Gronik is a small hamlet situated at an altitude of 945 m above sea level, approximately 4.5 km southwest of the center of Zakopane, directly along the road leading to Kiry and further to the Chochołowska Valley. This picturesque road runs at the foot of the Western Tatras and begins at the intersection of Kościeliska Street and Krupówki. To the south, above the dark green spruce rampart of the Regle, rises the wall of Giewont.
Past the junction with the road branching off to Kościelisko, the highway approaches the Regle hills, covered in spruce forest. On the left side of the road lies a forest clearing called Gąsieniców Potok, situated at the mouth of the Mała Łąka Valley, with the Małołącki Stream flowing through it. A few hundred meters further, on a bend in the road, on its right side, Gronik comes into view, announced by a beautiful stylish gate with a checkerboard pattern and an aviation “Gapa” emblem.
According to some accounts, this was the ancestral home of the Matej family, the last legendary highlander bandits of Podhale. The name “Gronik” is also associated with another bandit. In the interwar period, the Gronik hamlet was still known as Nędzów Gronik. It was here, according to Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, that his character lived — “Janosik Nędza Litmanowski, the bandit hetman from Nędzowy Gronik in Polany.”
Three beautiful highland villas, which became the basis for the facilities of the Military Conditioning Center (WOSzK) for flying personnel in 1957, were built in 1936–37 according to a design by the well-known Zakopane architect Eng. Stefan Meyer.
WOSzK “Gronik” was established in 1957 on the basis of Order No. 052/Org. of the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, dated March 16, 1957, as the Conditioning Center for Flying Personnel. The unit was organized according to establishment No. 21/263, with a staff of 9 soldiers and 11 military employees. Shortly thereafter, by Order No. 0153/Org. of the Chief of the General Staff, dated August 20, 1957, the existing Center was reorganized to establishment No. 21/269, with a staff of 20 soldiers and 16 military employees. In 1966, the Center’s name was changed to the current one: Military Training and Conditioning Center. For some time from 1975, the WOSzK was incorporated into the Military Recreation Complex “Zakopane-Kościelisko.”
Today, the WOSzK organizes training courses for personnel of the Polish Air Force. Instructors and soldiers attending the courses have at their disposal: a swimming pool, a gym, hotel facilities, a sports hall, and a performance and conference room. Currently, renovation work is planned at the WOSzK to adapt rooms for conducting training with a spatial disorientation simulator.
