Polish Airfields 1939

[Chris Goss]

I have a number of photos which mention the airfields or airstrips Bialacio, Czenstochau and one which shows CZE-OWA on a hangar roof with LOPP (which I believe stands for Liga Obrony Powietrznej i Przeciwgazowej) on the side (I believe that this is Czestochowa?). I know that German troops German-ised names but can anyone help with locating/confirming these?

[edwest2]

Chris,


Częstochowa is in southern Poland on the Warta River.

Blachownia is on the western outskirts.


Liga Obrony Powietrznej i Przeciwgazowej is described as a Polish paramilitary organization established in 1928 as a result of the merger of the State Air Defense League founded in 1923 and the Gas Defense Society founded in 1922.

It was aimed at promoting sports, communication and military aviation. It operated until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.


In the interests of others who may be reading, the w in Polish is pronounced as v. The w as in what appears as a lower case L with a short, angled line going through it. There is no x in Polish, so Alexander is spelled Aleksander.


In order to facilitate spelling Polish characters, I recommend Polish typeit, which can be found using any search engine. Just select the non-English character and drop it in as you type.

[Larry deZeng]

Chris:

Go here and look for airfields beginning with "Bial".

http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Poland.pdf


"Bialacio" is not a Polish word.

L.

[edwest2]

Larry,


Thank you for posting this. Another candidate might be Baumkrone - a.k.a. Blichowo.


"Baumkrone (POL) (a.k.a. Blichowo) (52 34 N – 20 00 E)
General: emergency landing ground (Notlandeplatz)? Located north-central Poland 79 km NW of Warsaw and 21 km E of Plock. No information found of any Luftwaffe activity here during the war.
[Sources: Mattiello; BA-MA; NARA; PRO/NA; web site ww2.dk]"

[Chris Goss]

Larry-of course I used your site which is why I asked the question. Stated as being a base for 3.(F}/31 in Sep 39

[Larry deZeng]

Maybe this will help? With Do 17Ps, they would have had to use a prepared airfield, so they weren't in a wheat field somewhere like the fighters and other single-engine a/c.............


3.(F)/Aufkl.Gr. 31
Code: (5D + )

also as: 3.(H)/31 (from January or February 1942)

Formation and Training. (Nov 38 - Aug 39)
Formed 1 November 1938 at Brieg/Silesia (ex-3.(F)/Aufkl.Gr.13) with Dornier Do 17Fs, which were replaced with Do 17Ps during 1939.

Polish Campaign. (Sep 1939)
1.9.39: deployed from Brieg to Stubendorf /Silesia near Oppeln on receipt of the 26 August order for general mobilization with 12 Do 17Ps and assigned to Koluft AOK 10 for the advance into Poland this date along the line Czestochowa - Tomaszow - Radom - Deblin -. Lublin.
10.39: returned to Brieg on conclusion of the campaign.
5.1.40: Oblt. Kahnke reported killed when he walked into the propeller of a Do 17P at Brieg. Some sources state that the Staffel moved to Frankfurt/M. in January 1940 and was still there in May, but this cannot be corroborated.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Larry. Looking at the photos it looks like "Bialacio" was a very large grass field

[Franek Grabowski]

Presumably Bielsko, ie. Aleksandrowice. Tschenstochau is German for Częstochowa.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Franek

[Chris Goss]

Info from a new source is:

8.9-10.9.39 Czestochowa
11.9-23.9.39 Bialaczow