History goes full circle, and old “friends” meet again after years of separation… at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków! We recently had the pleasure and honour of hosting at our Museum Senior Warrant Officer Marek Czerwiński — the caretaker and senior flight engineer of the Il-14 salon aircraft with tail number 001–3078, which has been an exhibit at our Museum since 1990.
The Il-14 aircraft presented at our Museum was built in 1959 in the “salon” version. During its service with the 13th Transport Aviation Regiment at Kraków-Balice (where it was assigned in the late 1980s), it carried not only commanders of various ranks but also athletes and artists, including the famous Polish diva Violetta Villas and the outstanding cardiac surgeon Prof. Zbigniew Religa.
Senior Warrant Officer Marek Czerwiński recalled his “old comrade” thus: he was assigned to my care and maintenance. He was the “apple of my eye” until March 1988, when I retired to the reserve.
After exhausting its established technical service life, the Il-14 was transferred by decision of the Chief Engineer of the Air Force to the “Museum of Aviation and Astronautics in Kraków” (as our institution was then officially named).
Initially, the Il-14 was planned to be transported to the Museum grounds by an Mi-6 helicopter (the same type that placed the Grunwald Monument on Matejki Square), but ultimately this option was abandoned due to balancing problems, and the aircraft fuselage was towed through the city streets — as can be seen in one of the historic photographs.
During his visit, Senior Warrant Officer Marek Czerwiński also donated numerous aviation mementoes to our Museum, including among others:
We sincerely thank you for the pleasant visit and for enriching the collection of the Polish Aviation Museum with such interesting new exhibits.
