Reproduction D.III in Polish unit markings a prime exhibit in Warsaw-based collection

On 14 August the new Polish Army Museum opened its doors at the Warsaw Citadel, in the north of Poland’s capital city. One of the star exhibits is a reproduction Albatros D.III fighter, which wears the markings of the 7. Eskadra Lotnicza, better-known as the ‘Kościuszko Squadron’. Formed in late 1919 by Merian C. Cooper, who had served as a DH-4 bomber pilot with the US Army Air Service during World War One and went on to co-direct and produce the 1933 film King Kong, the unit was made up from a group of more than a dozen American volunteers who stayed in Europe after the 1914-18 conflict to fight for the Second Polish Republic against the Soviet Union during the Polish-Bolshevik war of February 1919-March 1921.

Still on display outside the old Army Museum in central Warsaw are a large number of former Polish Air Force aircraft, including a Petlyakov Pe-2, Tupolev Tu-2, Ilyushin Il-2 and Il-10, and a Yak-9. These constitute the largest assembly of Second World War-era aeroplanes still displayed outdoors in Europe. Thankfully, the move of this priceless group of exhibits to the new museum for restoration will begin during the course of 2024.