Every war the Polish Air Force has fought
Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From Lwów in 1918 to the eastern flank today.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| The Polish-Ukrainian WarLwów and Eastern GaliciaPolish Air Force | 1918–1919 | West Ukrainian People’s Republic | Albatros D.III (Oef), Fokker D.VII | — | — | |
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Flew the first Polish combat sortie on 5 November 1918 and supported the defence of Lwów and the campaign in Eastern Galicia with captured Austrian and German aircraft. The Polish air arm went to war before the Polish state existed in law. On 2 November 1918 three officers — the pilot Stefan Bastyr and the observers Janusz de Beaurain and Władysław Toruń — took control of the Lewandówka airfield at Lwów as Polish and Ukrainian forces fought for the city. On 5 November, at about ten in the morning, Bastyr and de Beaurain took off in a Brandenburg C.I and bombed the railway station at Persenkówka, where Ukrainian Sich Riflemen were unloading; de Beaurain dropped three 15-kilogram bombs by hand from 400 metres, and the crew flew three bombing runs that day. The air arm that followed was built from what the empires had left: Austrian machines in Galicia, and in Greater Poland the German airfield at Ławica, captured by insurgents on 6 January 1919 with 26 serviceable aircraft and about 215 more in a depot at Winiary. The Greater Poland squadrons formed from that haul flew LVGs, Albatroses, Halberstadts and Fokker D.VIIs and were sent to Galicia from March 1919. Outcome Polish forces held Lwów and took Eastern Galicia by mid-1919. Unit strengths and losses for the Galician campaign are not given in the sources checked.
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| The Polish-Soviet Warthe Kościuszko Squadron and the Battle of WarsawPolish Air Force | 1919–1921 | Soviet Russia | Albatros D.III (Oef), Bristol F.2B, Fokker D.VII | — | — | |
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Flew reconnaissance and ground attack against the Red Army, including Budyonny’s cavalry, from the Kiev offensive of April 1920 through the Battle of Warsaw in August. By 1920 the air arm had grown to 21 squadrons — 17 reconnaissance, three fighter and one bomber — flying a mixture of Austrian, German, French, Italian and British aircraft. The best known was the 7th, formed at Kraków in November 1918 and renamed the Kościuszko Squadron in December 1919 after eight American volunteers joined it, among them its commander Cedric Fauntleroy and Merian C. Cooper, who later made King Kong. In all 21 Americans flew with it. From April 1920 it took part in the Kiev offensive with Oeffag-built Albatros D.IIIs and Ansaldo Balillas, then fell back to defend Lwów, strafing Budyonny’s First Cavalry Army; in mid-August it was down to five pilots flying up to 18 ground-attack missions a day. Cooper was shot down on 13 July 1920, captured and escaped. About 40 of the 106 Bristol Fighters bought that year flew from July, including in the Battle of Warsaw. Piłsudski decorated the squadron’s pilots with the Virtuti Militari on 10 May 1921, and its badge passed to the 111th Squadron and, in 1940, to No. 303 Squadron. Outcome Poland won the Battle of Warsaw in August 1920 and the Treaty of Riga in 1921 fixed its eastern border. Sortie and loss figures for the whole air arm in 1919–1920 are not available in the sources checked.
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| The September Campaignthe invasion of PolandPolish Air Force | 1939 | Germany, Soviet Union and Slovakia | PZL P.11, PZL P.7, PZL.23 Karaśand 1 more | — | — | |
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Defended Warsaw and the field armies with obsolescent PZL fighters and attacked German armour with the Bomber Brigade until the Soviet invasion of 17 September forced the survivors to Romania. The most repeated story of September 1939 is that the Polish Air Force was destroyed on its airfields on the first morning. It was not: the combat units had moved to field airstrips before the war, and the Luftwaffe’s opening raids hit largely empty bases, damaging Warsaw, Kraków, Dęblin, Małaszewicze and Toruń. The real problem was quality and numbers. Around 400 combat aircraft faced about 2,000 German aircraft. The fighter force was built on the PZL P.11c, about 390 km/h at altitude, facing Bf 109s and Bf 110s that could outrun and outclimb it; 109 P.11cs, 20 P.11as and 30 P.7as were in combat units on 1 September. The Pursuit Brigade fought over Warsaw from the first day. Polish fighters claimed about 126 German aircraft, with Wikipedia’s order of battle crediting 134 across all types; German records show about 285 aircraft destroyed from all causes, many to anti-aircraft fire, so the fighter claims cannot be taken at face value. The Bomber Brigade’s 36 combat-ready PZL.37 Łoś bombers went for German armour from 4 September and lost most of their strength. After the Soviet invasion 17 Łoś and more than 20 Karaś reached Romania, where they were seized. Outcome Defeat. About 10,000 air force personnel escaped through Romania to France and then Britain. Victory and loss figures for 1939 differ widely between sources; the ranges given here are the ones supported by more than one source, and the German loss total covers all causes.
