Lets see your Polish Militaria Display!

[Mariusz]

Beautiful displays, you have just raised the level of display quality. For me it is going back to make maybe new display. I love your 2KW, and VM.

[Sebol]

Lovely VM and very nice display

[polishneil]

Guys heres a nice site for reenactors there Polish gears cheap wz 31/50 helmets $7.00
Wz 31 shell $33
Dredlich tunic $60

I know it was a while ago but if you have it could you post the link again for this site.
Many thanks

[mattm1970]

Polish Air Force - 315 Squadron Insignia from 1941.

This item is in excellent condition - My Grandfather was in 315 sq from 1941 to 1943 .

If anybody has any items connected to 315 Sq or 307 Sq please contact me

Cheers

Matt

[4thskorpion]

Polish Air Force - 315 Squadron Insignia from 1941.

This item is in excellent condition - My Grandfather was in 315 sq from 1941 to 1943 .

Very nice indeed Matt

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Polish Air Force - 315 Squadron Insignia from 1941. . .

Hello Matt and thank you for your post. This is not a squadron insignia for the 315th. The best that I can determine is that these are souvenir type item. Some were sent as gifts to family and friends of the pilots. These were made during the war years, and most likely in the UK. I arrive at this because one of these in my collection is marked with the name of a female acquaintance living in England who received it from a Polish pilot eventually killed in action.

There were several variations of these ‘streamers’ made. But all similarly displayed the Polish Air Force checkerboard insignia, a red and white tassel, and a reproduction of a pilot’s qualification wing badge or a hat badge. (I’ll post pics of the ones I own later).

The badge in this case looks very much like the copies produced for Polish pilots who had lost their originals during their journey out of occupied Poland in 1939. It bears the maker marks of Jan Knedler, a Warsaw based producer of many of the badges for the pre-war Polish Air Force. The copies made in England shortly after the fall of France in 1940 often reproduced these maker marks.

Pics to follow.

Regards,
Tony

[A.J. Zawadzki]

OK, some spare time and sunshine allowed for the promised pic taking:

Regards,
Tony

[ccj]

Tony, were these REPRODUCTIONS worn by the Polish pilots or only used as souvenirs? Its a bit confusing to me.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Charles,

These badges used in these are reproductions. In Matt’s case (and maybe even the badge in mine, although I haven’t taken it apart to check) is a Knedler marked cast copy of a pre-war version - essentially identical to the exile version, minus the maker marks of course.

The badges in these souvenir pieces appear very much like the ones made for the Poles arriving in the UK from France in 1940. As mentioned earlier, those pilots and other air force personnel who had lost their original badges had copies made. I have read that these were made by the air force mechanics in their shop facilities. Later on during the war years official badges were made by UK based makers such as Spink, Gaunt, and Firmin.

Not all pilots obtained the ‘professionally’ made badges but rather opted to keep the copies they had made. Such was the case with Fl. Lt. Michał Michniewicz, whose uniform resides in my collection. Pictures below is his “reproduction” pilots badge. He preferred his with the the chain and hook suspension removed.

Regards,
Tony

[48ppsk]

Greetings All,

Here are a couple of photos of my small library/research area.

Mike