80th Anniversary of Allied Airdrops in Słopnice. Report

The first successful airdrop in the Limanowa region took place on the night of 9–10 July 1944. Soldiers from the Home Army (AK) outposts and the AK Partisan Unit “Wilk” received weapons, equipment and uniforms. The partisans of the AK “Wilk” unit and the Limanowa AK District distributed the arms, uniforms and equipment to their respective outposts.

During the official part of the event, flowers were laid at the Allied Pilots’ Obelisk by:

• Adam Sołtys — Head of the Słopnice Municipality, Józef Bednarczyk — Chairman of the Słopnice Municipal Council, Jan Więcek — Treasurer of the Słopnice Municipality
• Mieczysław Uryga — Starost of Limanowa County, Józef Pietrzak — Chairman of the Limanowa County Council, and Janusz Koza — Limanowa County Councillor
• Dr Adam Pleskaczyński — Director of the National Education Office of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), and Michał Masłowski, head of the IPN education office in Kraków
• Tomasz Kosecki, Director of the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków
• Leszek Mańkowski, President of the Kraków Aviation Seniors’ Club, and Henryk Serda, Vice President, with their spouses
• Krzysztof Szubryt, President of the 1st PSP AK Historical Reenactment Association
• A representative of the 8th Air Transport Base
• Lt Krzysztof Kęska and Agnieszka Kęska — President of the “Lege Artis” Association
• Retired pilots Aleksander Kujawski and Jan Kujawski with his wife

We extend our sincere thanks to the Słopnice Municipality for the invitation to participate in the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Allied airdrops for soldiers of the 1st PSP AK.

One of the main attractions of the celebrations were flyovers by our beautifully restored exhibits — spectators could admire the Yak-18 and Piper Cub aircraft in the air.

Although this time we did not bring our museum shop along — you could take advantage of its offerings at any time online and purchase, among other things, a unique pin commemorating the achievements of 3 Polish Fighter Squadrons — 302, 308 and 317 — that formed part of the 131st Fighter Wing in the Battle of Normandy in 1944, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of D-DAY.

We invite you to view the photo report from Słopnice!