70018 P-11c Pursuit Brigade

PZL P.11c “Pursuit Brigade” 1/72 – 70018

The PZL P.11c was the principal fighter of the Polish Air Force when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. It went into combat from the very first hours of World War II, facing the Luftwaffe over Poland while much of Europe was still at peace.

This 1/72 scale kit features one aircraft from each of the four Warsaw fighter squadrons that formed the core of the Pursuit Brigade (Brygada Pościgowa) – the Polish Air Force formation created specifically to defend the capital. The four marking options are associated with Wacław Łapkowski, Tadeusz Sawicz, Janusz Maciński and Hieronim Dudwał.

The Arma Hobby PZL P.11c combines straightforward assembly with an accurate reproduction of the aircraft’s distinctive shape, including the characteristic change in the fuselage line where the semi-monocoque rear section meets the forward fuselage built around a metal framework.

This edition also includes a set of 3D-printed accessories, adding extra detail to some of the most visible areas without complicating the basic assembly of the model.

Kit contents

• plastic parts for a 1/72 scale PZL P.11c,
• decals with four marking options from the Pursuit Brigade,
• templates for making your own windscreen and wheel masks,
• 3D-printed details: seat with harness, radiator, machine-gun barrels, Venturi tube, Pitot, bomb racks and gunsights.

Marking options

• PZL P.11c No. 8.144/666-N, tactical number 2 – Lt Wacław Łapkowski, 112th Fighter Squadron, September 1939. The aircraft carried the squadron’s distinctive winged Salamander emblem. Łapkowski was credited with 1⅓ aerial victories during the September campaign. He later fought in France and Britain and became commander of No. 303 Squadron.
• PZL P.11c No. 8.139/478-N, tactical number 4 – 2nd Lt Tadeusz Sawicz, 114th Fighter Squadron, September 1939. On the morning of 1 September, Lt Aleksander Gabszewicz took off in this aircraft and, together with Andrzej Niewiara, attacked a Heinkel He 111, scoring the first aerial victory in the defence of Warsaw. Sawicz himself was credited with two victories during the September campaign.
• PZL P.11c No. 8.78/46-N, tactical number 6 – Officer Cadet Janusz Maciński, the famous 111th “Kościuszko” Fighter Squadron, Sulejówek, September 1939.
• PZL P.11c No. 8.70/170-N, tactical number 10 – Lt Hieronim Dudwał, 113th Fighter Squadron, September 1939. “Himek” Dudwał led the first three P.11cs to take off from Poniatów on the morning of 1 September. He was credited with four aerial victories during the September campaign, making him one of the most successful pilots of the Pursuit Brigade.

Late Polish khaki – September 1939 markings

Shortly before the outbreak of war, the aircraft of the Warsaw squadrons were repainted in late Polish khaki, a distinctly darker and browner shade than the colours previously used on Polish fighters.

Not all of the earlier markings and stencilling were restored after repainting. The PZL logo disappeared, along with some of the servicing and weight stencils. Serial numbers and the “P.11c” designation were applied in black instead of the red used previously, while the tactical numbers were painted in aluminium. These September 1939 markings are the primary options provided in the kit.

The decal sheet also includes red serial numbers, PZL logos and the earlier servicing stencils, allowing the modeller to reproduce the aircraft in their earlier appearance, before the repainting carried out shortly before the outbreak of war.

Read more about the repainting of the Pursuit Brigade P.11cs and the remarkable series of photographs taken by Henryk Poddębski in 1939 here. See more articles about the aircraft and marking options featured in this kit here.

PZL P.11c in the defence of Warsaw

In the final days of August 1939, the fighters of the Pursuit Brigade left their peacetime base at Warsaw-Okęcie and dispersed to camouflaged field airstrips around the capital. This saved them from destruction on the ground during the first German air raids.

The Brigade’s core consisted of four fighter squadrons of the Warsaw-based 1st Air Regiment: the 111th, 112th, 113th and 114th Fighter Squadrons, equipped with PZL P.11c and older P.11a fighters. The 123rd Fighter Squadron of the 2nd Air Regiment in Kraków, flying the older PZL P.7a, was also assigned to the Brigade shortly before the war.

On the morning of 1 September 1939, the pilots of the Pursuit Brigade took off to intercept German formations heading for Warsaw. The PZL P.11c had been one of the most advanced fighters in the world when its family was developed earlier in the decade, but by 1939 it was outclassed in speed by the new generation of Luftwaffe aircraft.

Yet the P.11c was there at the very beginning. From the first hours of World War II, Polish pilots took these fighters into combat against German aircraft. Near Kraków, P.11cs were involved in some of the war’s very first aerial engagements, while over Warsaw the Pursuit Brigade fought the first large air battles of the conflict.

Kit 70018 lets you build four PZL P.11cs representing all four Warsaw fighter squadrons of the Pursuit Brigade – four aircraft and four individual stories from the opening days of World War II.

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