Ludomił Rayski

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Ludomił Rayski
Galicia, Austria-Hungary
Died11 April 1977(1977-04-11) (aged 84)
London, United Kingdom
Years of service1914-1949
RankGenerał brygady
Battles/wars
  • First World War
  • Polish-Soviet War
  • Polish-Ukrainian War
  • Second World War
    • Invasion of Poland
Other workplotter

Ludomił Antoni Rayski (29 December 1892 – 11 April 1977) was a Polish engineer, pilot, military officer and aviator.

French Air Force, French Foreign Legion and Royal Air Force
. He was also known as one of the most colourful personalities of inter-war Poland - and one of its least submissive officers.

Biography

Early life

Ludomił Rayski was born 29 December 1892 in

Ottoman Army. Artur Teodor was born a Russian citizen, but was forced into exile following the January Uprising
and was accepted as an Ottoman citizen soon afterwards. Hence Ludomił retained his father's citizenship, a fact that proved vital for his later career.

Korab coat of arms

In 1902 Ludomił joined a local gymnasium in

Józef Kordian-Zamorski. Rayski was wounded in the battle of Łowczówek. After the Ottoman Empire joined the war on the side of Austria-Hungary
, he was mobilized into the Ottoman Army. Rayski initially wanted to stay in the Legions, which were commonly seen as a school of cadre of future armed forces of Poland, but was convinced by Gen. Kordian-Zamorski to go to Constantinople and try to obtain experience in air warfare.

The Great War

In 1915 Rayski was accepted into the Turkish Air Force

Bolsheviks alongside Denikin's Whites, the unit was withdrawn to Poland.[5]

At that time the newly reborn Polish army was badly lacking experienced pilots. Although the Polish forces managed to seize dozens of World War I planes from the defeated

7th Kościuszko Air Escadrille. Rayski was chosen as the commander of that unit not only for his skills as a pilot, but also for his language abilities, as the squadron was manned primarily with American volunteers. He served with that unit on the front until January 1920. Three months afterwards he was promoted to the rank of Major and given a new assignment: command of a newly formed 21st Air Escadrille. Although composed mostly of badly trained pilots and insufficiently manned, the unit proved to be one of the most successful air units of the war and during the battle of Warsaw Rayski was given command of the entire 3rd Air Squadron
. He held that post until May 1921.

Commander of the Polish Air Force

After the war Rayski remained in the military. Promoted to the rank of

Higher War School of Warsaw. At the same time he collaborated with the Aviation Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs, where he became the deputy to Gen. Armand Lévéque. On 18 March 1926, shortly before the May Coup d'État
, he was made the chief of the department and a de facto commander of the Polish Air Force.

At that post, Rayski became known as a supporter of the power projection doctrine and a lobbyist for development of a strong bomber force capable of both

bombing raids on enemy territory. However, in the post-war period the Polish air forces were neglected as Marshal Józef Piłsudski and his predecessors underestimated the role of aeroplanes in modern warfare. Because of that, Rayski had to limit his plans to modernization of the fighter force Poland had at that time. Lack of funds, economic crisis and unwillingness to expand the air forces on the side of most of the high-ranking officers forced Rayski to focus on training of air crews instead. In that period he supported the famous Dęblin
school of aviation (nicknamed the School of Eaglets in Poland) and creation of a number of permanent air bases, often with municipal rather than ministerial funds. It was Rayski to arrange the construction of a large number of new airfields and their number rose from 12 in 1923 to 39 in 1933, 11 of which were large air bases capable of supporting entire air regiments.

The lack of funds shaped Rayski's policies significantly. Because Poland could not afford to purchase a large number of modern planes abroad, Rayski promoted the development of Polish aviation industry. In 1928 on his insistence all Polish aeroplane factories switched their production to modern all-metal constructions, which allowed the new generation of young and skilled engineers to start their career. Among them were

PZL Foka). The state-owned National Aviation Works
(PZL) became the primary supplier of modern aeroplanes to the Polish Army and financed much of the plane production from its own sources, primarily gathered from export of planes to Romania, Spain, Hungary, Greece and Turkey. However, the constant lack of funds allowed the Polish Air Forces only to replace the old planes with more modern ones, but not to expand it to become a fully reliable part of the armed forces. Rayski repeatedly presented state authorities with plans and petitions of significant expansion of the Air Force, but none was accepted.