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| The Battle of FrancePolish airmen in French unitsPolish Air Force | 1940 | Germany and Italy | — | — | — | |
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Polish pilots re-formed in France flew in French fighter units during the German offensive of May and June 1940. About 9,000 Polish airmen reached France after September 1939 and were organised under General Władysław Sikorski. France was slow to equip them: of roughly a thousand Polish pilots, only 174 flew operationally when Germany attacked in May 1940, in French fighter units. They claimed 52 German aircraft destroyed and about ten probables. About 2,300 Polish flying and ground personnel had already gone to Britain to form four bomber squadrons. When France collapsed about 6,200 more airmen were evacuated to Britain, and by the end of 1940 the Polish Air Force there was more than 8,000 strong — the core of the force that would fight under the Royal Air Force for the rest of the war. Among them were the 144 experienced fighter pilots who reinforced Fighter Command in August 1940, when it had lost about a quarter of its pilots. Their record there is thin in the surviving sources. Outcome France fell in June 1940; about 6,200 Polish airmen were evacuated to Britain. The French campaign is thinly documented in the sources checked; claims are Polish claims.
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| The Battle of Britain303 Squadron and the 145Polish Air Force | 1940 | Germany | Hurricane, Spitfire | — | — | |
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Two Polish squadrons and 79 Poles in RAF squadrons fought in Fighter Command; 303 Squadron finished as its top-scoring unit. 145 Polish pilots flew in the Battle of Britain: 79 in RAF squadrons, 32 with No. 302 Squadron and 34 with No. 303. They were about 5 per cent of Fighter Command’s pilots and were credited with about 15 per cent of its score, and on 15 September one in five pilots in action was Polish. 303 Squadron, formed at Northolt in July and operational only from 31 August, claimed 126 German aircraft in 42 days, including 14 in one sortie on 7 September, more than any other squadron; its top scorer was the Czech Josef František with 17. Post-war checking against German records cut the squadron’s total to about 79 by the RAF Museum’s count and to around 59 in the work of the Polish historian Jacek Kutzner — still at or near the top of Fighter Command. The Poles had arrived with combat experience that most of the RAF lacked, and the agreements of 11 June and 5 August 1940 kept them a sovereign Polish service. Hugh Dowding later wrote that without the Polish squadrons he hesitated to say the outcome would have been the same. Outcome The Luftwaffe failed to win air superiority over southern England and the invasion was called off. 303 Squadron’s score is given as a claim and a revised range; the revisions depend on how German losses are matched to claims.
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| Fighter operations over Europethe sweeps, Normandy and the V-1sPolish Air Force | 1941–1945 | Germany | Spitfire, Mustang III, Mosquitoand 1 more | 73,500 | — | |
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Polish fighter squadrons flew offensive sweeps and bomber escort over occupied Europe, supported the Normandy landings and shot down V-1 flying bombs. After 1940 the Polish fighter force grew squadron by squadron, flying Hurricanes, then Spitfires and, from 1944, Mustang IIIs. The Polish wings flew the cross-Channel sweeps of 1941 and 1942, escorted bombers and, in 1944, supported the invasion of Normandy. 306 and 315 Squadrons were switched to V-1 interception in the summer of 1944, 306 alone shooting down 59 flying bombs. On 18 August 1944 twelve Mustangs of 315 Squadron met about 60 German fighters over France and claimed 16 for the loss of one pilot, their commander Eugeniusz Horbaczewski. The night fighters of 307 Squadron defended the West Country, shooting down four bombers in a single night during the 1942 raids on Exeter, and went over to intruder work on Mosquitoes. 306 Squadron alone was credited with 68 aircraft destroyed and 315 with just over 86. By the end of the war the Polish fighter force had flown more than 73,500 sorties and was credited with 762 aircraft destroyed; the Northolt memorial, unveiled on 2 November 1948, now carries 2,165 names of the 2,408 Polish airmen who died. Outcome Polish fighter units were credited with 762 enemy aircraft destroyed between 1940 and 1945. Claims are wartime credits; sortie and claim totals are those compiled by Krzystek’s List.
