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Lithuanian Air Force
The Lithuanian Air Force or LAF (Lithuanian: Lietuvos karinės oro pajėgos, abbreviated as LK KOP) is the military aviation branch of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. It is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel. Units are located at Zokniai Air Base near the city Šiauliai, at Radviliškis and Kaunas.
After the declaration of Lithuania to be an independent state on February 16, 1918, the most urgent task of the new government was to organize a military force that could repel enemy armies that were coming from all sides. The first order for the creation of a Lithuanian army came on November 23, 1918.
In January 1919, an Engineering Company was formed within the military, which contained an Aviation Squad. On March 12, 1919, the group was reorganized into an Aviation Company and became an independent military unit. Its leader was appointed to be marine engineer officer Petras Petronis. This date is considered to be the birthday of the Lithuanian Air Force.
Between March and December 1919 and between 1932 and 1940, the Kaunas Military Aviation School operated in that city. The school trained officers in various aviation disciplines: pilots, observers, gunners and mechanics.
The first aircraft (Sopwith 1½ Strutter) was taken by the Lithuanian military from the Red Army, on February 5, 1919, at the city of Jieznas. On February 27, 1919, eight new reconnaissance aircraft, LVG C.VI, were received. They had been purchased in Germany. In June, five more aircraft were purchased. In the following years some aircraft were taken as war booty and repaired in Lithuanian Aviation workshops, many were purchased from various countries. Later during the interwar period, Lithuania had its native ANBO series of aircraft built by the Lithuanian military officers and aircraft designers Jurgis Dobkevičius and Antanas Gustaitis.
The Lithuanian Military Aviation was active in Lithuanian wars of independence battles with the Red Army and Polish military units. The pilot performing the most military sorties was Jurgis Dobkevičius, who later became the first Lithuanian aircraft designer and builder. On May 12, 1920, Vytautas Rauba was the first Lithuanian aviator to lose his life in an aircraft crash. On October 4 of the same year, in a fight with the advancing Polish military during staged Želigowski's mutinity, the first aircraft with a Lithuanian crew was shot down. The pilot of the aircraft, Juozas Kumpis, commander of Lithuania's First Air Squadron, was severely injured and died as prisoner of the Polish military.
Starting in 1920 the military aviation branch was renamed a number of times and some time after 1928 it was named to the equivalent of the Lithuanian Air Force.
The Lithuanian Air Force supported and encouraged various aeronautics related activities, such as the sport of gliding. In 1933, in cooperation with Aero Club of Lithuania, they helped establish a Lithuanian Gliding School in Nida and send their only experienced glider pilot, Gregorius Radvenis, to be the school's instructor and supervisor.
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Lithuanian Air Force
The Lithuanian Air Force or LAF (Lithuanian: Lietuvos karinės oro pajėgos, abbreviated as LK KOP) is the military aviation branch of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. It is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel. Units are located at Zokniai Air Base near the city Šiauliai, at Radviliškis and Kaunas.
After the declaration of Lithuania to be an independent state on February 16, 1918, the most urgent task of the new government was to organize a military force that could repel enemy armies that were coming from all sides. The first order for the creation of a Lithuanian army came on November 23, 1918.
In January 1919, an Engineering Company was formed within the military, which contained an Aviation Squad. On March 12, 1919, the group was reorganized into an Aviation Company and became an independent military unit. Its leader was appointed to be marine engineer officer Petras Petronis. This date is considered to be the birthday of the Lithuanian Air Force.
Between March and December 1919 and between 1932 and 1940, the Kaunas Military Aviation School operated in that city. The school trained officers in various aviation disciplines: pilots, observers, gunners and mechanics.
The first aircraft (Sopwith 1½ Strutter) was taken by the Lithuanian military from the Red Army, on February 5, 1919, at the city of Jieznas. On February 27, 1919, eight new reconnaissance aircraft, LVG C.VI, were received. They had been purchased in Germany. In June, five more aircraft were purchased. In the following years some aircraft were taken as war booty and repaired in Lithuanian Aviation workshops, many were purchased from various countries. Later during the interwar period, Lithuania had its native ANBO series of aircraft built by the Lithuanian military officers and aircraft designers Jurgis Dobkevičius and Antanas Gustaitis.
The Lithuanian Military Aviation was active in Lithuanian wars of independence battles with the Red Army and Polish military units. The pilot performing the most military sorties was Jurgis Dobkevičius, who later became the first Lithuanian aircraft designer and builder. On May 12, 1920, Vytautas Rauba was the first Lithuanian aviator to lose his life in an aircraft crash. On October 4 of the same year, in a fight with the advancing Polish military during staged Želigowski's mutinity, the first aircraft with a Lithuanian crew was shot down. The pilot of the aircraft, Juozas Kumpis, commander of Lithuania's First Air Squadron, was severely injured and died as prisoner of the Polish military.
Starting in 1920 the military aviation branch was renamed a number of times and some time after 1928 it was named to the equivalent of the Lithuanian Air Force.
The Lithuanian Air Force supported and encouraged various aeronautics related activities, such as the sport of gliding. In 1933, in cooperation with Aero Club of Lithuania, they helped establish a Lithuanian Gliding School in Nida and send their only experienced glider pilot, Gregorius Radvenis, to be the school's instructor and supervisor.
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