Janusz Kochanowski, human rights ombudsman, has announced that Poland’s air force is severely underequipped – airmen have a lack of proper shoes, clothes and too little equipment.

Investigations into Poland’s air force units around the country began with the Naval Air Force Brigade stationed in Gdynia, northern Poland, after a cargo plane crashed into the Babie Doly airport where the air force makes its base. Four people died in the accident at the end of March 2009. The airport has been attempting to fund new radars for two years, but have not been able to purchase the much-needed equipment.

The daily Rzeczpospolita publishes a report in which it cites the military air base in Gdynia for allowing threadbare conditions, including leaking windows and ceilings and bunk houses in which ten pilots share one room.

Additionally, the report claims that pilots at the Babie Doly airfield are so ill-equipped that many pilots purchase their own protective gear.

“They have the right to receive a pair of shoes every two years, but, in reality, pilots receive new shoes every three years. What’s more, the shoes are in such a pathetic condition that the soles wear off within a few weeks,” reads the report, adding that health facilities at the airport are also inacceptable: while four full-time doctors are supposed to be working at the clinic, there is only one hired – a psychiatrist.

Kochanowski claims that Poland is the one NATO country where air force pilots undergo such terrible conditions.

The ombudsman’s report has been filed at the Ministry of National Defense. (mmj)