In 1934 Ludomił Rayski was promoted to the rank of

Pounds
(by 1939 exchange rates).

The proposed shape of Polish aviation in 1942 as compared to actual composition in earlier years
Type 1936 1939 1942
Rayski's plan
Army aviation Reconnaissance and communication 0 escadrilles
(99 Lublin R-XIII) 		12 escadrilles
(84 RWD-14 Czapla and Lublin R-XIII) 		18 escadrilles
(126 RWD-14 Czapla and LWS-3 Mewa)
Line planes (CAS and fighter-bombers) 17 escadrilles
(170
Breguet 19
) 		8 escadrilles
(80 PZL.38 Wilk)
Fighters 13 escadrilles
(130 PZL P.7 and PZL P.11) 		10 escadrilles
(74/75 PZL P.11 and PZL P.7) 		18 escadrilles
(180 PZL.39)
Bombers 3 escadrilles
(18
Fokker F.VIIb/3m
)
Independent aviation Line planes 5 escadrilles
(53/54 PZL P.7a and PZL P.11c) 		32 escadrilles
(320 PZL.38 Wilk)
Bombers 9 escadrilles
(86
Fokker F.VII/3m
) 		30 escadrilles
(180 PZL.37 Łoś)
Total (incl. planes in smaller units) 33 escadrilles
(417 planes) 		36 escadrilles
(404/406 planes) 		106 escadrilles
(886 planes)

However, soon after the plan was passed, various conflicting groups within the general staff, as well as the financial difficulties of the newly reborn state have limited the plan. Out of 600 million złoty scheduled for the first phase of the reorganization of the Polish aviation only approximately 200 million were indeed spent, while the rest was kept by various ministries. Rayski's role was seriously undermined by lack of support within the general staff and his frequent protests and memorials made no effect. He signed his resignation twice (in March 1938 and then in January 1939), but it was not accepted. In January 1939, fearing that the war with Germany was imminent and inevitable, he resigned from his post and presented the minister of war affairs Gen. Tadeusz Kasprzycki with an ultimatum, urging him to finally mobilize the Polish air industry and dispatch all the funds. On 19 March 1939 he was dismissed from his office. Rayski's successor as the peacetime Air Force Commander became Gen. Władysław Kalkus, made personally subordinate to the Inspector of the Air Defence, Gen. Józef Zając,[6] who was a strong supporter of the air superiority doctrine which emphasized strong fighter forces at the expense of a bomber force. The new commander of the air force cancelled most of Rayski's projects, including the successful PZL.37 Łoś bomber, whose production was to be limited from the initial number of 180 to merely 120.

