36th Special Aviation Regiment

The 36th Special Regiment of Aviation Transport (Polish: 36 Specjalny Pułk Lotnictwa Transportowego; 36 SPLT) was a special aviation regiment of the Polish Air Force, established in 1945. All of its aircraft were for national public use, the most important being transport of Polish politicians and Ministry of National Defence highest officials & forces commanders. It was headquartered at the 1st Air Base at Warsaw Chopin Airport (formerly Okęcie). Between 1947 and 1974 it operated as Special Air Regiment, earlier as Government Transport Squadron. It was shut down in 2011 and its fleet retired.

36th Special Regiment of Aviation Transport
36 Specjalny Pułk Lotnictwa Transportowego (Polish)
36 SPLT Logo
Active1945–2011
Country Poland
AllegiancePolish Air Force
TypeSpecial Aviation Regiment
RoleVIP Transport, Transport
Part ofRegiment
Base:1 Baza Lotnicza (1st Air Base) Warszawa district Okęcie
Commanders
Squadron LeaderCol. pilot (płk pil.) Mirosław Jemielniak
Aircraft flown
Utility helicopterBell 412, PZL W-3 Sokół, Mil Mi-8
TransportTu-154, Yak-40, PZL M28
VIP airliner Tupolev Tu-154M Lux at the airport in Zagreb

Accidents

edit
  • On 28 February 1973 a government airliner Antonov An-24W serial number 97305702 (tail number 012), crashed in Szczecin, north-west Poland. All 18 people on board were killed (including ministers of the interior of Poland and Czechoslovakia).[1]
  • On 4 December 2003 Mi-8 helicopter carrying Poland's Prime Minister Leszek Miller crashed near Warsaw, all people on board survived.

On 4 August 2011, the regiment was disbanded by the Polish Minister of National Defence as a direct consequence of the 2010 crash. The regiment officially ceased to exist on 31 December 2011; however, the 1st Air Transport Base continues to transport government VIPs by helicopter. Since then all Polish government officials have been using civil aircraft owned by LOT Polish Airlines, mainly two Embraer 175 operated exclusively for government.

Equipment disbandment in 2011

edit

Previously operated transport aircraft including Lisunov Li-2, Ilyushin Il-14, Antonov An-24 and Tupolev Tu-134.

Model Origin Picture In Service
Tupolev Tu-154M Lux   Soviet Union   1
Yakovlev Yak-40   Soviet Union   4
PZL M28   Poland   3
PZL W-3 Sokół   Poland   5
Bell 412   United States   1
Mi-8   Soviet Union   7

References

edit
  1. ^ "Katastrofa An-24 sprzed 39 lat. Niepublikowane zdjęcia".
  2. ^ (in Polish) Lista pasażerów i załogi samolotu TU-154M Lux, MSWiA Poland
  3. ^ The list of perished during the Tu-154M Lux plane crash in Smolensk Region Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, EMERCOM Russia