Originally posted by Morpheus
See Rule #7
Peep this:
"At the outbreak of the World War II, on September 1, 1939, the Polish Air Force had 109 PZL P.11c and 20 P.11a (and 30 P.7a) in combat units. Further 43 P.11c were in reserve or undergoing repairs. Only a third of P.11c were armed with 4 machineguns, the rest had only 2, even fewer had a radio. P.11 were used in 12 squadrons, each with 10 aircraft (two squadrons constituted a group, in Polish: dywizjon). Two groups - 4 squadrons - were in the Pursuit Brigade deployed around Warsaw, the rest were assigned to Armies. All of them took part in the Polish September Campaign. Apart from combat units, several P.11, including a prototype P.11g, were used in units improvised at air bases.
By September 1, the fighter squadrons had been deployed to remote airfields, so they were not bombed by the Germans. During the campaign, P.11 fought against more modern German bombers and fighters. Not only were the German Bf 109 and Bf 110 faster and better armed, but also most German bombers were faster than P.11c as well. Since the planes were intensively used, their maximum speed was still lower than the theoretical 375 km/h. P.11a were in an even worse situation.
On the other hand, Polish planes had better maneouvreability and because of its design it had much better vision, from the cockpit, than the German planes. P.11 had a strong construction and also could operate from short fields, even rough ones. It was also of a very durable construction and could dive at up to 600 km/h without risk of the wings falling apart. Theoretically the only limit in maneouvres was the pilots ability to sustain high G forces. Despite the German superiority, P.11 managed to shoot down a considerable number of German aircraft, including fighters, but suffered heavy losses as well.
The exact numbers are not fully verified, but it appears that at least one German plane shot down for each P.11 lost (a figure of 141 German planes is often given as compared with 118 planes lost).The first aircraft shot down in World War II, on September 1 at dawn, was a PZL P.11c of Capt. Mieczysław Medwecki shot down by a German Ju 87. The first Allied air victory was achieved 20 minutes later by Medwecki's wingman, Wladyslaw Gnys who shot down two Dornier Do 17E with his P.11c.
It was also the first airplane to successfully ram an enemy plane in WWII.
Karaya
