Winged Hussars Fly Once Again
“Knight Among Flowers,” Leon Wyczółkowski, 1904, in the collection of the Polish Library in Paris.
There is probably no better-known military unit in Polish history than the winged Hussars who existed in one form or another from 1503 to 1776, with their most famous moment being in the van of Jan III Sobieski, who led the winged Hussars at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.
From the Day of the Siege, probably the best modern film of the battle, with the Polish cavalry charge at about the 2:45 mark:
I went to Poland a few years ago and found bars with winged hussars on the signs, saw them on the money, and just generally kept seeing hussar motifs and legends referenced everywhere.
The Leopard 2-armed 11th “Lubuska” Armored Cavalry Division, one of the strongest tank units in Eastern Europe, has the hussar helmet and wings on their unit shoulder insignia.
It should come as no surprise then that with the rollout of the first of Poland’s $6.5 billion 32 Lockheed-Martin F-35As per its program of record this week, the country has chosen to name the aircraft the “Husarz” in local service.
Poland’s First F-35
They will augment the force’s current inventory of 48 advanced Block 52 F-16C/Ds and 48 ROK-made FA-50GFs while replacing some downright elderly MiG-29s and Su-22s.
As detailed by Lockheed:
The first aircraft, designated AZ-01, will be delivered to the Polish Air Force in December and will be based at Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Arkansas, where Poland will be the first international customer to conduct F-35 pilot training.
F-35s are now operating from 32 bases worldwide. To date, Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 1,000 F-35s, trained more than 2,540 pilots and 16,690 maintainers, and the F-35 fleet has surpassed 889,000 cumulative flight hours. Lockheed Martin continues to work side by side with F-35 operators to ensure allies remain ahead of the evolving threat.
The rollout which, sadly, did not include a cavalry charge:
