Proza o tematyce lotniczej dla młodzieży w dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym. Rekonesans

The article is an analysis of the chosen aviation prose for adolescents from the interwar period (novels by Z. Dromlewiczowa, K. Makuszyński, M. Wardasówna, M. Kann). The aviation pictures and motives, the depictions of pilots in publications for the young reader have been mainly shaped by the large popularity of the aviation movement in the Second Republic of Poland. They had also largely corresponded with the civic-patriotic movement, which put emphasis on different forms of physical activity in adolescents, including aviation sports, as forms of taking part in defensive politics of the country. The analyzed books mainly fulfilled the cognitive-educational goals, as well as propaganda-agitational goals. They presented the fictionalized history of aviation, biographies of the most famous pilots, basic knowledge on aviation engineering and aerodynamics, they described the scouts’ gliding courses. The authors of the aviation prose for adolescents drew their inspiration from the work of the famous interwar period writer-pilot, Janusz Meissner, thus bolstering the romantic and heroic legend of Polish aviation built by the author.