Some historians, most notably Jerzy Cynk, consider Rayski as one of the most responsible persons for the poor technical state of the Polish Air Force before the war, especially lack of modern fighters. It should be however noted, that a commanding system introduced by Piłsudski after his coup d'état was faulty, because it introduced two independent branches of command: peacetime and wartime one. The chief of the Aviation Department and commander of the Air Force was only a peacetime administrative duty, subordinated to the Ministry of War, while strategic planning was to be fulfilled by the wartime branch, the General Inspectorate of the Armed Forces (GISZ), and general staff. The Inspectorate itself was not interested in military aviation much and was reluctant to work out a modern development plan for the Air Force and an appropriate strategic doctrine, giving only general directives instead. Therefore, Rayski had no knowledge on the Polish Air Force expected wartime role and as a result, he realized his own conception, without proper assessment of real needs. Only in 1936 the Air Defence Inspectorate was created, led by gen. Józef Zając, who became in conflict with Rayski.[6] As one of mistakes is regarded support for too ambitious plan of equipping the LOT Polish Airlines with own modern airliner, the PZL.44 Wicher, what was uneconomical, and moreover, delayed development of modern fighters. In early 1930s Polish fighters of Zygmunt Puławski's design were among the best in the world, but in late 1930s the situation changed, and Rayski was reluctant to order development of successors (better versions of Pulawski's fighters, not restricted by the Polish Air Force choice of engines, were exported with a success). He promoted obsolete PZL.39 project, that was not realized, and the PZL.38 Wilk, a twin-engine heavy fighter-bomber, of a fashionable at that time class, but unable to substitute for interceptor aircraft. Future war showed, that modern single-engine interceptors were crucial aircraft for the air defence. Facing fiasco of both designs, Rayski finally ordered development of PZL.50 Jastrząb, which was hampered by his arbitrary choice of too weak engine, and appeared too late and mediocre. The other design was a low-performance light fighter PZL.45 project.[7] Other point of criticism was that Rayski, realizing his vision of strong national aerospace industry, intentionally caused bankruptcy of Plage i Laśkiewicz factory, while the DWL hardly avoided this fate.

Until May Rayski remained without an assignment. He spent the time training on all types of Polish aeroplanes, from trainers to bombers. In July he was sent with a Polish military mission to the

Anglo-Polish military alliance. However, the British authorities postponed the delivery of the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire and Fairey Battle
planes and on 15 July Rayski returned to Poland with little but promises. He continued to petition the general staff for any assignment, even an assignment to a combat unit in the role of a simple pilot, but to no avail. Finally on 25 August he was made the chief of army's administration.

World War II

After the outbreak of the

Polish Government in Exile. However, despite his constant pleas he was not allowed to join the fights and instead, after the Soviet invasion of Poland, on 18 September he crossed the border with Romania
.

Unlike most of the Polish general staff, Rayski managed to evade internment and made it to France, where he reported to Gen. Zając asking him for an assignment in the

court martialled and sentenced to 10 months in prison for insubordination
. Although the sentence was never enacted, General Rayski was in fact demoted and left jobless.

Rayski then volunteered for the French

Rothesay on the Isle of Bute in Scotland
.

On 5 November, on insistence of

attacked port.[8]

The tide turned for him after the death of General Sikorski on 4 July 1943. The new commander of the Polish forces, Gen.

B-24 Liberator.[9] Altogether, during his entire service with the RAF, he flew a total of 1519 hours of combat missions.[10]

After the war

After the war, Rayski remained in the Polish Army and then the

Polish Army's Cathedral
in Warsaw.

Awards and decorations

Notes and references

In-line:
  1. ^ Ludomił Antoni Korab Rayski.
  2. ^ a b c d (in Polish) S. Łątka, Lot ku gorzkiej sławie. Gen. Ludomił Rayski, Kraków in: Społeczny Instytut Historii i Kultury Turcji, 1994, pp. 32, 37-47, 101-111
  3. ISBN 978-975-19-6468-7
    , p. 83
  4. ISBN 83-04-00148-9
    , pp. 273–276
  5. ^ "Historia Lotnictwa Polskiego". Archived from the original on 4 July 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2006.
  6. ^ a b (in Polish) Jerzy B. Cynk, Dowodzenie Lotnictwem Wojskowym II Rzeczypospolitej in: Lotnictwo nr 5/2004
  7. ^ (in Polish) Jerzy B. Cynk, Polskie lotnictwo wojskowe w okresie międzywojennym. Część IV in: Lotnictwo nr 11/2004
  8. ^ Artur Golebiewski (2003). "Bristol Blenheim IV". Polska Witryna Modelarska (in Polish). Archived from the original on 14 April 2005. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
  9. ^ Wilhelm Ratuszynski (2003). "History of No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron". Polish Squadrons Remembered. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. [1]
  10. ^ (in Polish) [2]
General:
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