Some clarification on points made in the review of Eduard’s Fokker E.V.

C. Fok. E.V 183/18 Flown by Cpt. Stefan Bastyr of Polish Air Service of the 7th Squadron..
1. According to Alex Imrie this is 193/18.
2. R. Rimell’s Datafile #25, Pp. 13 & 34 says it is 183/18 and flown By Lt. Stefan Stecc of the Polish #7
“Kosciuszko” (phonetic = Ko-shew-sco) Squadron. Good images of this aircraft tell us that the whole
horizontal tail plane was divided in red & white, not just the elevators.

1. Alex Imrie is correct. Bastyr’s E.V was 193/18. Poland possessed fifteen E.Vs and one D.VIII, none of them 183/18. The number is obscured by Bastyr’s personal emblem and has been misinterpreted from photographs.
2. Eduard are correct, 193/18 was flown by Bastyr and apart from the wrong number the decals in the kit are for Bastyr’s E.V. I suspect that at some time in the past, because of its similarity to Stec’s E.Vs, this machine has either been mistaken for being the same aircraft as Stec’s or, because of the similar emblem, that the aircraft must also have belonged to Stec. Since then the mistake has been continually repeated by others. I only have two photographs of 193/18, both taken after it crashed while being flown by Lt Idzikowski. In neither of them is it possible to tell for certain that the tail plane was painted red and white but I doubt it, as the underneath looks very dark and I would at least expect to see a difference in contrast between the red and white. In the latest book from Kagero it depicted with a lozenge fabric tail. If good photographs exist showing it had a red and white tail I would think that Polish historians would be aware of them and have published them. Nor can I find any red and white tailed E.Vs in any of the other photographs I have of Polish E.Vs.

Stec’s regular, or original E.V, was 185/18. This aircraft was similar to Bastyr’s but had no CWL number on the fuselage and Stec’s personal emblem was a horizontal letter S with a four-pointed red and white star superimposed on it. Stec had used this emblem while serving with Flik 3 (Austria) in WW I. Evidently Stec’s emblem was the model for Bastyr’s horizontal 8. Stec also flew 187/18. This aircraft had the later style chessboards with contrasting borders on the wings. The fin and rudder were completely white with a chessboard painted on. The CWL number 001 was painted in white above the black ‘Fok E.V. Later Stec’s emblem was painted on the fuselage side and the CWL number moved forward (like 193/18) suggesting that it might have become a replacement for 185/18. The fin and rudder were also painted red and white. At the time the various regional groups adopted different distinctive markings on their aircraft. A red and white fin/rudder was used by the Lwów group. Both these E.Vs had wheels with spokes, no covers. 187/18 definitely had a lozenge fabric tail.


In November 1918 a war developed between Poland and the Western-Ukrainian Republic for the procession of East Galicia and the City of Lwów. In March/April 1919 two Fokker E.Vs were presented by the province of Wielkopolska to the defenders of the City of Lwów. These aircraft were used by the 7th Eskadra Lotnicza, flown by Bastyr and Stec, in operations against Ukrainian forces not Bolsheviks. In May 1919 the 7th Flight had three Fokker E.Vs, three Brandenburgs and a LVG CV I. By June the flight had almost ceased to exist because of a lack of equipment. With war with Russia looking increasingly likely, Stec suggested that all Fokker E.Vs in the Lwów. Area be brought together in the 7th Eskadra, transforming it into a fighter unit. This was agreed by HQ and in August the eskadra received 12 Albatros (Oef) D IIIs purchased from Austria. Elsewhere the Fokker E.V saw only limited combat use, with other Polish Eskadras never having more than three machines at any one time. NB. At this time the 7th Eskadra was not called ‘Kościuszko’ (correctly pronounced Kosh-TSYUSH-ko not Ko-shew-sco.) The name originated only after the flying personnel were replaced by American volunteer pilots in Autumn 1919. In Decemeber the Eskadra was officially given the title ‘7 Eskadra Myśliwska im. Tadeusza Kościuszki.’ Bastyr died in a Fokker DVII crash during the Battle of Lwów in 1920. (Techmod have decals for a D.VII flown by Bastyr.) Heart failure is thought to have been the cause. Stec survived the Russo-Polish war but was killed in an air accident in 1921.

References:

Famous Airplanes No 6 Fokker E.V/D.VIII, Kowalski, Kagero. Includes decals for two Polish E.Vs – Stec’s 187/18 and Jasinski’s 190/18.
White Eagles. The Aircraft, Men and Operations of the Polish Air Force 1918 – 1939, Belcarz & Pęczkowski, Hikoki.
Skrzydła w Opałach - Wings in Distress, Glass, Wydawnictwo Militaria.
Kościuszko Squadron 1919 – 1921, Kopański & Kozak, Mushroom Model Publications.

Online:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Bastyr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Stec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Ukrainian_War
http://republika.pl/tomaszjkowalski/
myśliwskie > samoloty niemieckie > Fokker E.V
malowanie > godła osobiste > Stec/Bastyr

Great points Antoni!

I added your comments to the original thread rather than just your posting under the "modern" title. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Regards Stephen

Moden was an accident. I thought I had selected Early Aviation. When I noticed it was too late and I cannot find a way to change it.