Tuesday, 18 April 2023

Breguet 14, part eight. European Users, part five. Polish users.

 
Preliminary note: Almost every Polish word has been translated by Google, as none of us speaks Polish, so expect typos, and even grammar failures when you read that language. Apologies.

The Bréguet 14 was a French biplane of the World War I which was used both in the bomber and reconnaissance roles. It was employed by many nations around the globe, among them, Poland.
The newly created Government of the Second Polish Republic acquired both the Br.14A and Br.14B in vast numbers from French Escadrilles that were in Poland as part of the occupation force. 
Those escadrilles were:
  • BR 39: Equipped with 15 Br.14A.2s, this unit was initially based at Lublin, to take part in the Ukrainian Front against the Soviets, as both Poland and the Russian SFSR were in war against each other. In September 1919, the French gave the aircraft of this escadrille to the Wojska Lotnicze (Polish Air Force) who transferred them to the 16 Eskadry Wywiadowczej (16th Reconnaissance Squadron). This unit served until June 1920 when it ran out of serviceable aircraft and was, therefore, disbanded.
  • BR 59:  Equipped also with 15 Br.14A.2, this unit was also based at Lublin and was transferred to the Wojska Lotnicze in September 1920. It was renamed as 17 Eskadry Wywiadowczej (17th Reconnaissance Squadron) and by mid-July 1921 the unit was disbanded.
  • BR 66: Based at Wilno in January 1919, this unit was designated as 4 Eskadry Wywiadowczej (4th Reconnaissance Squadron) and was equipped with Br.14B.2, the bomber variant. It was disbanded in July 1920 as there were no serviceable aircraft available and some machines passed on to the Republic of Central Lithuania.
Apart from those French units, some native units of the Wojska Lotnicze employed the Br.14 as the Polish Government ordered seventy additional Br.14s directly from France and, in November 1919 there were enough machines to form a new squadron:
  • 10 Eskadry Wywiadowczej (10th Reconnaissance Squadron). This unit was initially based at Lwow, but it was sent to Brzesc in August 1920 and then to Poznan-Lawica airfield in October, to be re-equipped with Bristol F.2B fighters in early 1921. 
  • 1 Pulk Powietrzny (1st Aerial Regiment): This unit was formed when even more machines arrived in 1921 (which were ordered in 1920). Based in Warsaw, this regiment was composed of two squadrons, each one of them hosting two Eskadras (flights). Those squadrons were 1 and 4 Dyon Wywiadowczej (1st & 4th Intelligence Squadrons) with 12 , 16 and 3 and 8 Eskadras respectively. This unit replaced their Br.14 with Potez 15 in 1924. 
After the mid-1920s, when almost every Br.14 was withdrawn from active service, they were used as elementary trainers, forest dusters or even bomber trainers until 1933 when the last Polish Br.14 was written off.

























Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bréguet_14
2nd Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War
3rd Windsock Datafile Special - Breguet 14

No comments:

Post a Comment