{{Short description, Polish airship Lech was the first

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...

. It was purchased from France's army surplus in 1920. The airship's type was '' Zodiac VZ-11'', ''Vedette'' class and the

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had used it for patrolling and escorting purposes in the area of the

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. Like other airships of that age, it was filled with flammable hydrogen. It was propelled by two

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

engines (some sources claim these were

Anzani Anzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani (1877–1956), which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy. Overview From his native Italy, ...

engines), each with 80 horsepower. Altogether, the French built 63 ''Zodiac VZ-11'' airships, they were sold to various countries, such as

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, USA, Russia and the

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. Renamed ''Lech'', it was brought in parts to the port of Danzig some time in early 1921. Then, in March of that year, it was transported to

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

, where it was assembled by

Zbigniew Burzynski Zbigniew () is a Polish masculine given name, originally Zbygniew . This West Slavic name is derived from the Polish elements ''Zby-'' (from ''zbyć, zbyć się, or pozbyć się'', meaning "to dispel", "to get rid of") and ''gniew'', meaning "ange ...

. Between 1921 and 1924, it belonged to the Officer's Aeronautical School in Toruń, then it was passed over to the 1st Balloon Battalion, also in Toruń. Its first commandant was Colonel Slawomir Bilek, then he was replaced by Captain Kazimierz Kraczkiewicz. ''Lech'' made numerous flights to

Legionowo Legionowo is a city in Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland, seat of the Legionowo County. Location Legionowo is located to the north-east of the center of Warsaw and only to the south of Zegrze Reservoir ( or ), near the Warsaw-Gda ...

and

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

's airport in the district Winiary - places, where special zeppelin halls existed. During those flights, 18 pilots as well as several members of the crew completed practice courses. On March 2, 1928, ''Lech'' was scrapped and the bag's fabric was used for making five field air-sheds.

Specifications

General characteristics

*Capacity: 7-8 persons *Length: 50 m *Diameter: 12 m *Volume: 3150 m3 *Range: 800 km *Service ceiling: 3000 m *Time span of engines - up to 10 hours *Cargo - up to 320 kilograms of bombs.

Performance

*Maximum speed: 80 km/h

Sources

External links

A drawing of Lech
Airships of France Airships of Poland Polish Air Force 1920s in Poland