General History

Built primarily of wood, and fabric covered, the PO-2 was originally designed and built in the late 1920’s as a training and light utility aircraft.  To the Russian people, World War II was known as the “Great Patriotic War”.  By the time the Russians became involved, 13,000 had been built.  They went on to be used for liaison, light attack, nuisance reader and propaganda aircraft complete with microphone and loudspeaker.  The plane holds the record for the longest production run in history.  Almost 40,000 were built between 1928 and 1959.  After the war, Poland built PO-2’s in large quantities.  Used for training, agriculture, mail delivery and limited service with Aeroflot, PO-2’s were known as a safe and reliable aircraft. 

During the 'Great Patriotic War' (World War II), PO-2’s were used for close air support, bombing and night harassment raids.  These raids were emulated a decade later in the Korean War when North Koreans would fly low at night and drop hand-grenades on our troops - again in PO-2’s.

Personal History

This aircraft was acquired from Poland in 1998 from Jan Borowski.  It was flown to England where some minor restoration was done before it was shipped to Florida.  Upon arrival it was sent on tour as part of a traveling exhibition that Kermit put together called “World War II Through Russian Eyes”.  The exhibit portrayed the war from the Russian perspective and displayed many famous artifacts from the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow.  Some of these items included the original battle map for Berlin, Stalin’s coat, hat and revolver, Rommel’s baton, the eagle from the top of the reichstag and many items from Hitler’s bunker including his jacket, hat and personal standard.

Even though they were built into the 1950’s, this aircraft has no brakes and a tailskid so must be flown off of grass or dirt runways! There are only a few PO-2’s flying today in the western world. 

Kermit Comment

During World War II there was a Russian squadron completely composed of Russian women, pilots, officers, mechanics and ground personnel.  The women pilots that flew these aircraft performed various duties including night harassment raids on the Germans.  Imagine flying one of these at night, during a Russian winter, open-cockpit, low over enemy territory.   On top of that, they would temporarily shut the engine down to avoid being heard, glide over enemy troops and drop bombs and grenades out of the cockpit!  Later, under-wing bomb racks and rockets were installed.   The Germans named them the “Nachcthexen”, which translated made them famous as the “Night Witches.”