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| Bomber and Coastal Commandthe Polish bomber squadronsPolish Air Force | 1940–1945 | Germany | Battle, Wellington, Lancasterand 3 more | 11,700 | — | |
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Four Polish bomber squadrons flew in Bomber Command, one later in Coastal Command and one in the Second Tactical Air Force. Nos. 300, 301, 304 and 305 Squadrons formed at Bramcote in July and August 1940 on Fairey Battles and went into action against the invasion barges before converting to Wellingtons. The losses were heavy for a force that could not easily replace its crews from occupied Poland. 301 Squadron flew 1,326 sorties and lost 139 of the 439 men who served in it before it was disbanded on 7 April 1943; 304 Squadron went to Coastal Command in May 1942, hunting U-boats, and was credited with two sunk and five damaged. 305 Squadron moved to the Second Tactical Air Force in August 1943 and flew Mosquito FB.VIs on tactical strikes against targets across occupied Europe. 300 Squadron stayed in Bomber Command throughout, became the only Polish Lancaster squadron in March 1944 and flew 3,891 sorties in all, its last raid being on Obersalzberg on 25 April 1945. Together the Polish bomber units flew about 11,700 sorties. Outcome The squadrons were disbanded in December 1946 and January 1947. Squadron figures are from squadron histories; the total is Krzystek’s.
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| North Africa and ItalySkalski’s Circus and 318 SquadronPolish Air Force | 1943–1946 | Germany and Italy | Spitfire, Hurricane, Halifaxand 1 more | — | — | |
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A Polish fighter team flew in North Africa in 1943; 318 Squadron and an air observation squadron supported the Polish II Corps in Italy, and the special-duties flight flew from Brindisi. In 1943 a team of experienced Polish fighter pilots under Stanisław Skalski flew in North Africa, the unit remembered as Skalski’s Circus. No. 318 Squadron, formed at Detling in March 1943 from 309 Squadron personnel, trained in the Middle East and then flew tactical reconnaissance and ground attack in Italy in support of the Eighth Army, including the Polish II Corps at Monte Cassino; it stayed in Italy until August 1946. An air observation post squadron flew with the II Corps as its artillery spotters. From December 1943 the Polish special-duties flight, No. 1586, flew from Campo Casale near Brindisi on Halifaxes and Liberators, on supply-dropping flights of up to eleven hours to occupied Poland and the resistance elsewhere in central Europe, some 1,300 special-duty flights in all by the war’s end. Outcome Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered in May 1943; the Italian campaign ended in May 1945. Figures for the Mediterranean are not consolidated in the sources checked.
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| The Warsaw Uprising airliftsupply drops from BrindisiPolish Air Force | 1944 | Germany | Halifax, Liberator | — | — | |
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Polish, British and South African crews flew supplies from Italy to the Home Army in Warsaw at the edge of their aircraft’s range, against German night fighters and flak. When the Home Army rose in Warsaw on 1 August 1944 the only Polish air unit able to reach it was No. 1586 Special Duties Flight in southern Italy, formed from the remnants of 301 Squadron. The round trip from Brindisi to Warsaw over the Balkans and Hungary took up to eleven hours in Halifaxes and Liberators, with drops made at low level over the city. Between 4 August and 22 September Polish crews flew alongside RAF and South African Air Force squadrons, and 257 airmen were killed on the Warsaw flights, 112 of them Polish; 14 Polish crews were lost and only two of those crews survived. On the night of 15 August the Liberator of Capt. Szostak was shot down near Bochnia on the way home, and all seven crew died. The Polish flight was reorganised as 301 Squadron on 7 November 1944. The Polish air units on the Soviet side of the front also flew 609 sorties in support of the insurgents. Outcome The Uprising was crushed. The airlift delivered some supplies but could not change the outcome. The total number of sorties to Warsaw and the tonnage delivered vary between sources and are not given here.
