In the opening hours of World War II, in the early morning skies over Poland, both the Axis and the Allied side had aerial victories and aerial “firsts”, some involving unlikely and obscure aircraft and unusual circumstances.
Early Morning Attack
At 04:26 hours on Sept. 1, 1939, minutes before hostilities officially began, three Luftwaffe (German Air Force) Ju 87B-1 “Stuka” dive bombers lifted off from a base in East Prussia into the grey blinding fog and were dispatched to an important railway bridge and rail station at Dirschau (Tczew) on the river Vistula, in the Polish Corridor which separated the German Reich from its easternmost province East Prussia. German intelligence was aware the Poles had rigged the bridge for demolition should war come with Germany. Being a lifeline between the Reich and the East Prussia, Germany wanted the bridge to stay intact, as the area was to be seized by an armored train carrying German ground troops, and the railroad used to move men and material.
The Stuka targets that early morning were not the bridge itself, but the blockhouses around the bridge housing the ignition points and cabling to the explosives under the twin-span bridge. The dive bombers, each carrying a 550 lb bomb under the fuselage and four 110 lb bombs below their wings, hit their targets on low-level bombing runs, severing the cables. However, the armored train was delayed and Polish engineers managed to destroy one span of the bridge anyway. This would be the first bombing raid of World War II.
Also, in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 1, 1939, a mixture of Heinkel He 111’s, Junkers Ju 87B’s, and Dornier Do 17E aircraft from Lufflotte 4 (Air Fleet 4)took to the skies to attack Polish airbases near Kraków, Poland. A large amount of German bombers and fighter escorts (mostly Messerschmitt Bf 110s) were amassed for these strikes, with Rakowice airfield taking the blunt of the punishment from the bombers. Hangers and runways were obliterated, but Polish fighter aircraft had been remotely deployed prior to this attack and escaped damage. Attacks in the north by the Luftwaffe had been slowed by the thick fog and mist that morning.
After the air armada made their runs and got on the return trip, a trio of Ju 87s passed over Balice airfield as Polish fighters were taking off. One of the Polish aircraft, a PZL P.11c piloted by Captain Mieczyslaw Medwecki, was climbing to chase down German aircraft when by chance found himself directly in front of one of Ju 87s, as he was not aware of their presence. The pilot of the Stuka, Lt. Frank Neubert opened fire with his two wing mounted 7.9 mm machine guns, destroying the Polish fighter. Medwecki was the first victim of air-to-air combat in the war; he was the commander of the III/2 Dywizjon (Wing) which consisted of the 121st and 122nd Eskady (Squadron). Lt. Neubert received credit for the first Axis air-to-air victory of the war. Neubert described the incident downing the PZL stating that it “suddenly exploded in mid-air, bursting apart like a huge fireball — the fragments literally flew around our ears.”
Approximately 20 minutes later, Medwecki’s wingman, Lt. Wladslaw Gyns, after evading the Ju 87s, encountered two Dornier Do 17Es on return from their attack. Gyns, also flying a PZL P.11c, attacked one, knocking it out of the sky near the Polish village of Zurada, then attacking the second one and dropping it as well. There were no survivors from either downed German bomber. Gyns is credited with the first allied air-to-air victories of the war by most sources.
These acts would be the opening shots of World War II, with Germany’s invasion of Poland, France and the United Kingdom would declare war on Germany on Sept. 3. Days later, on Sept. 17, the Soviet Union would also invade Poland from the East.
The Junkers Ju 87B-1
Perhaps one of the most feared and well-known aircraft of World War II was the Junkers Ju 87 “Stuka” dive bomber. Early model Ju 87s were used in the Spanish Civil War with good results. The B-1 model was powered by a single Junkers Jumo 211Da 1,200 horsepower inverted V 12 cylinder engine, giving it a maximum speed of around 211 mph. The maximum range of the aircraft 490 miles and the service ceiling was 26,250 ft.
The Ju 87B-1 had a crew of two, a pilot and a rearward facing gunner, the latter armed with a flexible mount 7.9 mm MG 15 machine gun. Forward-firing armaments included twin 7.9 mm MG 17 machine guns in fixed wing mounted positions. Bomb loads consisted of one center fuselage-mounted 1,102 lb bomb (one-man crew only) or one 550 lb bomb center fuselage-mounted along with four 110 lb wing-mounted bombs. The center bomb was mounted in a cradle mechanism that swung the bomb down and out from the fuselage in order that it would clear the propeller when dropped during a dive.
Sinister in appearance, with its large radiator bath protruding from the chin, angular construction, and distinctive wings, along with the spatted fixed landing gear, gave the aircraft the look of a predatory bird with a gapping beak and large talons. Adding to the terror were loud sirens known as “Jericho Trumpets” mounted to the aircraft landing gear that were wind activated during the dive attacks creating a psychological impact on those on the ground. Adding to the fear was the aircraft’s reputation for placing bombs accurately. The Stuka was known for ruggedness and being a somewhat pleasant to fly and responsive aircraft, but was never credited with superb dog-fighting skills, making being the first aerial victor of the war, especially over an opposing nibble fighter aircraft such as the PZL P.11c, somewhat unlikely and unusual. As long as it operated in areas were air superiority was in favor of the Luftwaffe, the Stuka performed well, however, when coming up against front-line fighters, the type’s obsolescence soon became apparent, as the design traced back to the early 1930’s. Later in the war, newer versions would be armed with large cannon and used in an anti-tank role.
