Libiąż, situated today in Lesser Poland in the Chrzanów district, belonged in the interwar period to the Silesian District of the LOPP (Air and Anti-Gas Defence League) and became a training center for glider flights. In 1937, a Glider School was established there, maintained by the Glider Club of the Riflemen’s Association at the Silesian District of the LOPP. The task of this institution was to provide training at the 2nd level of glider piloting. After its first year of operation, the School issued 80 diplomas confirming that trainees had obtained Category “A” and 68 confirming Category “B,” training a total of 102 glider pilots, of whom seven were sent for further training at the School in Goleszów to obtain Category “C” in glider piloting. Six of them completed this course successfully.
This glider field was also used by members of the Scout Glider Unit based in nearby Trzebinia. According to not entirely confirmed recollections, a DKD IV aircraft designed by non-commissioned officer Stanisław Działowski of the 2nd Air Regiment from Kraków, which was in use by the Trzebinia branch of the Air and Anti-Gas Defence League, landed at this glider field on several occasions.
World War II put an end to this glider field’s activities, and it was only after the withdrawal of German forces in January 1945 that pre-war aviators from Libiąż undertook its reactivation. According to Mieczysław Wójcik, approximately 800 aspiring aviators were trained here between 1945 and 1954. The Glider School in Libiąż was closed in July 1954. Today, there is no longer any trace of gliders in the skies above Libiąż, but this is an important part of the city’s history.
