The Polish-Built Hero Of Eastern Europe | PZL.24 [Aircraft Overview #94]

After literally hundreds of requests, we are taking a look at Polish aviation, specifically the PZL.24. This was the last of a lineage of Polish fighters that were at the top of their class in performance, handling, and firepower.
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The Hangar Team :
Rex - Aviation enthusiast for 25+ years, obsessive collector of books, compiler of research, and narrator.
Alexandros - Co-Researcher and preserver of Rex's sanity.
Franch - Editing guru, makes Adobe seem "fun".
Sources:
Cynk.J.B (1971), Polish Aircraft 1893 - 1939.
Cynk, J. B. (1967). The P.Z.L. P.24: Number 170. Profile Publications.
Φωτόπουλος, Χ. (2009). Η Ιστορία Τισ Ελλάδος Στον Δευτέρο Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο Με Φωτογραφιες. Εκδοτική Ακρόπολη.
Καρταλαμακη, Ε. Δ. (1990). Η αεροπορία στον πόλεμο του '40. ιδιωτική δημοσίευση.

[@RexsHangar]

F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.

[@BHuang92]

Heres an interesting fighter plane, the Chu XP-0!

[@kadlubom]

Still going with the Polish designs I would suggest this one - PZL.37 Łoś (Moose)

[@sdgvbuikbctyu_5993]

It will be greate to review the IAR 80 as Romanian development of the PZL 24.

[@Zorglub1966]

If you are planning to make a video about some Bloch aircraft, to avoid future rageful comments from pronunciation nazis, Bloch is said "blok".

[@roykliffen9674]

3:10 "this engine only started production in 1939" ...... I guess you'll mean 1929 as 1939 is pretty late for Poland to design a new aircraft as it was on the cusp of being overrun by Germany. You might wanna insert a text edit like "*1929" on screen to correct.

[@backinblack03]

This plane is a legend in Greece

[@rrynek]

Interesting fact: since Puławski died in 1931, shortly after first flight of PZL P7, further development of this aircraft, as well as models derived from it- P11 and P 24 was carried out by Wsiewołod Jakimiuk. This engineer was able to escape from Poland after it was invaded by Germany- first to Romania then to France and England. Subsequently he ended up in Canada where he designed DHC-1 Chipmunk. He was also responsible for design of DHC-2 and DHC-3. Later he came back to England where he participated in construction of DH.112 Sea Venom. After that he moved to France where he designed SE-5000 jet fighter and participated in design of SE-210 Caravelle.

[@10_z-ro_tone]

It looks like the ugly littlebrother of a ju 87.

[@pigeonman6434]

Oh my beloved P.24, there's something so charming about interwar fighters.

[@raymartcarreon6069]

Agree, just so many interesting designs like the Fokker D.XXIII and this one. Wish they can be added to games like War Thunder, instead of copy-pasting BF 109 or P51 over and over on their techtrees.

[@krzysztofwaleska]

I had book. In my hands. With all interwar military planes. 600+ pages. I was 13-y.-old and I was in heaven. I started to rewrite this by hand to notebooks - no other technology available then. I write so much, but never written title of book nor author. Now I can't find it. PL language. Library that don't exist anymore since 1990 year. Many books that I loved was lost with this library... Small library, in small city... Internet can't replace it - not every book is there.

[@dandysmecatholique]

​@Raymart carreon it's ridiculous that they added Israel (half copy-paste) but not Poland. Probably because they are Russians who hate Poland

[@mastathrash5609]

It's just a damn nice looking plane. And served valianty

[@SKILLED521]

Absolutely!

[@600marcel]

I am an aviation history enthusiast from Poland and a huge fan of your channel, I have been watching it for months. The episode about the P-24 was a great surprise, because in Poland we are very proud of Polish interwar constructors, engineers and aviators. As the predecessors wrote - Poland built the aviation industry from scratch after years of foreign occupation and in a very short time many amazing constructions were created, such as beloved the "P" series of fighters. Thank you very much Rex, good work, keep it up!

[@samsmotzzz2171]

Interesting note: Ethiopia ended up purchasing the 3rd prototype of the P.24 from Turkey. It saw limited action in the 2nd Italo Ethiopian War as a ground attacker and outran all Italian fighters.

[@cheezitz4043]

If that's so, then Ethiopia had the most advanced fighter of the war. 😭

[@naroddyzmow5356]

Outdated plane. But Italians in 30 s were not better than the plane we talking about. I did hear that bunch of planes were ordered from UK The Hurricanes

[@roo72]

Just a small correction. P-24's wings were "gull wing shaped" but it was not a classical gull wing. It was a Pulaski or Polish wing. The main difference was that the wing was at its strongest not at the point of joining the fuselage but where it was attached to the parasol struts. It allowed the inner part of the wing to be much thinner and smaller which made for excellent visibility from the cockpit.

[@shawnmiller4781]

I hadn’t heard of that concept before!

