only surviving examples in the world, and some exhibits remain in their original condition. The museum also features a vast aviation library and image archive. It possesses 22 extremely rare aircraft that were once part of Hermann Göring’s private collection and were exhibited at the German Aviation Museum in Berlin before World War II. These artifacts were evacuated from Berlin to avoid Allied bombings and were later found abandoned on Polish territory after the war.

The museum has a small number of Polish aircraft from 1918 to 1939, as most were destroyed during the war, including those previously displayed at the pre-war Polish Aviation Museum. The only two exceptions among Poland’s pre-war military aircraft collection are a PZL P.11 (the world’s only surviving example) and a PWS-26, which survived because they had been taken as German war trophies and became part of the German Aviation Museum’s collection before being returned to Poland after the war. In addition, a number of pre-war Polish civilian aircraft were returned to Poland by Romania after the war.

Polish Aviation Museum

Why Go: Poland’s largest museum of vintage aircraft and aviation engines

Continent: Europe【Europe】

Country/Region: Poland[Poland]

Province/State: Lesser Poland Voivodeship [Lesser Poland Voivodeship]

City: Kraków [Kraków]