Arct Lotarjusz

Lotariusz Arct (1900–?) was an officer of the Polish Army, a military pilot and a participant in the fights for Polish independence in 1918–1920. He was educated during World War I, attending a gymnasium in Przemyśl and a higher Realschule in Moravia, which he completed in 1917. He then continued his studies at the Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt. In November 1918, after Poland regained its independence, he participated in the disarming of German units on the streets of Warsaw. Shortly afterwards he enrolled in the Officer Cadets’ School, and in 1919 he was assigned to the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Legions. In its ranks he took part in the Polish-Bolshevik War, during which he was wounded and after convalescence transferred to a reserve battalion.

At the age of 21 he began flight training, being admitted to the Officers’ Aeronautical School in Toruń, which he completed in 1922. He then served in the IV Balloon Battalion in Kraków, after which in 1924 he began studies at the Pilots’ School in Bydgoszcz, obtaining a military pilot’s diploma. In the following years he served in aviation units, including the 2nd Aviation Regiment, participating in the development of Polish military aviation in the interwar period. The further fate of Lotariusz Arct is not well documented in available sources. His activities, however, belong to the generation of officers who co-created the aviation structures of the Second Polish Republic during the period of its intensive organisation and development.