[@GreatPolishWingedHussars]

A good video that shows that Poland was not technologically inferior to the Germans in 1939, as is unfortunately often claimed. What few would expect is the fact that by 1933 the Polish Air Force became the first in the world to field a fleet of fighters consisting of all-metal-skinned monoplanes - certainly ahead of its time.Quote from the Link Military Factory PZL P.24 As actually often claimed, in 1939 Poland did not use biplane combat aircraft, but the Germans, on the other hand, used biplane combat aircraft in this war like the Henschel Hs 123. It’s also a myth which is being spread again and again that Germany wiped out the Polish air force in three days in 1939. The Polish military command was well aware of the numerical superiority of the German air force. That's why the Polish squadrons were relocated to a network of secret satellite airfields wich were created before the war. Therefore, in the first days of the war, the Germans attacked empty Polish airfields, destroying only a few old training aircraft. The Polish fighters weren't that so worse in 1939 as is always claimed. As mentioned in the video the most built Polish fighter was the PZL P.11. The PZL P.11 was significantly slower than the enemy fighters. BUT... The Polish fighter featured better maneuverability than German fighters Bf 109 and Bf 110. Also the pilots of the PZL P.11 benefited of their design, with much better overview from the cockpit. The P.11 with relatively powerful engine and satisfactory armament also had a durable construction and a good rate of climb, and could take off from short airfields, even of the rough and improvised variety. It could also dive at up to 600 km/h without risk of the wings breaking off. Theoretically the only limit in maneuvers was the pilot's ability to sustain high g-forces. Despite the German numerical superiority, the P.11 managed to shoot down a considerable number of enemy aircraft, including Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 fighters which superiority is always grossly exaggerated. The kill statistics say that approx 1 kill of the PZL P.11 cost approx. 1 of its own because the Polish PZL P.11 shot down 126 German aircraft with 114 own losses. The PZL P.11 odds of approx. 1: 1 is not bad. The problem was, as with all weapons, that Poland had too few of these weapons compared to the Germans. So the Poles should only have built approx. 20% as many planes as the Germans to win the aerial war. All a question of money. By the way, Several fighter aircraft were also under development in Poland in the pre-war period. For example the PZL.55 which should be as fast as a Messerschmitt Bf 109. Also new Bombers, Reconnaissance and Close Support aircrafts were under development in Poland. There were also Polish combat aircrafts, which were even technologically superior to the German ones. For example the Polish PZL.37 Łoś twin-engined medium bomber was one of the most modern, effective and advanced bombers of this time. The Polish bomber was clearly superior to the German counterparts Dornier Do 17 and Heinkel He 111. Poland only had to produce more of these bombers like more of other weapons to win the war. The Polish P.23 Karas light bombers were comparable to the to the German Ju 87 Stukas and also attacked the enemy as dive bombers. The Polish P.23 was a bit slower than the German Ju 87 but the Polish bomber had a much longer range. The export version of the PZL.23, the PZL.43 was actually slightly faster than the Ju 87. When the war started Poland had even developed a better successor model with the PZL.46 Sum of which there was only a prototype. Tests proved, that the Sum was a successful design, with much better performance, than Karaś. This Polish light bomber would then have been superior to the German Ju 87 Stuka. The same actually applies to all weapons, that the Polish weapons were actually technologically on the same level as the German weapons. So also the same with the tanks, because the Polish 7TP tank was equal to all German tanks. Furthermore all polish tanks were equipped with the revolutionary reversible periscope G wz. 34. The Periscope was a revolutionary because it was the first device to allow the tank commander to have a 360-degree view from his turret. This was a decisive advantage due to a much better overview of the battlefield. Because if I see the enemy tank before the enemy sees me, I can destroy the enemy tank first. The German soldiers in the German tanks, on the other hand, mainly used five viewing slits to observe the battlefield. Americans and British have taken over the Polish tank Periscope then for their own tanks too! Unfortunately, the Germans also took over the Periscope from the captured Polish tanks after 1939. With the 7TP tanks, a 20% numerical superiority would have been enough to win the tanks war. All a question of money and not the alleged technological superiority of the Germans. The Germans had more money, however, because they got into a lot of debt in order to be able to afford the extreme rearmament. That's why the Germans were actually bankrupt in 1939! Poland, on the other hand, was not bankrupt in 1939 and was well prepared for to hold out long enough until the British and French defeated the Germans from the west with their superior attack. But these traitorous Polish allies were too cowardly to attack and betrayed Poland. Only because of negative experiences with Polish wz.35 anti-tank rifles the Germans started to reinforce the armor of their main battle tanks with additional applique plates in preparation for the attack on France. The Germans had also a similar anti-tank rifle Pz. B. 39. This also illustrates the same technological level of both armies. So the Polish small arms like the anti-tank rifle wz.35 also clarify that Poland was technologically on the same level as the Germans. Another example of Polisch technologically advanced small arms is the superb Polish 7.92mm semi-automatic rifle wz. 38M. This was one of the best rifles in the war. But there was the issue of numbers again. The Polish Army Command planned to equip the Polish army with the rifle, but this was prevented by the German raid. The 9×19mm caliber semi-automatic pistol wz. 35 Vis is another example of Polish technologically advanced small arms. The Polish handgun was very accurate and stable (due to its size and mass, most stresses are absorbed and not passed on the shooter), while at the same time remaining reliable after firing more than 6,000 rounds. The Vis was generally regarded as one of the best handgus of that period. Today the wz. 35 Vis is highly prized among collectors of firearms In fact, in 1939, Poland had a much better off-road light military utility vehicles than the Germans! The Polish four-wheel drive off-road vehicle PZInż. 303 with hydraulic shock absorbers was a vehicle with very good off-road characteristics because it had a very good ability to negotiate difficult terrain, hills with a slope of 47° were not a problem. This off-road car was very maneuverable, the turning radius was only 3.3 meters. The PZInż. 303 was tested on a 1800 km route in 1938. The route of the rally was chosen in such a way that the vehicles could be tested under the most difficult conditions. In fact, in all possible off-road variants, such as swamps and sand tracks, but also on freezing swamps, in severe frosts down to -25 ° C. PZInż cars. 303 showed full suitability for use. But... After very successful tests, the car was approved for series production. However, it was prevented from serial production by the German raid on Poland. Only a few prototypes were used in the 1939 defensive war. The Germans used various types of light military utility off-road vehicles, but they were significantly inferior to the Polish PZInż. 303. These were different types of vehicles which in German were erroneously called "Einheits-PKW", which translates to unified passenger car units. The name contradicted the fact that they were different types of vehicles. Incidentally, when the Germans raided Poland in 1939, 60% of the German light military utility vehicles consisted of commercial civilian cars that had been converted for military purposes. One of them was the Type 62 Kübelwagen, which was later slightly modified to the Type 82 Kübelwagen known in many Hollywood movies. Kübel means pail and that was this converted VW Beetle. But the Type 62 Kübelwagen and Type 82 Kübelwagen were actually not off-road vehicles at all because they didn't have a four-speed gearbox. Anyway, all these German vehicles were Polish PZInż. 303 off-road vehicles significantly inferior. So, in conclusion, it can be said that most Polish weapons were technologically equivalent to German weapons ! Except rocket technology, but that technology was insignificant in that war! The German Navy was also very superior, but the Navy was not decisive for the war. The Germans had only most decisively more weapons in 1939! All a question of money! So, In summary, it can be stated that some German weapons were slightly technologically superior to their Polish counterparts, and some Polish weapons were slightly technologically superior to their German counterparts. So what shows that the assertion of complete superiority of the German army to the Polish army, which is repeated again and again, completely contradicts historical reality.

