Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny

By the late 1800s, it was already home to a balloon detachment of the 2nd Regiment Artillery of the Krakow Fortress. In 1912 the Austria-Hungarin headquarters of an aviation unit called 'Flugpark 7'  (Airpark 7) was formed here.
In 1914, aircraft from Rakowice took part in the defence of the Fortress Krakow. As the fronts moved on, the airfield was employed to train crews and repair aircraft for the front-line units from 1915. 

 

Before World War I ended (in 1918), the airfield became one of the staging points for an airmail service between Vienna and Kiev/Odessa, the first such scheduled service in Europe. On 31 October 1918, the Polish Military Authorities took over command of the airfield. This made Rakowice the first airfield of Poland, which at the time was still awaiting its formal Independence. A week later, the first Polish aviation unit -known as the 1st Combat Squadron- was formed here. 

 

During the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War, the 1st Basic School for Pilots was located on the airfield, as well as a training school for new airmen for the rapidly expanding Polish Air Force.  The aviation repair workshop even started started some limited manufacture of new aircraft, a tribute to their skills. In 1921, using these initial skills as a foundation, the 2nd Air Regiment was formed at Rakowice. By the late 1920s, the airfield was the second largest Polish Air Force base and like all the other Polish bases, it received much attention from German bombers when the Second World War began in September 1939. 


Krakow airfield, photographed on 15 August 1922 while proudly displaying its name at the landing ground (Polish Air Force Museum).


Overview of Krakow airfield in 1922 (yougo.pl)

 

Hangar #6 was bombed by the Germans during the early stages of the invasion of Poland, which kicked off World War II in Europe  (Polish Air Force Museum)

During the occupation of Poland, the Germans extended the runway eastwards towards Czyżyny. They used the airfield to supply the Eastern Front from 1941 onwards. In January 1945, the advancing Russians took over the airfield and they assigned it to the Polish authorities a few months later. Then, as often happens to metropolitan airfields, the encroachment of residential building (and the new steel works) made the airfield less than ideal and so the Polish Air Force left Rakowice and re-located at Balice, 16 kilometers to the west. Finally, airfield activity almost ceased in 1963 when the airline LOT departed. An Emergency Medical Service, present at the airfield since 1927 remained as the only operatonal air service. This was made possible because the service succesfully switched from light ambulance aircraft to SM-1 (licence built Mi-1 'Hare') helicopters in 1962. They upgraded to the more capable Mil Mi-2 'Hoplite' in 1973.


Mil Mi-2 SP-WXS, which was active at the airfield from 1973 until replaces by Pinio, a PZL W-3 Sokół (SP-SXT) in the early 1990s (lotniczapolska.pl)

 
The western part of the former airport is currently used by an aviation museum . It occupies the remaining Polish airport facilities, including a large air hangar and storage facilities built in the 20's and 30's, and two small buildings built by the Germans during World War II. Formed at Czyżny in 1964, the museum preserves and exhibits aircraft, engines and other items of importance to the world's aviation heritage, forming a premier European collection. It shares the remains of the runway of the former airfield with a helicopter station. Every year in the last weekend of June, the runway is open to certain categories of fixed wing aircraft.