Action of 29 April 1919

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Action of 29 April 1919
Part of Polish–Ukrainian War

Nieuport 17 of Ukrainian Galician Army
Date29 April 1919
Location
Near Lviv, Eastern Galicia
Result Disputed (See § Aftermath)
Belligerents
West Ukrainian People's Republic Second Polish Republic
Commanders and leaders
Franz Rudorfer or M. Serikov
Lieutenant Sheparovych
Lieutenant Klisz		 Stefan Stec
Units involved
UGA aviation regiment 7-th air squadron of the Polish Armed Forces
Strength
See § Strenght See § Strenght
Casualties and losses
See § Casualties See § Casualties

The Action of 29 April 1919 (Ukrainian: Повітряний бій 29 квітня 1919) was an air battle taking place between the Polish aviation led by Stefan Stec and several Ukrainian planes in the course of Polish–Ukrainian War.[1] There are several different interpretations of the course of this battle.

Strength

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Polish forces

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The Polish sources do not directly mention the amount of Polish planes participating in the battle. Ukrainian pilot Rudolf Zemyk mentions in his memoirs that the attack was carried by eight Polish planes, while the Ukrainians had 3 of them.[2] This number of Polish planes, however, is considered to be an exaggeration.[2] Some other researches put this number as 1[3][4] and 3.[5]

Ukrainian forces

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According to some researches, there were 3 Ukrainian planes involved in the battle, specifically two "Brandenburgs" and 1 "Nieuport XVII,[2] Przybyła and some Ukrainian authors, meanwhile, claim that there were two Ukrainian planes.[a][2][1]

Battle

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According to Jan Przybyła, the battle took place on 10 AM,[5] the Polish Fokker D.VIII, piloted by Stefan Stec, attacked two Ukrainian planes and forced the "Nieuport" to flee. He chased it for some time, while also firing it from machine gun, until the plane started to fall and eventually disappeared.[2][1] However, according to Viktor Kyreia, the battle took place on 3 PM, a pilot V. Serikov had set off from Krasne airport, fought three Polish planes and eventually forced them to withdraw.[5] Another view of battle, given by Rudolf Zemyk, is that some Ukrainian planes were ambushed by the Polish aviation in a sky over Lviv, leading to one of them being damaged and forced to retreat.[2]

Aftermath

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According to Jan Przybyła, the battle became one of the first Polish victories in air,[1][3] although some of the Ukrainian researchers view this battle as a Ukrainian success.[5] This clash, however, was of a little importance and did not affect the course of Polish–Ukrainian War, which had ended with a Polish victory in July 1919.

Casualties

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Przybyła and Ukrainian historian Andriy Kharuk claim that the Ukrainian "Nieuport" was shot down and had probably crashed after being severely damaged by the Polish "Fokker".[5][1] However, according to Kyreia's interpretation, the Ukrainians lost no planes and forced the Polish planes to withdraw, possibly damaging some of them by a machine gun fire.[5] Other sources claim that one of the Ukrainian planes was damaged but not shot down.[2][4]

Notes

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  1. ^ While Jan Przybyła claims that the battle consisted of a Polish attack on two Ukrainian planes, Ukrainian sources claim that the attack by 8 Polish planes on 2 Ukrainian ones took place.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Przybyła, Jan (1919). Z orlich bojów lotników lwowskich. Warsaw. pp. 28–33.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Герої Українського неба. Пілоти Визвольної Війни 1917-1920 рр (in Ukrainian). 2016-09-29. p. 3. The first air battle came only at the end of April. Our two planes flew to reconnoiter the Lviv-Przemysl line, piloted by Lieutenant Sheparovych and Lieutenant Klisz, and the second, a combat plane, whose task was to guard the first plane before an enemy attack, was piloted by Lieutenant Rudorfer. When both of our planes appeared over Lviv, 8 Polish planes bravely chased them and attacked them with all their might....Moreover, supposedly, in this clash, the Polish pilot Stefan Stec achieved a victory over a Ukrainian aviator flying a Nieuport aircraft....Ukrainian authours mention about only two their planes, while claiming that there were 8 planes against them, which is an obvious distortion of facts aswell
  3. ^ a b Kyreia 2017, p. 136.
  4. ^ a b "У небі Галичини: летунство Галицької Армії — DSnews.ua". www.dsnews.ua (in Ukrainian). 2018-12-11. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Kyreia 2017, p. 22.

Bibliography

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