[@roo72]

@@GreatPolishWingedHussars This is just a meaningless word vomit. In tents of aviation technology Poland was a generation behind the test of the world

[@GreatPolishWingedHussars]

@@roo72 Your claims are absurd and contradicts the historical facts. Your claims are absurd and contradicts the historical facts. Even the claim about the world is ridiculous. So if all countries in the world had produced planes. There were Polish planes that were even the best in the world like the Polish PZL.37 Łoś twin-engined medium bomber that was one of the most modern, effective and advanced bombers of this time. The Polish bomber was clearly superior to the German counterparts Dornier Do 17 and Heinkel He 111. The Polish P.23 Karas was on the same technological level as the German Ju 87 Stukas. It is true that the Polish PZL P.11 fighter was a generation older than the German Bf 109, but since the PZL P.11 was the best fighter of its generation, it was not that much inferior.

[@roo72]

@@GreatPolishWingedHussars Find yourself a shoulder to cry on Polish fanboy.

[@TheBarth79]

This is part of history of my country.Thank you.

[@raypurchase801]

"Repeat please..." VRROOOOM !!!

[@jackdarbyshire5888]

Cool plane 😎 looks as though it can fly just as well belly side up 👍✌

[@mrsteamie4196]

Ooh I'm curious, are you polish? Or Greek?

[@RiverRat1953]

I am a American of Polish descent. I really enjoyed this video.😊

[@TheBarth79]

@@mrsteamie4196 Im from Poland.

[@stevetournay6103]

Canada calling. In the period after this, as World War II ended and the Cold War began, Poles who continued west from Britain instead of returning found homes here in Canada, and made major contributions to our aviation industry. Four examples: Waclaw Czerwinski, an engineer at Avro Canada whose work arguably saved the entire CF-100 program after an unforeseen structural defect cropped up; W.J. Jakimiuk, who designed the classic deHavilland Canada Chipmunk (and incidentally that name for the airplane was chosen partly based on its phonetic similarly to the designer's name); and Janusz Zurakowski and "Spud" Potocki, who constituted fifty percent of the pilots ever to fly the iconically ill-starred Avro Arrow...

