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Role Fighter
Manufacturer PZL
Designer Zygmunt Pulawski
First flight August 1931
Primary users Poland
Romania
Number built 325
Developed from PZL P.7
Variants PZL P.24
Operational history
At the outbreak of the Second World War, on 1 September 1939, the Polish Air Force had 109 PZL P.11cs, 20 P.11as and 30 P.7as in combat units. A further 43 P.11c aircraft were in reserve or undergoing repairs. Only a third of P.11c were armed with four machine guns, the rest had only two, even fewer had a radio. The P.11 were used in 12 squadrons, each with 10 aircraft (two squadrons constituted a group, in Polish: dywizjon). Two groups - four squadrons - were in the Pursuit Brigade deployed around Warsaw, the rest were assigned to Armies. All of them took part in defense during the Invasion of Poland. Apart from combat units, several P.11 aircraft, including a prototype P.11g, were used in improvised units at air bases.
By 1 September 1939, the fighter squadrons had been deployed to remote airfields, so they were not bombed by the Germans. During the Polish campaign, the P.11 fought against more modern German bombers and fighters. Not only were the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 faster and better armed, but also most German bombers were faster. Since the P.11 fighters had seen years of intensive use before the war, their maximum speed was even lower than the theoretical 375 km/h. The P.11a were in an even worse condition. Another serious deficiency was their small number which meant that missions involving groups larger than about 20 aircraft were rarely undertaken and reserve machines were practically unavailable.
On the other hand, the Polish fighter aircraft had better manoeuvrability and because of their design, had much better vision from the cockpit than the German aircraft. The P.11 had a strong construction.