Markings of the Polish Air Force in France (1939-40)

A bit of history

Polish Air Force in France in 1940? Well, it doesn’t sounds so strange if you remember a bit of history.
German (and Slovak) invasion on 1 September 1939 was followed by the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland on 17 September. It was clear that war on two fronts will be very short and Polish government decided to save as many soldiers as possible. Polish troops were ordered general retreat to friendly neighbouring countries — Hungary and Romania.
Poland had been overrun but a government in exile was formed and (in accordance with the French-Polish Military Agreement signed in 1921) combat air units in France were re-created from pilots and technicians of the evacuated Polish Air Force personnel. Unfortunately French commanders proposed creating one fighter and one bomber squadrons only beginning the spring 1940. Before large units could be formed, groups of trained Polish personnel had to serve in French units. It was main reason why Polish pilots were attached in small units (so called sections and keys) to French Groups in May and June 1940.

Units with Polish national insignia marked aircraft

Pilots in following units had their aircraft marked with Polish national insignia:

• Depot d’Instruction de l’Aviation Polonaise (DIAP) Lyon (CR.714C1, MS.406C1, C.445 Goeland, Potez 63-11)
• GC 1/145 (CR.714C1)
• Montpellier Flight Section No.1 Łaszkiewicz GC III/2 (MS.406C1)
• Montpellier Flight Section No.3 Sulerzycki GC III/6 (MS.406C1)
• Montpellier Flight Section No.4 Bursztyn GC III/1 (MS.406C1)
• Montpellier Flight Section No.5 Brzeziński GC I/2 (MS.406C1)

It’s possible that next two sections had aircraft with Polish markings painted on but there are no photos which could confirm this.

• Montpellier Flight Section No.2 Pentz GC II/6 (MS.406C1)
• Montpellier Flight Section No.6 Goettel GC II/7 (MS.406C1)

Documents

Markings of the Polish Air Force in France were regulated under bilateral treaty provisions (within the Technical Agreement) signed on 17th February 1940:

Airplanes of the Polish Air Force should bear regulation French national insignia and Polish white/red chequered insignia on both fuselage sides.^{1 2}

Unfortunately there is no more official Polish documents which can be used as a source of information for modellers. Of course all French regulations issued at this time were in force… in the same manner as in regular French units.

Markings

There is little photos of French aircraft with Polish markings published online and if you want to build good kit, you’ll have to look on photos printed in books. I can recommend Bartłomiej Belcarz’s books mentioned in Bibliography and published by Wydawnictwo Stratus or Mushroom Model Publications, mostly in Polish. The most important book was published in French too³ and at least one smaller was published in English⁴.

When you look at photos in books, you may see Polish markings painted in (at least) three variants: full, transparent and partial one. Please note that names of variants are not official and were created for this article. Size in all three variants was choosen to cover French markings — between 700 and 900 mm. Ratio of field and outline in chequer was 5:1 and was kept from pre-war Polish Air Force regulations.

Below are more detailed info with pictures. Please remember that:

• colours used in pictures were prepared for illustration purposes,
• aircraft listed are verified with all available sources but it always can be changed by the new evidence,
• this article can’t be considered as main source of knowledge, I strongly recommend look on photos in various publications before you’ll start building your kit.

Full type markings

When markings were painted by the manufacturer or by Polish technicians in units on factory fresh aircraft (or produced before 13 January 1940 since when French roundels were to be painted on fuselage), solid layers of white and red paint were applied. We can call such markings as “full type” because there was no transparency and chequer looked like on image above.

You may see such markings on following types:

• Caudron C.445 Goeland — both aircraft (No.154 / P-143 and No.410) assigned to DIAP Lyon.⁵
• Caudron CR.714C1 Cyclone — most aircraft assigned to GC 1/145 (like No.8543 / I-201, No.8550 / I-208 or No.8584 / I-242) except aircraft transferred from DIAP Lyon.
• Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1 — 18 aircraft assigned to Montpellier Flight’s sections (like No.925 / L-954 or No.948 / L-979).
• Potez 63.11 — both aircraft (No.132 / J-657 and No.138 / J-963) assigned to DIAP Lyon.⁶

Transparent type markings

When Polish chequer was painted over French roundels, layers of white and red paint couldn’t cover previous markings totally. We can call such markings as “transparent type” because French cockade was more or less visible under. Sometimes white areas were solid and only red areas was transparent but on many photos you may see different strenght of transparency on both white and red areas.