Dornier Do 17E-1
Known as “The Flying Pencil”, the Dornier Do 17E-1 was a twin engine bomber of the German Luftwaffe. While most of the Do 17s used over Poland were later models, some E models were still used as well. The E-1 was the initial production bomber model along with the F-1 reconnaissance version, both beginning production in 1936. Both models served in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Nationalists, and were almost immune from interception by fighters in the beginning.
Two BMW V1 7,3 12 cylinder liquid-cooled engines, rated at 750 horsepower each, would move the aircraft to speeds around 220 mph, with a service ceiling of 16,730 ft and a range of over 900 miles. The aircraft’s slim fuselage (responsible for “The Flying Pencil” name) was 53 ft 3.75 in in length with a wingspan of just over 59 ft. Height of the aircraft was 14 ft 2 in.
With a crew of three, the Do 17E was capable of carrying up to 1,650 lb of bombs in an internal bomb bay, and was armed defensively with two 7.9 mm MG 15 machine guns. One machine gun was mounted through a ventral hatch firing downward, the second gun mounted in a pillar-type mounting at the rear of the flight deck firing aft.
KG (Kampfgeschwader) 77 operated the Do 17E’s when Germany invaded Poland, and suffered the highest losses on the first day of the campaign of all units operating Do 17’s. The unit suffered the loss of six aircraft and fifteen damaged. Many had been hit by ground fire and flak as the aircraft were performing very effective low-level attacks. Within a few weeks the unit would switch to the later Do 17Z variant. Overall the Do 17 force had twelve aircrew killed, with ten wounded, and three captured.
Although performing well in the Spanish Civil War and in the opening days of World War II, the Do 17 carried a relatively light bomb load and had a shorter range than her contemporaries, as a result the type was discontinued from production in 1940, after approximately 2,139 Do 17s of all types were built.
PZL P.11c
Entering service in 1934, the PZL P.11 was a contemporary to the British Gloster Gladiator and Heinkel He 51. For a short time it was a world-class fighter, perhaps the best of the time. However, it quickly became obsolete by the time war came to Poland on Sept. 1, 1939.
PZL, or Państwowe Zaklady Lotnicze (National Aviation Establishment), had been building monoplane fighters designed by Zygmunt Pulawski since 1929. The single engine aircraft designs constantly improved, culminating in the P.11c which would become the most prolific and most modern fighter in the Polish arsenal in 1939.
The PZL P.11c was powered by a 630 horsepower Škoda license-built Bristol Mercury V1 S2 nine-cylinder radial engine, although the original design called for V-type engine. It had a top speed of 242 mph, with a radius of 435 miles. The service ceiling was 26,250 ft.
The P.11c had a high gull-wing mounted to the fuselage in front of the open cockpit that ingeniously increased the pilot’s visibility tremendously, known as the “Pulawski wing.” Highly maneuverable and rugged, the little fighter surprised the German Bf 110 fighters in the early days of the conflict, often able to out maneuver the larger and heavier German planes. Some P.11c had two 7.7 mm KM Wz 33 machine guns mounted in the fuselage either side forward of the cockpit synchronized to fire through the propeller arc, but others had two additional guns in the wings. Two small bombs could also be carried under each wing. The aircraft was of advanced all-metal construction with metal skin, but also had an outdated two-bladed propeller and fixed landing gear. One somewhat unique and advanced feature of the aircraft was that the internal fuel tank could be jettisoned in flight in case of a fire.
The agile P.11c was available in limited number of 109 aircraft on the day Germany attacked, many only armed with two machine guns, many without any radios. Despite overwhelming odds and having obsolete planes, the pilots of these aircraft proudly displaying their red and white checkerboard insignia, put up an impressive fight, downing well over 100 German aircraft. The PZL P.11 had the advantage of being able to operate from rugged remote airfields, being highly maneuverable, and had a reputation for being extremely rugged.
At one point on the first day of the war, P.11’s attacked a large number of He 111 and Do 17 bombers heading for Warsaw, breaking up the German formation and causing them to abandon their attack. In one instance in a battle above Warsaw, 2nd Lt. Leopold Pamula shot down both a He 111 and a Ju 87 before running out of ammunition. When an escorting Messerschmitt Bf 109 joined the battle, Pamula, out of ammo, rammed the German fighter with his P.11 and safely parachuted. Several Polish aircraft would be shot down during the opening days of the war, with many Polish pilots having German aircraft shoot at them while drifting down in parachutes.
Stanislaw Skalski would become the Allies’ first ace flying the P.11, downing two Do 17 bombers, two Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance aircraft, a Junkers Ju 86 bomber, and a Ju 87 dive bomber. While flying the P.11, he would rack up 6.5 total kills and would go on to be Poland’s highest scoring ace, escaping to Britain after Poland’s collapse to continue to fight, flying with the Royal Air Force. He is credited with at least 22 confirmed kills and one probable.
Other more modern Polish aircraft were on the drawing board as well as modern fighters on order from France and Britain, but none arrived before Polish resistance capitulated. Romania was a main customer of Polish aircraft, importing several P.11s. Only one PZL P.11c survives today and is on display at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków.
