Before you, Dear Tourists, take to the controls of a sports machine with our guide in hand, get into a car, train, jump on a bicycle or throw on a packed backpack to embark on a sentimental flight – a journey through time and space – be sure to read this introduction, because it is our brief “flight manual”, through which you will learn, on the one hand, the scope of the subject, and on the other – the enormous amount of work carried out by dozens of people over the past thirty-plus years. You may ask: why so many years? Because the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków has long been working on commemorating the aviation heritage – including that of Małopolska.
This tourism product, which we proudly present to you, is the result of the work of a team of people for whom aviation and its heritage is more than just a job. It is a passion. The originator of the whole project was Tomasz Kosecki – Director of the Polish Aviation Museum, while the substantive framework was the responsibility of his Deputy Director for Research – dr hab. Krzysztof Mroczkowski, prof. UR. Their knowledge and experience were shared by: dr Małgorzata Skulimowska – an employee of the Institute of History at the University of Rzeszów and a Beskid mountain guide in one person, dr Piotr Wierzbicki – a renowned regionalist and museum specialist, and Mateusz Drożdż – a historical publicist specialising in the history of aviation, the period of both World Wars and the history of Kraków.
In the preparation of data on airdrop operations, we were supported by the extensive knowledge of dr Agnieszka Polończyk – a researcher at the Pedagogical University of Kraków and granddaughter of one of the “Cichociemni” (Silent Unseen – Polish special forces of WWII). The section on necropolises and final resting places of aviators was prepared in close collaboration with Andrzej Chytkowski from the Kraków Aviation Seniors’ Club, while the aviation episodes of the Great War period were classified with the help of dr Lucjan Fac from the National Museum of Przemyśl Land. Of course, without the earlier work of people such as Robert Springwald from the Home Army Museum in Kraków and dr inż. arch. Krzysztof Wielgus from the Kraków University of Technology, our findings would have been incomplete. One cannot overlook Paweł Sułkowski from the Historical Reenactment Association of the 1st Podhale Rifles Regiment of the Home Army, either.
As the editorial team, we also thank the management and staff of the Central Mountain Tourism Centre PTTK for supporting our project.
Broadly understood tourism is a significant social phenomenon deeply rooted in history. As a legacy of the industrial revolution, we inherited mobility. This, in turn, combined with the natural human attraction to legitimising oneself through the past, gave rise to the practice of visiting places associated with bygone times. Thus, tourism and culture have become closely intertwined. Due to this connection with the past, such sites and places play an important role in the development of educational and historical tourism – referred to in the literature as military cultural tourism.
This type of engagement with cultural heritage, through the use of the history and tradition of a place and the existing (though sometimes forgotten) cultural richness, allows us to achieve a number of goals – not only educational, but also recreational and commercial.
Of course, it has not escaped our attention that over the years, tourists and their needs have changed. In the 21st century, travellers are characterised by a search for authenticity – and Małopolska can offer them just that. Since the aforementioned sites and places of a military-historical character, classified by researchers as part of the cultural heritage, are accessible, they simultaneously constitute an element contributing to the development of various forms of tourism. So why not visit them? Especially since the complex of places and sites associated with the extraordinarily rich history of aviation that we propose is exceptional in every respect. It is not only a catalogue of places, but also a reading of a fascinating story about the complex history of aviation, the people, machines and structures associated with it.
“Aviation Traces in Małopolska” is a multidimensional project, as it is not merely a collection of random curiosities, but as a qualified cultural product it contributes to the preservation of the unique resources of our heritage. Not only as a foundation for the aforementioned tourism, but also as a way of fulfilling the mission of the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków and the institutions that support it:
So – as aviators would say – “contact, from the propeller and… take off!”.