[@wojciechpaka4250]

Thank you from Poland! (Few words about predecessor - the P-11: first world completly metal fighter. Including rudders. Semi self-supporting structure. Pneumatic button engine start. Electric trigger (failed). Shock absorbers hidden in fuselage. Best visibility from cockpit: engine lowered from axe of fuselage... First shot down Allied aircraft - 01/09/1939 in WW2: Poland vs Germany allied with Soviets, first KIA in P-11- cap. M. Medwecki at Balice Airfield. His winger Sgt Gnys in same day shot down German Do-17E. Many German crews' smilines were swept out by P-11. Each P-11s roughly counting shot down one German plane. Good investment? Also happened Ground attack by P-11 on Germans motorised column, approaching quickly Warsaw, stopped foes assault. P-11 is on exhibition in Musuem of Aircrafts in Cracow ; Poland.. Machine is holy: it was in combat: bullet holes are on right wing. Due to unsimetrical way of putting national marks "checkerboards" white red, pilot wasn't in center of aiming of German fighter. Better manoeuvrability, climb rate, selection plus training of Polish pilots (1 from 20 candidates?) steerability made Elevens difficult opponent. Horrible low speed was pain.. Lack of logistics, outnumbered (5:1?) outclasses in 1939, .... pilots of Elevens kept fighting in France and Great Britain. One Polish Ace pilot tried to paint red star kill mark on tail on his Spitfire in RAF (Polish AF) - he shot down Soviet airplane. But it was forbidden by his superior.

[@zowikspowolniony3546]

And what with this idiotic +3% angle on guns in P-11? Still in P-24? You had to go low those 3% to be exact ...

[@nanab256]

@@zowikspowolniony3546 there was machineguns, not laser or blaster, projectiles doesn't go staright, you have to point a litte bit up to hit the target

[@zowikspowolniony3546]

@@nanab256 I'm talking just about it - +3" (or %) angle on guns. Set probbly 200-300 m on a crosspoint - so being closer (150-80 m) U had to point nose low...

[@nanab256]

@@zowikspowolniony3546 in a dogfight this is an advantage. And what about for example F-14? Its gun is pointing even higher. What about schräge muzik?

[@mdcampbell7360]

The gull winged PZL fighters have long been one of my favorite interwar designs.

[@mastathrash5609]

Same, I didn't know there were so many variants!

[@Grobut81]

I liked Gullwinged PZL fighters before they were cool. Now that they are popular i think they have sold out, and i don't like them anymore.

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

@@Grobut81 Dont eat then

[@karoltakisobie6638]

After September 1939 some of PZL engineers found employment in Romanian IAR and in Turkey. P-24 was also considered for license production in Finland but lost to Fokker .

[@b1laxson]

"Bring me closer I wish to use my pistol" - that real life Hellenic pilot to his engine

[@juancarloscuaocastellanos8813]

Boss music starts playing. 🤯

[@thekinginyellow1744]

In reality though, destroying his fighter, as understandable as it was, was probably a mistake.

[@georgesakellaropoulos8162]

He only did it because starting a fistfight really wasn't an option.

[@laurencemoore2105]

"Oh, this shit is ON!!!!"

[@DimitriosAngelos]

@@thekinginyellow1744 He did not destroy the fighter , the propellor only maybe the engine .,

[@kentl7228]

The Greek pilot who rammed and the arrested a bomber crew is an impressive guy.

[@IoannisAr]

His name is Captain Marinos Mitralexis

[@kentl7228]

@@IoannisAr Thanks for saying. He deserves respect.

[@IoannisAr]

@@kentl7228 more information at the link of wikipedia below Unfortunatelly there no much of information about the only one Ace with PZL 24 Cpt Antoniou Another one fierce fighter was the 21st Squadron leader Ioannis Kellas en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinos_Mitralexis

[@Scodiddly]

Nobody to be trifled with!

[@jothegreek]

That's normal for greeks

[@GrahamMilkdrop]

Thanks. Never knew about the link between the PZL.24 and I.A.R. 80. Very interesting.

[@tommygun333]

When you look at the tail arrangement you'll see similarities;) Pozdrawiam

[@GrahamMilkdrop]

@@tommygun333 Yes it seems obvious once you know!

[@steveball2307]

Loved PZL since making the Revell P11-c model as a boy, 50 odd years ago....

[@josephtreacy667]

same here .

[@tommygun333]

Thank you for covering this plane. Greetings from Poland! And thank you for popularizing the achievements of Polish industry from inter-war period. I'm still amazed how they could achieve all these things after 123 years of foreign occupation just within a few years after regaining independence.

[@imperialweimarball]

Probably because like the Czechs they inherited all the industry from the German Empire and Austro Hungarian Empire in those regions.

