In the beginning, there were dreams of being like angels, like birds… Of “soaring” through space. Without delving into the complexities of the historian’s research workshop, it is worth briefly noting that myths, legends, and folk tales are also regarded as subjective and enormously distorted historical sources. Of course, these genres occupy the farthest possible position on the credibility scale from so-called true sources — that is, documents or authentic records of various kinds — yet at their foundation there must have been something more than just a dream. We do not have access to “hard” facts, only to accounts of them. Accounts recorded by recognized authorities…
Be that as it may — Lesser Poland (Małopolska) is the cradle of flight in our country. Meteorological phenomena and the dynamics of mountain and highland winds helped the birds inhabiting the mountain wilderness to soar; these were observed with delight by humans treading the hospitable land of Lesser Poland. It was here that Titus Livius Boratyni worked — an Italian by birth and a Pole by choice — who, more than 130 years before the Montgolfier brothers, formulated the concept of flight using a machine lighter than air and who was — allegedly — the creator of a flying machine. So much for legend, but what does the historical record say? Information about Boratyni and his apparatus can be found in a book by Jakob Joachim Becher, published in Germany in 1682, and this mention is frequently cited in other publications. Cyrano de Bergerac also mentions him, writing about a Polish engineer who built a flying machine at the court of the Polish king. Based on these accounts and considering the technological capabilities of the time, one must assume that Boratyni did indeed build — or perhaps completed — some kind of flying apparatus. This event is therefore of great significance and predates other similar endeavors worldwide. Becher mentions that Boratini allegedly “wanted to fly from Warsaw to Constantinople in 12 hours.” Of course, we can assume with certainty that he could not have lifted himself on it, although both Becher and Bergerac write about this, as technical and aerodynamic limitations surely prevented it; nevertheless, Boratyni can be counted among the most outstanding pioneers of world aviation.
There were, of course, others as well — besides the semi-legendary Brother Cyprian from the Red Monastery (Czerwony Klasztor), it is worth noting that in the 19th century, several projects for heavier-than-air flying machines were likely created in the territory of Lesser Poland, some of which may have been built and tested in flight. Others are presumably mere projections of dreams and fantasies…
It is unknown how much truth there is in the tale of a highland aviator, a farmer named Walcok, who lived on the slope of Mount Kicarz near Piwniczna. He was — allegedly — troubled by the fact that the road from the mountain pastures to Piwniczna was long. He crafted “wings modeled after bird wings” and reportedly did indeed jump from Kicarz and, flapping those wings, flew through the air, but — allegedly — quickly lost his balance and crashed at the place where the Piwniczanka mineral water plant stands today. That is why in Piwniczna, when someone attempts something grand and impossible, people say mockingly: “You’re soaring like Walcok over the cistern.”
In the second half of the 19th century, a folk woodcarver from Goruszów near Tarnów also allegedly built wings on which he jumped from a barn and — also allegedly — badly injured himself.
Around 1880, unknown experiments were conducted by an unidentified resident of the village of Górki in the Krosno region, but at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the organist Fron told Adam Ostoja-Ostaszewski about him. Confirmation of this account was obtained by the renowned researcher of early aviation history, Prof. Stanisław Januszewski, during his stay in 1977 in Wzdów. He learned about it from a local resident — Jan Krynicki, who in turn had heard about the man from Górki from his father, and earlier from his grandfather. According to this account, the flying apparatus built by this anonymous pioneer was most likely a type of primitive hang glider. He used it to fly from the hills surrounding the village (with an elevation difference of about 50 m). The tradition of these flights remains alive in the vicinity of Górki to this day.
So much for the semi-mythical accounts. We can already take as certain the account that carpenter Jan Wnęk from Odporyszów built wings for flying, so-called “lota” (flyers), from wooden (ash) slats covered with canvas soaked in boiled oil, i.e., varnish. Wnęk attached these “lota” to his body with girths and put stirrups on his feet. All joints, cables, and levers, made from linen fibers, were waterproofed with varnish. It sounds credible and sensible… The hang glider was ready for flight in the summer of 1866, and Wnęk made his first — short — flights from a hill in Odporyszów that had once been a defensive rampart. These flights reportedly went splendidly, because after obtaining permission from the parish priest, Wnęk decided to take off from the bell tower of the church in Odporyszów, which rises 45 m above ground level, and together with the 50 m elevation on which it stands, this gives 95 m above the surrounding valleys. According to accounts, Wnęk’s first flight took place in June
1866 during a church fair at the Odporyszów church, which attracted enormous crowds from the entire area. Wnęk jumped from the platform and, before the eyes of the gathered crowd, glided through the air and disappeared far beyond the nearby hill, where — allegedly — he landed safely. His first flight would therefore have covered approximately 2 km. News of this event reached Kraków, where an unknown author included a mention of “peasant Wnęk’s” flight in one of the New Year’s almanacs.
