Polish Aviation Museum

The Polish Aviation Museum occupies an historic site – the Kraków-Rakowice-Czyzny airfield, first established by the government of Austria-Hungary in 1912. The airfield ceased to be used in 1963 and the museum was set up there the following year. It is on the outskirts of Kraków, but can easily be reached by tram. Part of the collection is accommodated in old hangars, and part in the open air, but a new main building was completed in 2010. The museum holds a collection of 22 aircraft dating from the early years of aviation made by Hermann Göring, and abandoned in Poland after the conclusion of the Second World War. The main emphasis of the collection is on military aircraft and there are examples of many significant types from both World Wars and from the Cold War, including a Sopwith Camel, a Messerschmitt 109, a Supermarine Spitfire, and many varieties of the Soviet MIG fighter. Almost every type of aircraft made in Poland since 1945 is represented. In all there more than 200 aircraft are displayed, including helicopters (one of them used by Pope John Paul II) and gliders as well as aeroplanes.