[@kiler2000pl]

@@imperialweimarball Especially after The Great War... Did you take this under your consideration? ;-)

[@imperialweimarball]

@@kiler2000pl The Great War didn’t involve unprecedented bombing and total destruction of infrastructure like the Second World War was so no not really.

[@Szejski]

​@@imperialweimarball Certainly not to the same extent as in Czechoslovakia. The "German" part was relatively small, and besides, PZL was founded in 1928 and was located in Warsaw.

[@imperialweimarball]

@@Szejski small but also still a good amount but this more applies to firearms and other forms of manufacturing rather then aircraft if you know what I mean.

[@JDK73772]

This was one of my favorite aircraft when I was young and just learning about WW2ish aircraft.

[@dariusz1752]

Dziękuję za Twój materiał i przypomnienie ludziom o naszych pięknych "pezelkach".

[@Alexandros11]

Mitralexis is a total chad

[@stevedalbor1001]

It's amazing they had engines powerful enough to carry his enormous balls...

[@Oliver6163]

6:43 The P.24's Performance was so impressive that even the RAF considered buying it in 1934.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Interesting. Got a source?

[@Oliver6163]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 I read it in Greg Baughen's The Rise of the Bomber, p.128/129

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@Oliver6163 thanks I'll look into it. Always like to find out something new.

[@vac65]

As a Romanian i would like to see your take on IAR-80(81). Anyway, keep up the good work!! 😁

[@stevetournay6103]

I've seen a video recently on the IARs. It's either one of Rex's or one of Ed Nash's...those were slick little machines, reminiscent in profile of a miniature Corsair (though without the cranked wing).

[@marcinmaciejterlikowski4557]

I heard that IAR-81 fuselage design is simply taken from PZL-24

[@vac65]

@@marcinmaciejterlikowski4557 Let's be polite. Heavily inspired... 😂 I think it was larger, longer and heavier. And much faster.

[@michaeltelson9798]

@@marcinmaciejterlikowski4557 The engineers from PZL escaped to Romania and were employed there.

[@nunolip]

Ed Nash made a video about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5O2eHWZrqtgipI

[@alanmoss3603]

I have just finished building a really nice 1/32 scale model of the PZL PIIc. One of my favourite planes!

[@marcinos303]

Great material! I've been waiting for the appearance of Polish planes in War Thunder for years to fly, and there were a few of them. PZL "P7", "P11", "P24", PZL "Łoś"(Moose), PZL "Karaś"(Crucian), PZL "Wilk"(Wolf) bombers. In addition, great sports planes RWD 6, RWD 9 and more modern PZL "Wilga"(Oriole), "Gawron"(Rook/Crow) and probably the best agricultural plane in the world - "Dromader".

[@5peciesunkn0wn]

I'd love a Polish line in WT for sure.

[@piot_r1771]

@@5peciesunkn0wn maybe not entire line but pzl 24 and pzl 37 would be amazing low-tier premiums

[@davidvavra9113]

Thanks

[@sheepFP5]

Great video, I've noticed 2 minor errors, I think you just said the wrong word: 2:51 you say "contract with Mercury" - should read "Bristol" 3:12 - production of the Mistral major began in 1929 (obviously not '39 as you said) Keep up the great work!

[@sheepFP5]

Also just really nitpicking now, at 11:13 you show a picture of a pair of Spanish nationalist SM.79 Sparvieros, not Reggia Aeronautica ones!

[@thekinginyellow1744]

Kudos to all nit pickers.

[@jarikrawczyk]

Very interesting. Thank you. Perhaps at some point you will be able to take a look at the PZL 37 Łoś (Moose), the most advanced aircraft in pre-war Polish Airforce.

[@gs637]

Excellent material! The IAR-80 and 81 were a great development of the PZL at the beginning of WW2

[@THEJaManes]

What the heck, Poland mentioned!

[@joseantoniocustodio7232]

Prewar and World War 2 Polish combat aircraft are my favorite and I have a collection of them in 1/72 scale. Excellent video and will recommend this in my socmed account!

[@obi-ron]

In my youth, q half century ago, I made models of aircraft with unusual wing configurations as a sort of sub-hobby and P24 was my favourite, next to the Westland Lysander, both of which had relatively successful records. Nice to get a bit more information about such a distinctive aircraft even after so long.

[@tomaskoupil5994]

Love the content on all those less known aircrafts! Well done mate and thank you.

[@jonremmers1828]

This fighter is featured extensively in the first chapters of the 1985 novel ”Valedictory” by WS Kuniczak. I read this as a teenager some 25 yrs ago. The book is interesting. It is both commenting on the at publishing present political situation, with Poland being under soviet control - as well as it is a comment on the ”double betrayal” from the western states on Poland. I was too young to realize this when I read it the first time. The dogfight scenes were great though. But when re-reading it some ten years ago it was more obvious to me what the author was trying to say, haha. It is a good read for anyone interested in planes. Highly recommend it 👍

[@tommygun333]

Thanks for suggesting a good book to read. Being Polish I haven't heard about it!

