The Polish Air Force is the military Air Force wing of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej . During 2010 it consisted of roughly 16 000 military personnel and about 320 aircraft distributed among 12 bases throughout Poland. The Polish Air Force is currently one of the most powerful in Eastern Europe. The Polish Air Force can trace its origins to the months following the end of World War I in 1918.