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| The Eastern Frontthe Polish air units formed in the USSRPolish Air Force | 1944–1945 | Germany | Yak-1, Yak-9, Yak-3and 3 more | 5,800 | 36 | |
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Polish regiments formed under Soviet command flew fighter, ground-attack, bomber and night-bomber missions from the Vistula to Berlin. The first Polish air unit in the USSR, an independent fighter squadron, began forming on 7 July 1943 at Grigoryevskoye between Moscow and Ryazan and became the 1st Fighter Regiment Warszawa in October 1943. The 2nd Night Bomber Regiment Kraków followed in April 1944, and in September 1944 the regiments were grouped into the 1st Mixed Air Corps under the Soviet general Fyodor Polynin. Many of the pilots and most senior officers were Soviet, often of Polish descent. The units flew over the Vistula bridgeheads and Warsaw in 1944, in the battle for Kołobrzeg in March 1945 and over Berlin in April and May. By May 1945 they had 215 Po-2, 158 Il-2, 130 Yak-9, 107 Pe-2, 29 Yak-1 and 14 Yak-3, and on 1 June 1945 16,288 personnel. The fighter regiment flew about 1,400 sorties and shot down nine German aircraft, all in April and May 1945. Outcome The Polish air units ended the war over Berlin and became the core of the post-war air force. Figures come mainly from Polish post-war compilations reproduced in English Wikipedia and should be treated as indicative.
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| NATO air policingthe Baltic states and Poland’s own skiesPolish Air Force | 2006– | — | F-16C/D | — | 0 | |
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Rotations of Polish fighters to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission from Šiauliai and Ämari, alongside national Quick Reaction Alert at home. The three Baltic states have no combat aircraft, and since March 2004 NATO allies have taken turns to police their airspace. Poland flew its first rotation in 2006 and has returned many times since, from Šiauliai in Lithuania and Ämari in Estonia. The 62nd rotation, from November 2023 to March 2024, put almost 150 Polish personnel at Ämari; in April 2025 four F-16s deployed to Šiauliai alongside the Romanian Air Force. At home the F-16s have held Quick Reaction Alert since 2010. The work is mostly shadowing and identifying, not fighting, but it is the core of what the Polish Air Force does every day. The mission’s tasks are to patrol, to prevent violations of the Baltic states’ airspace and to help aircraft in distress. Polish contingents carry the name Orlik: Orlik 12 was the mission’s 62nd rotation. Outcome Continuing; the Baltic states have no fighters of their own. The number of Polish rotations and intercepts is not published in the sources checked.
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| Operation Inherent ResolveF-16 reconnaissance from KuwaitPolish Air Force | 2016–2018 | Islamic State | F-16C/D | — | 0 | |
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Four F-16s with DB-110 and Sniper pods flew reconnaissance for the coalition against Islamic State; they did not drop weapons. The first operational deployment of Polish F-16s abroad. The President authorised it on 17 June 2016 and the contingent began on 20 June 2016 at Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait with four F-16s carrying DB-110 reconnaissance pods and Sniper targeting pods. Poland limited its role to reconnaissance for the coalition over Iraq and territory held by Islamic State; the jets did not strike. By August 2017 they had passed 2,000 flying hours and by the end about 3,600. 621 soldiers and 12 civilians served in four rotations; the last mission was flown on 16 June 2018 and the contingent was welcomed home at Łask on 18 July 2018. In August 2017 the commander, Lt Col Łukasz Piątek, marked the 2,000th hour with a sortie of more than five hours. The Kuwait deployment came before the Polish F-16’s first Baltic Air Policing rotation, which began in May 2017. Outcome The mission ended on 30 June 2018 after four rotations. Polish combat aircraft did not take part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq in the sources checked; Polish helicopters in Iraq belonged to the army.
