The first manned balloon launch in Tarnów took place in March 1933, and a few months later — in May — Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, the then director of the State Nitrogen Compound Factory, gave his consent to establish a balloon club. It is worth noting that in 1934, there were four main centers in Poland where balloon sports were developing. Besides Legionowo (at the Military Balloon Workshops in Jabłonna), Warsaw, and Kraków, it was precisely in Mościce near Tarnów, at the State Nitrogen Works, that a thriving center was established. It had at its disposal a balloon named “Warszawa” with a capacity of 750 m³, transferred by the Polish Army. After renovation, it was registered as the “Mościce” balloon and received the registration markings SP-ALP.
The balloon club used the so-called Small Commons (małe błonia) located near the airfield in Mościce, on the present-day Kwiatkowski Street (formerly Fabryczna Street).
The Mościce Club developed thanks to generous support from the Nitrogen Works, which agreed, among other things, to sell hydrogen to the Club at cost, and sometimes provided the gas free of charge. The Directorate of the State Mineral Oil Works “Polmin” also agreed to let the Club use natural gas free of charge during official presentations. In October 1933, Lt. Władysław Pomaski made a record-breaking flight covering a distance of over 400 km — from Mościce to the village of Chorodziec near Kowel. The following year, Lt. Pomaski was already serving as the club’s instructor. At the end of 1934, the Club signed an agreement with the Kraków Aero Club, under which members of its balloon section could train in Mościce.
The balloon launch field in Mościce witnessed many famous flights — on December 4, 1934, the balloon “Toruń” rose into the air as part of an attempt to break the straight-line distance record for balloons with a capacity of 2,200 m³. Its crew consisted of Capt. Pomaski and engineer Leszek Krzyszkowski. Unfortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful — the balloon landed after covering 1,470 km, and the aeronauts failed to break the record set in 1932 by the American contestants T. Settle and Bushnell during the 20th Gordon Bennett Cup. In the year 1935 alone, Club members made 30 flights covering 3,455 km (134 hours of flight time). In 1936, the Club received another balloon — “Mościce I” with a capacity of 750 m³ and registration markings SP-AXZ.
In 1937, the Club possessed 4 balloons: “Mościce,” “Mościce I,” “Mościce II,” and “Kraków,” on which 34 flights were made, covering a total distance of 4,234 km in 211 hours and 50 minutes. It is worth mentioning that in the 1938 Gordon Bennett Cup competition held in Brussels, the club’s then-president Leszek Krzyszkowski participated alongside Captain Antoni Janusz on the balloon “Polonia,” taking second place. When in April 1939 the statutes of the Aero Club of the Republic of Poland changed, transforming it from an organization of individuals into a federation of territorial clubs, the Mościce Balloon Club became its member. The outbreak of war in 1939 put an end to the Club’s activities. It was not until March 1961 that a balloon section was established in Tarnów. On July 2, the newly formed section organized a public launch of 2 balloons — “Syrena” and “Warszawa” — from the Unia Tarnów stadium. The following year, the balloon section of the Subcarpathian Aero Club at the Nitrogen Works (then named after Feliks Dzierżyński) organized a launch of the “Polonez” balloon from the Works’ grounds, with one of the most respected Polish aeronauts, engineer Zbigniew Burzyński, as pilot. Later, the club’s activities were suspended, and it was not until 1996 that Krzysztof Rękas and Paweł Orłowski reactivated its operations. The Club had no permanent headquarters and stored its equipment at the Tarnów Sports and Recreation Center in Mościce. In January 2021, the Club — with the consent of the Mayor of Tarnów — leased for 20 years, at a 90% discount, the premises of the former fire station on Kolejowa Street.