You may see such markings on following types:

• Caudron CR.714C1 Cyclone — aircraft assigned to DIAP Lyon (like No.8546 / I-204, No.8547 / I-205 or No.8559 / I-217) and quite probably some of aircraft in GC 1/145 transferred from DIAP.
• Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1 — aircraft assigned to DIAP Lyon (like No.427 / N-845 or No.902 / L-931).

Partial type markings

The most unusual variant of Polish national markings was “partial” as we can call it. It seems it was just unfinished “transparent type” insignia painted with almost solid coat of white and very thin (almost invisible) coat of red colour.

You may see such markings on at least one MS.406C1 aircraft but some photos can suggest that other aircraft could bear this strange variant too. Unfortunately without close and sharp photos this can’t be confirmed:

• Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1 — No.622 / L-651 aircraft assigned to DIAP Lyon

Decals and kits

Following sets with options for Polish Air Force in France aircraft were released:

Decals

• 1/32 — Techmod 32035 — Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1
• 1/48 — Eduard D48-001 — French Aces of WW II (decals for Polish MS.406C1)
• 1/48 — Techmod 48083 — Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1
• 1/48 — Techmod 48086 — Potez 63.11
• 1/72 — Techmod 72137 — Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1
• 1/72 — Techmod 72143 — Potez 63.11

Kits

• 1/48 — Azur A059 — Potez 63-11 French Reconnaissance Plane
• 1/48 — Battle Axe 48BA05 — Caudron CR.714
• 1/72 — Hasegawa 00187 — Morane-Saulnier MS.406 Polish Air Force
• 1/72 — Intech 72013 (?) — Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1 — reboxed Heller kit with new decals
• 1/72 — Maquette (?) — Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1 — reboxed Heller or Novo kit with new decals
• 1/72 — ZTS Plastyk (?) — Caudron CR.714

Bibliography

1. Belcarz, B. 2002 Polskie lotnictwo we Francji 1940, Wydawnictwo Stratus, Sandomierz. ISBN 83-916327-6-8
2. Belcarz, B. 2008 Montpellier Fighter Squadron, Mushroom Model Publications, Sandomierz. Blue Series #7108, ISBN 978-83-89450-35-7
3. Belcarz, B. 2004 Morane MS.406C1, Caudron CR.714C1 Cyclone, Bloch MB.151/152C1, Wydawnictwo Stratus, Sandomierz. Polskie Skrzydła #2, ISBN 83-89450-21-6
4. Belcarz, B. 2007 Morane MS.406C1, Caudron CR.714C1 Cyclone, Bloch MB.151/152C1, Wydawnictwo Stratus, Sandomierz. Polish Wings #2, ISBN 978-83-89450-69-2
5. Fernandez J. 2008 Potez 63 Family, Mushroom Model Publications, Sandomierz. ISBN 978-83-89450-65-4
6. Kowalski, T.J. 1987 Godło i barwa w lotnictwie polskim 1939 — 1945, Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności, Warszawa. ISBN 83-206-0616-0.

Footnotes

1. Belcarz, B. 2007 p.55 ↩
2. Original text: Art. VIII. Les avions Forces Aeriennes Polonaises perterout lés marques distinetives reglementaires françaises avec en outre, l’insignie aerien polonais, damier blanc et rouge, sur les deux cotes du fuselage. Source: Kowalski, T.J. 1987 p.13 ↩
3. Belcarz, B. 2002 Les Aviateurs Polonais en France 1939-1940. TMA Editions, Paris. ↩
4. Belcarz, B. 2007 Morane MS.406C1, Caudron CR.714C1 Cyclone, Bloch MB.151/152C1. Wydawnictwo Stratus, Sandomierz. Polish Wings #2. ↩
5. Belcarz, B. 2002 pp.55, 77 ↩
6. Fernandez J. 2008 p.146-148 ↩