The first place among the pioneers of Galician aviation can boldly be given to the already mentioned Stanisław Ostaszewski — an inventor and promoter of modern technologies, and an organizer of breeding societies. Stanisław Ostaszewski was called, somewhat honorably and somewhat ironically, the “Leonardo of Wzdów,” yet his projects in the field of aviation were quite serious. He constructed aircraft models (some machines he — allegedly — flew personally), and designed a helicopter prototype called a “pionowzlot” (vertical take-off). In 1892 in Kraków, this “pionowzlot” called “Stibor-1” rose to a height of — allegedly — 100 m. Earlier, in 1881, he had built a model automobile.
Another pioneer of Lesser Poland’s — or rather Galician — aviation was Edmund Libański — a Lviv-based engineer, cinema entrepreneur, author and translator of theatrical works, aviation constructor of the pioneer era, and popularizer of science and technology, who in 1903 undertook the publication of a popular weekly for matters of technology and industry entitled “Przemysłowiec” (The Industrialist). In the years 1904–1907, under the editorial house of “Przemysłowiec,” a series of popular science brochures by Edmund Libański was published; he also developed his journalistic activities in several other Kraków and Lviv dailies and periodicals. In the middle of the first decade of the 20th century, Libański became fascinated with aviation (at the time, the terms “awiacja,” “awiatyka,” and “awiatyzm” were used). In 1909, he organized the society “Awiata” in Lviv — over 100 people joined, and Prince Andrzej Lubomirski became its president. In agreement with “Awiata,” a joint-stock company was established on the initiative of Count Maurycy Dzieduszycki, Libański himself, and engineer Karol Richtman, with the aim of “organizing flights.” It must be impartially acknowledged that the plans to purchase aeroplanes and organize air shows in Galicia were highly ambitious. A journalist from “Świat” (The World), who conducted an interview with Edmund Libański in Lviv, described him thus: “Libański also engaged in design work in the field of aviation. He designed and built two aircraft. The first was the ‘Monobiplan,’ displayed at the 1st Aviation Exhibition in Lviv in 1910, and the second was ‘Jaskółka’ (The Swallow). Tests of this second aircraft were conducted in 1911 — successfully — at the Wiener-Neustadt airfield. However, the design remained a prototype.”
Interest in aviation among the young people of Galicia at the time was no less than elsewhere. This text was immediately reprinted — in two consecutive issues of the biweekly “Łan Młodzieży” (The Youth’s Field), published in Kraków. It was a magazine created by Maria Piechocka, aimed at secondary school students. Many of them soon set about — with professional instruction — building the simplest hang gliders.
An additional impulse came from the news of Louis Blériot’s extraordinary feat, which spread like wildfire — in Kraków, as early as July 31, 1909, the weekly “Nowości Ilustrowane” (Illustrated News) published the first photographs of Blériot’s apparatus; in subsequent issues, ever new photographs and descriptions appeared — of this and other successful attempts by recognized aviation pioneers: Farman, Latham, Sommer, Ferber, Grand, and Santos-Dumont. Galician dailies were full in the following weeks of reports on new aviation records (altitude, speed, distance, and flight duration), which the editors adorned with triumphant headlines: Conquest of the Air, Conquest of the Sky, Further Mastering of the Skies. “Edison’s Circus,” meanwhile, just a month after Blériot’s flight, in the last week of August, presented — as in fact the first program in the freshly renovated building on Kraków’s Wielopole — a cinematographic show entitled “The Triumph of Aviation”…
A peculiar artistic record of the contemporary fascination with aviation is the painting by Filipkiewicz, Kamocki, and Karpiński entitled “Aeroplan” (The Aeroplane), which adorns the hall of Kraków’s most famous café — “Jama Michalika.” The silhouette of a Wright-type aircraft in flight over Wawel Castle served here as the motif for an allegorical-satirical painting created before 1910.