[@eugenekearney6971]

@@tommygun333 author of the Thousand Hour Day, a great book.

[@tommygun333]

Thanks!

[@hmmjedi]

A good video on one of the rarer countries creation and I am looking forward to the PZL video... sometimes the lesser knowns get forgotten...

[@mirekjaneczekpl]

A wonderful movie. Thank you and greetings from Poland.

[@orzel1369]

Great video, i am polish and this is the first time I hear about this plane. Thank you mate 👍

[@jerzkos1301]

No, troszkę bym się wstydził, ale każdy kiedyś ma swój pierwszy raz🤭

[@rafarosso8518]

The PZL.24 has a good look in plus of having great capacities the aircraft is one of the Gull-wings planes that i like to see the appearance also remind me of the D.371 and D.373 except of having the wings attached to one onto another the wings ar direcxtly attached to the hull

[@sabrekai8706]

Once again, you expanded my aviation knowledge. I've never looked at the Polish aircraft. All I knew was that their Air Force fought well against overwhelming odds. Well done, and thanks.

[@christopher5723]

Nice to see Polish interwar aviation getting some love, too many people still cling to ww2 era german propaganda memes about Poland.

[@Scorp_2]

First time hearing about it. Thanks for the video 👍🏻

[@LOKgr]

Hello from northern Greece my friend...! Nice mention about Mitralexis and his heroic actions.. Keep on with you great videos, i m looking forward for the next... Greece in WW2 had paid and ordered for some spitfires and other equipment and also from USA that never came cause they were confiscated by England cause of the war... Update* Now that i did some research we had made an order for 24 Spitfire MK1 and 30 F4F Wildcat that never made it here cause the war started and uk government didn't allow them to come here..

[@spudskie3907]

Καλημέρα from the US! Greek-American here. Greece ordered Wildcats and a number of P-40s. US government red tape caused considerable delays in sending them.

[@kirkmooneyham]

I have a question. Do you know if the airfield there was actually near Perea instead of closer to Thessaloniki, as stated?

[@LOKgr]

@@kirkmooneyham There were many airfields here in Greece at that time, sure there was an airfield in Tatoi Greece close to Athens at that time but cause of the war and the mountainous landscape of Greece airplanes that were stationed at Athens moved north so to be in close range with the battlefield.. There was also the Ellinikon International airport made in 1938 in Athens then named Anatolikon Aerodromion (Eastern Airfield), that is like 3miles east of pireas port and also there was the aircraft base of Elefsina again in Athens..

[@kirkmooneyham]

@@LOKgr, the Perea I'm talking about is just around the bay from Thessaloniki. It was a Hellenic Air Force base at one point, but is now an airport.

[@LOKgr]

@@kirkmooneyham Yeah the airport close to Perea Thessaloniki that now is the civilian airport existed from WW1 and after German occupation, Germans made a bigger runway and some other refurbishments around the airport, on ww2 also there was an airport in Oreokastro Thessaloniki that stationed reconnaissance planes of the army... In 1950 onwards this airport is used for civil transportations...

[@justfly7730]

We have a replica and a real one here in Turkey

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

​@RexsHangar >>> I have heard of *PZL,* but other than recognizing the name I knew very little of their aircraft. Now I know more...👍

[@samerset26]

If you want to learn more about Polish PZL/PWS/RWD aircraft, I highly recommend "Zabytki Nieba" channel. The only downside is that you have to watch with subtitles

[@Republic_ofTexas]

Love this video. Love the unsung, David vs. Goliath type fighters. Strong work!!! Keep them coming.

[@bengrindell7693]

A 'very' underdiscussed aircraft!!!! Very good!!!

[@G_Okr]

Main fighter of the Greek Air force during the Greco Italian war. A reliable workhorse. Many heroes fought in this plane.

[@nigellawson8610]

What is wild about aeronautical advances in the twenty five year period between 1930 and 1955 is how fast designs changed. To get an idea how fast things moved during that period, it is instructive to compare the differences between a PZL 7 and a Lockheed F 104 Starfighter. To get back to the PZL series of fighters, when viewed objectively, they were on the verge of being obsolete after only their first flight. When these Polish fighters first entered service in the early 30's they were considered by many foreign observers to be one the hottest things in the air. Yet, one just fast forwards to 1939, to see that they had been totally surpassed by designs like the Bf 109, especially its E variant. During the nineteen thirties because the pace of technological advancement was so quick, the useful service life of a front line fighter was measured in a few years. Of course there were exceptions to this trend, most notable of which were the Spitfire and Bf 109 which were able to remain competitive with many later designs right up to the end of the Second World War. In contrast to that incredible period of technological advance, designs like the American F 15 and F 16 have remained in service for nearly fifty years. The fact that these designs have remained in service for so long, indicates that manned fighters have almost reached their performance potential. Looking at the future, any future advances in manned fighter aircraft will be more incremental than revolutionary.