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| Air defence of the eastern flankPrzewodów and the Russian drone incursionPolish Air Force | 2022– | Russia | F-16C/D | — | 0 | |
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Defended Polish airspace during the Russian war against Ukraine and, on 9–10 September 2025, shot down Russian drones over Poland with allied aircraft. On 15 November 2022 a missile fell on the village of Przewodów near the Ukrainian border and killed two men; Polish investigators concluded it had most likely been fired by Ukrainian air defence, and the prosecutor later suspended the case while waiting for Ukrainian legal assistance. On the night of 9–10 September 2025 the government counted 19 violations of Polish airspace by Russian drones, many coming in from Belarus. Polish F-16s and Dutch F-35s, supported by an Italian AWACS, German Patriots and a NATO tanker, shot down the drones that posed a direct threat, the last at 06:45; civil airports were temporarily closed. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was the first time Russian drones had been shot down over NATO territory, and Poland invoked Article 4 the same day. NATO’s Eastern Sentry followed on 12 September, the day the Russian-Belarusian Zapad exercise began; Poland had closed its border with Belarus. Outcome Poland invoked NATO’s Article 4, and NATO launched Eastern Sentry on 12 September 2025. The number of drones shot down is given differently in different reports; the official statements checked do not give a final total, so none is given here.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Lockheed Martin: Twenty Years of Polish F-16 Airpower (2026)Peace Sky programme; first flight 14 March 2006; Quick Reaction Alert from 2010
- Chancellery of the Prime Minister: Poland moves to invoke NATO Article 4 (10 September 2025)19 airspace violations overnight; drones posing a direct threat shot down, the last at 06:45
- Chancellery of the Prime Minister: Airspace violation repelled (10 September 2025)Polish aircraft and Dutch F-35s; airports temporarily closed
- NATO: Statement by the Secretary General, 10 September 2025Polish F-16s, Dutch F-35s, Italian AWACS, German Patriots and a NATO MRTT involved
- NATO: Statement by the North Atlantic Council on recent airspace violations by Russia (23 September 2025)Eastern Sentry launched 12 September 2025
- Polska Zbrojna: Tragedia w Przewodowie — śledztwo zawieszone15 November 2022: two men killed; most likely a Ukrainian air defence missile; investigation suspended
- Ministry of National Defence: Baltic Air Policing Missionmission since 2004; the 62nd rotation, November 2023 to March 2024, from Ämari
- NATO Allied Air Command: Polish jets deploy to Šiauliai (31 March 2025)four F-16s; Poland’s first Baltic rotation was in 2006
- Defence24: Zakończenie misji w Kuwejcie. Lotnicy już w Łasku (July 2018)20 June 2016 to 30 June 2018; four F-16s, about 3,600 hours; 621 personnel in four rotations
- Defence24: Rok polskich F-16 w Kuwejcie. 2000 godzin lotu (2017)first operational deployment of Polish F-16s abroad; reconnaissance only
- Muzeum Sił Powietrznych w Dęblinie: 5 listopada — narodziny polskich skrzydełthe first combat sortie of 5 November 1918 over Lwów; the 1925 founding of the School of Eaglets
- IPN: Lotnictwo wielkopolskie 1919–1920capture of Ławica airfield on 6 January 1919 and the Greater Poland squadrons
- Krawczyński: Lotnictwo polskie w latach II Rzeczypospolitej (Pedagogical University of Kraków repository)organisation, squadrons in 1920, personnel strength to 1939, schools and industry
- IPN Przystanek Historia: Historia Meriana C. Coopera i 7. Eskadry Myśliwskiej21 American pilots, 462 sorties in 1920, five Americans killed, Cooper shot down 13 July 1920
- WielkaHistoria: Polskie i niemieckie lotnictwo we wrześniu 1939 roku (after Wacław Król)strengths and losses on both sides as given by the fighter pilot and historian Wacław Król
- Polish Combatants’ Association, Ottawa: Polskie lotnictwo myśliwskie w kampanii wrześniowejPolish fighter claims and losses in 1939; evacuation to Romania
- Historykon: Kampania wrześniowa w powietrzudispersal to field airstrips before the war; the Luftwaffe bombed empty bases
- Tojuzbylo: Lotniczy wrzesień 1939 roku, cz. 3Bomber Brigade losses and the evacuation of bombers to Romania
- Krzystek’s List: Polish Air Force in Great Britain 1940–194717,136 airmen and more than 1,300 women named from RAF service records
- Krzystek’s List: Polish Air Force in the WestFrance 1939–1940, squadrons, sorties, claims and losses to 1945
- Imperial War Museums: The Polish pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain145 pilots, 29 killed; 303 and 302 Squadron claims; the Victory Parade
- RAF Museum: Poles and Czechoslovaks in the Battle of Britain303 Squadron: 126 claimed, about 79 after post-war checking
- Battle of Britain Monument: The Polish War Memorial, Northoltunveiled 2 November 1948; 2,408 Polish airmen killed
- Warsaw Rising Museum: The tragic yet heroic tale of Captain Szostak and the crew of Liberator KG890Warsaw airlift 4 August–22 September 1944: 257 airmen killed by nationality
- Arma Hobby: The 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment Warszawa 1943–45formation at Grigoryevskoye, Yak-1b and Yak-9, about 1,400 sorties, largely Soviet personnel
- PolishAirForce.pl: 1 Pułk Lotnictwa Myśliwskiego Warszawa — losses and victoriesnine air victories and 11 killed
Figures verified 2026-09-25. Back to the Polish Air Force.