Polish Airforce

Polish Air Force
Siły Powietrzne
Polish Air Force's Eagle
Active	1918–present
Country	Poland
Branch	Polish Armed Forces
Size	36,500 military 475 aircraft
Part of	Polish Armed Forces
Engagements	Polish-Soviet War World War II War in Iraq War in Afghanistan
Commanders
Commander	Gen. Broni Lech Majewski
Chief of Staff	Gen. Dyw. Sławomir Kałuziński
Insignia
Flag
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack	Su-22
Fighter	F-16, MiG-29
Helicopter	Mi-8, Mi-17, PZL W-3, PZL SW-4
Reconnaissance	PZL M-28
Trainer	PZL-130, TS-11, M-346
Transport	C-130, C-295, M-28

The Polish Air Force (Siły Powietrzne, literally "Air Forces") is a military branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej (literally: Flight-and-Air Defence Forces). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 military personnel and about 475 aircraft, distributed among 10 bases throughout Poland.

The Polish Air Force can trace its origins to the months following the end of World War I in 1918. During the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, 70% of planes and aircraft were destroyed. Most pilots, after the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, escaped to Hungary and Romania and continued fighting throughout World War II in air squadrons, first in France, then in Britain, and later also the Soviet Union.

Military aviation in free Poland started even before the officially recognised date of regaining independence (11 November 1918). Poland was under German and Austro-Hungarian occupation until the armistice, but the Poles started to take control as the Central Powers collapsed. Initially, Polish air force consisted of mostly German and Austrian aircraft, left by former occupants or captured from them, mostly during the Greater Poland Uprising. These planes were first used by the Polish Air Force in the Polish-Ukrainian War in late 1918, during combat operations centered around the city of Lwów (now Lviv). On 2 November 1918 pilot Stefan Bastyr performed the first combat flight of Polish aircraft from Lviv.

When the Polish-Soviet War broke out in February 1920, the Polish Air Force used a variety of former German and Austro-Hungarian, as well as newly acquired western-made Allied aircraft. Most common at that time were light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, among most numerous were French Breguet 14 bombers, German LVG C.V reconnaissance aircraft, British Bristol F2B scouts and Italian Ansaldo Balilla fighters.