[@HarborLockRoad]

I just realized, when the Romanians made the IAR 80 out of the P24, they made the fuselage look very much like a Vought Corsair, .... BUT, if they'd taken the P24s wings, swapped left for right, and mounted them upside down, the gull wings would look like a Corsair too! 😁 Hmm, maybe a future " what could have been" kit bash??? 🤔

[@5peciesunkn0wn]

late 1930s corsair? me like.

[@stevetournay6103]

Say now. There's a homebuilder project: take one of those half-scale WAR Corsairs, build new straight wings, stick a Warner or an M14 or something out front, and poof, two-thirds scale IAR 80...

[@stevetournay6103]

Vought did build a straight wing fighter around that time, the Vought 143, but it was an adaptation of the Northrop 3A and looked very like a prototype for the Nakajima Ki43...

[@garybrader8447]

Very imaginative fun idea, Dave. Perhaps you should give it a try.

[@migueldelacruz4799]

Don't worry dude, you are awesome. I love the video. This plane was the rugged hard hitting brawler it needed to be.

[@PantherBlitz]

I had a toy Matchbox metal airplane in the 1970's that reminds me of these PZL designs. It was upper gull-wing, and had a radial with two blades. It was painted in air racing colors. I still have this somewhere ... lol.

[@jehoiakimelidoronila5450]

The most heavily armed & fastest fighter in the world at the time, yet looking archaic. But looking at it (even for 1st timers) feels memorable Also, kudos to marinos mitralexis. The Greek ancestors will revere him in the afterlife. Plus his name sounds like that of ancient Greek/Roman soldier

[@Galvars]

It did not look archaic back then.

[@alanquintus2069]

The bravery of this man is incredible and deserves respect.

[@Farweasel]

His uniform & insignia in those photos looks like Royal Airforce Did he go to the RAF after Greece fell?

[@Galvars]

@@Farweasel He and some pilots evacuate to Africa and fights alongside Allies.

[@timgosling6189]

I'd never really noticed this aircraft so thank you for covering it. With 9 decades of hindsight it does look pretty but also instantly like a dead end, but its designers in the early-thirties had no such advantage. Minor thing and I'm sure you just mis-spoke but the Gnome-Rhône 14 Mistral Major actually first ran in 1929.

[@endi3386]

For the alto! 🎉

[@sketchypanzer8274]

I suggest maybe looking at the PZl P.37 a plane that took the P that was reserved from fighter planes and used it for a bomber, i have always loved this plane as it was in one of my childhood Plane books that i would stare at all the time, it would be cool to see a video on it as i cant find one currently.

[@paulkosoff8851]

in fact, the naming of Polish aircraft was inconsistent - it is widely believed, that P was for pursuit a/c or Pulawski's a/c (which was the same), but apparently the manufacturer did not care much and sometimes treated it as a short of PZL...

[@MrAwombat]

One of my favorite early war aircraft! Beautiful gull wing design

[@Galvars]

If you search for decent photos related to PZL, NAC (National Digital Archive) have a good number of them.

[@thecooky7744]

I appreciate the time you take to locate photos of aircraft most have never heard of. Thank you

[@Nicolasgusso]

Here we have one of my favorite aicraft, what a great surprise 😁

[@francoisprenot-guinard5997]

Covering the PZL.24 is really a good idea. Nice video

[@MikeDecky]

Thank you for this one Rex!

[@joegardner8809]

Gotta say, P.11 is one of my fav interwar fighters. Kudos to this channel that I just came across - love your vids so far, and to include both P.11/24 and I-16 in the same place is awesome

[@johnphillips519]

I like your posts as they are usually about planes that are not commonly known and so much more interesting, Thank you for your great work👍

[@billyhyde1415]

I have been looking forward to a P.24 video for a long long time. What a great little fighter, one of my favorites.

[@Nevernotalone]

Incredible video. Thank you

[@cindybetten7573]

Rex, you have a wonderful channel! I watch every episode. Keep it up.

[@jayg1438]

Excellent topic again Rex. This plane and it's family of aircraft did a lot of work in a bunch of places.

[@bikercuz69]

The 3D models are great, and can show more detail than possible in the sometimes blurry original photos, as fascinating as they usually are. It's good to see the P.24 highlighted, and your type-development series are really interesting. I hope you are able to continue with these (I know such series can be labour intensive!). Great video as always. 👍

[@andrzejczaczkowski6084]

Wow, amazing video. A lot of photos I've never seen before.

