A guide, an album with unique drawings of the young pilot from the Second World War, and another part of a popular book on the history of painting and marking of aircraft and helicopters with the sign of red and white chessboard – these and other books were presented at the stand of the Publishing Houses of the Institute of Aviation at the largest book fair, which took place on 19-22 May 2016 at the PGE Narodowy stadium in Warsaw.
Readers looking for interesting aviation books proposals were not disappointed. The Institute of Aviation, for the occasion of the 90th anniversary of its existence, has prepared publications aimed at both experts looking for reliable scientific information, as well as popular science books aimed at a wider range of young and older readers. Of great interest was the latest book by Tadeusz Królikiewicz and Robert Gretzyngier – “Polski samolot i barwa 1943-2016”. The latest volume covers the history of Polish aviation from the time of forming units in the East in 1943 until today. The book contains nearly 2,000 images from collections of many photographers and enthusiasts perpetuating for years the history of painting and marking of aircraft and helicopters with the sign of red and white checkerboard.
Another new feature – “Aviation walk around Warsaw” by Witold Świeczak, an employee of the Institute of Aviation, is a three-volume guide presenting the most interesting places in Warsaw connected with aviation. Extremely popular among readers, the guide format will appeal to both fans of aviation, as well as to people who want to start an unusual journey through the places where a story of aviation began or ended. The author described 150 places, including monuments, war combat areas, places of death or birth, and commemorative aircraft and institutions related to aviation.
“Sketches made before the start. Drawings by Jan Sęk” – a book compiled by Witold Świeczak and Radosław Suchożebrski, is one of the most unique publication in recent years by the Publishing Houses of the Institute of Aviation. The album of unpublished drawings of airplanes by Jan Sęk, a young pilot who was fascinated with “flying apparatus” is the book in which great artistry intertwines with an emotional message. The meeting with Irmina Kobus, the niece of Jan Sęk, helped to make more known the figure of a talented pilot whose heroic death in defense of one of the inmates on the way from the Auschwitz concentration camp is a testament to his supreme sacrifice and courage.
The fair also offered a chance to meet Jerzy Zięborak („Studium katastrofy Liberatora AL 523 Gibraltar 1943”), a retired pilot and an aviation expert, whose professional interests led to a public debate on the subject of the cause of the plane crash with General Władysław Sikorski on board, and Jerzy Jędrzejewski („Polscy piloci doświadczalni”), a retired test pilot who recorded the biograms and accomplishments of the most famous pilots who carried out test flights for the construction of gliders, airplanes and helicopters.
Among the publications intended for aviation industry experts were the books from the “Scientific Library” (with the latest book by Alfred Baron „Międzyregionalny transport lotniczy. Wprowadzenie do problematyki”), “Historical Library”, “Transactions of the Institute of Aviation”, “Marketing of Scientific and Research Organizations” and “Journal of Polish – American Science and Technology”.All readers are invited to an online store of the Publishing Houses of the Institute of Aviation : www.ilot.edu.pl/sklep.
