Action of 29 April 1919

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 § Strength See § Strength
Casualties and losses
See § Casualties See § Casualties

The Action of 29 April 1919 (Ukrainian: Повітряний бій 29 квітня 1919) was an air battle between Polish aviation led by Stefan Stec and several Ukrainian planes during the Polish–Ukrainian War.[1] Several different interpretations were issued describing this battle.

Background

Polish forces

Polish sources do not explicitly mention the number of Polish planes participating in the battle. Ukrainian pilot Rudolf Zemyk mentioned in his memoirs that the attack was carried out by eight Polish planes, while the Ukrainians had 3 of them.[2] This report of the number of Polish planes, however, is considered to be an exaggeration.[2] Other researchers put this number as 1[3][4] and 3.[5]

Ukrainian forces

According to some researchers, 3 Ukrainian planes were involved, specifically 2 Brandenburgs and 1 Nieuport XVII.[2] Przybyła and some Ukrainian authors, meanwhile, claim that two Ukrainian planes were involved.[a][2][1]

Battle

According to Jan Przybyła, the battle took place at 10 am.[5] A 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 his machine gun, until the plane started to fall and eventually disappeared.[2][1] However, according to Viktor Kyreia, the battle took place at 3 pm. Pilot V. Serikov had set off from Krasne airport, fought three Polish planes and eventually forced them to withdraw.[5] Another perspective on the battle, provided by Rudolf Zemyk, is that some Ukrainian planes were ambushed by Poles in the sky over Lviv, damaging one of them and forced to retreat.[2]

Aftermath

According to Jan Przybyła, the battle became one of the first Polish air victories,[1][3] although some 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 the Polish–Ukrainian War, which ended in a Polish victory in July 1919.

Casualties

Przybyła and Ukrainian historian Andriy Kharuk claim that the Ukrainian Nieuport was shot down and had probably crashed after it was 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 machine gun fire.[5] Other sources claim that one of the Ukrainian planes was damaged, but not shot down.[2][4]

Notes

  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

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Przybyła, Jan (1919). Z orlich bojów lotników lwowskich. Warsaw. pp. 28–33.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Герої Українського неба. Пілоти Визвольної Війни 1917–1920 рр (in Ukrainian). 29 September 2016. 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. 1 2 Kyreia 2017, p. 136.
  4. 1 2 "У небі Галичини: летунство Галицької Армії — DSnews.ua". www.dsnews.ua (in Ukrainian). 11 December 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kyreia 2017, p. 22.

Bibliography

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