[@Marcin1975W]

A very interesting channel and a great material, greetings from Poland!👍

[@user-pi4wj7bm4z]

Always a pleasure listening to you and I relish your research and delivery Greg in Ontario, Canada 😊❤

[@warneryoung5223]

Thank you, for the cherries on top. They really enhance the presentation!🙂

Learned something. Very nice Models. Getting Photos is difficult and having the opportunity to use models is great for a youtuber

[@huntera.8013]

i wonder when the large cannon armed ww2 plane swill end up on this channel, like the b-25 with the 75mm or the Italian bomber with a 103mm howitzer.

[@imperialweimarball]

I think the Italian one is the P.108A

[@Kaclasy]

Is there gonna be a video about any Australian planes anytime soon? The CAC Boomerang or the CA-15 prototype would be a good choice

[@TheKusa5]

I'd love to see an episode on the boomerang myself

[@Kaclasy]

@@TheKusa5 Same, but the CA-15 would also be nice to see. It has a unique development history

[@volters9561]

There is another similar channel in You tube i enjoy much. It is "Ed Nash's military matters". He alredy put few videos about australian wwII airplanes.

[@Kaclasy]

@@volters9561 Really? Thanks for telling me about this. Im gonna have a look into it.

[@Kaclasy]

@@volters9561 Wait a sec, I just realized I found his channel already earlier today lol.

[@jacksavage4098]

Thank you and love the 3D models.

[@chkoha6462]

The 3D Models are great! Keep them coming

[@clairependrous4512]

A fascinating video, thank you for your superb narration.

[@Ioann16105]

Very nice video , thanks ..

[@garyhooper1820]

Great work Rex , love you work .

[@bessarion1771]

Yes, You pronounced "Orlinski" almost perfectly.

[@The_Modeling_Underdog]

Hi, Rex. A small note on the Turkish P.24s. The claim about the airframes being re-engined with a Twin Wasp in service was never substantiated. The one in the Museum is fitted with such engine for display purposes only. Earlier models of the Pezetel were indeed re-engined with more powerful Gnome-Rhone engines and brought to F/G standard. Service life was actually very short. As much as the pilots loved the superior speed and handling, several of them got killed in accidents due to lack of training or engine fires. The fall of France and Poland didn't help THK - the licensed constructor and maintenance facility - in getting the Pezetel fully ironed-out for service. The aircraft were given reserve status in 1941/1942 iirc when more modern aircraft started pouring in due to political shenanigans on who swinged Turkey to their side. They were pretty much off the picture by the time the war ended and ended up being used as instructional Airframes for several years afterwards. All the best to you, mate.

[@bobjames874]

Great post! Thank you!

[@thefez-cat]

Definitely slept on the Polish fighters before today. The PZL.24 definitely has that interwar "let's try it all" aesthetic, but it's remarkable that it also happened to be a real contender and capable of punching impressively above its class.

[@judydupont5601]

You sir are the drachinifel of aviation. Thank you for your videos. Both of you do excellent research.

[@jfu5222]

It was interesting to hear about their use against the Fiat CR. 42 Falco. Interwar superplanes following quite different evolutionary pathways.

[@dennisfox8673]

Good video, I’m quite looking forward to your planned follow up!

[@ianbell5611]

Thank you. Great video

[@Rogue284]

I had just been thinking about this fighter and wanted to know more about it. What brilliant timing.

[@yoda5565]

Thanks. A great little aircraft for the day. Esthetically pleasing and the cannon armament impressive for the time.

[@stanisawkaczmarczyk5312]

Hello from Poland, and thank you

[@malcontender6319]

The 3D models are really, really good. Great way to help visualize those planes that only have a couple of obscure photos.

[@ghost210377]

Great video this is the first time I have seen such a thorough video for the PZL P.24, and especially Marinos Mitralexis’ story. I have read a lot about this incident in greek aviation history books, but there are not many reports for this story in English

[@j.lyonslonglivethefighters7495]

More pure aviation gold mate!! Cheers!

[@jasonz7788]

Great work Sir thank you

[@danielprates2208]

Hey great idea - the pzl as subject, I mean

[@albertbradfield1945]

memoriesThe PZL 11C was one of the first models I built as a kid, from Airfix in 1/73 scale, fond

[@maryclarafjare]

Most enjoyable video!

[@spencerdawkins]

This is Yet Another Awesome Rex's Hanger video. I honestly wonder how you amassed a list of airplanes that almost no one has heard of, to make these amazing videos about. I thought I was quite the world war two aviation scholar, back in the second half of the 1960s, because I made models of the PLZ 11 and the IL-16, which were both (at the time) pretty obscure fighters to teenagers in the US, but I wasn't thinking about pre-war designs, and where these fighters came from, and (since both planes turned out to be speed bumps for the Luftwaffe, quickly brushed aside), I didn't realize that both planes were world-class, when they first flew. And the PLZ 50 was a really nice looking plane, which I had never heard of before watching this video - thank you for that.

[@philbosworth3789]

These animations are very good. The info is also of an excellent quality.

[@eraummenino3011]

i would love to see you cover the Romanian IAR 80/81, it borowed a lot from the PZL 24 in its design