From 30th of April until 30th of May 2016 the fence of the Botanical Garden of Warsaw University at Aleje Ujazdowskie will host a photo exhibition “Our aviation history. 90 years of the Institute of Aviation”.
– The exhibition will present a cross-section of our history since 1926. We have gathered unique photographs from the interwar period to the post-war period, during which we changed not only the history of Polish aviation, but we also started the adventure with space, initiating the Meteor missile program. We wanted to show not only the planes that were tested at the Institute of Aviation, but also the people who created this place – said Witold Świeczak, the curator of the exhibition.
The Institute of Aviation is one of the oldest research institutes in Europe. It was officially established in 1926, although its roots date back to 1918. Throughout the whole history of its operations, the scientists and engineers at the Institute of Aviation have made an invaluable and outstanding contributions to the development of the economy, science and national defense of the Republic of Poland.
– Few people know that before the Second World War, all Polish aircraft were designed and tested at the Institute of Aviation. There will be an opportunity to see how tests and fly-offs of the famous Polish aircraft looked like. Most of the photographs were kept in secret for years or were available to a very narrow group of people. On the occasion of our anniversary we decided that it is worth to making them available to a wider audience – added Witold Świeczak.
There will be presented the first pictures of aircraft structure tests, the aircraft and the rockets created by Polish designers, as well as the photos of the most famous experimental test pilots, engineers and researchers. The exhibition will be captioned in Polish and English, which will interest both domestic and foreign tourists. It is also a great destination for walks for families and for getting acquainted with the history of not only the Institute but the entire Polish aviation. Its interesting graphic design was prepared by Radosław Suchożebrski.
The exhibition is a part of the 90th anniversary of the Institute of Aviation celebrations. The honorary patronage was held by the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda.
The celebration programme is available at: www.ilot90.pl/en.
