304 SQUADRON POLISH AIR FORCE IN EXILE

[archivist]

W/CDR STANISLAW JAKUB SKARZYNSKI

This is a new and updated version of an old posting. It contains more details, particularly of his early life fighting in the Bolshevik War. Inevitably there is duplication but it gives a more accurate picture of the man.

He was born 1 May 1899, near Warta Sieradz and in 1918 he was already a volunteer in the military and was involved in disarming the surrendered German forces. He fought in the 29th Kaniowskich Rifles during the Bolshevik War and was wounded in the back in December 1919. On 16th August 1920 he received shrapnel wounds in the knee, by shrapnel from a grenade in the Battle of Radzymin, and, due to severe infection, he was told he would never be fit to fight again. He was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari for his actions in this battle.

However, he remained in the army and, in June 1925, he went to the flying school in Bydgoszcz. During his first flight, his aircraft burst into flames but he managed to land safely; he graduated as a pilot in 1925 and was posted to an Air Regiment based in Warsaw. On 1st January 1927 he was promoted to Captain. Prior to the outbreak of war, he progressed through various squadrons and rose through the ranks to commander of an air regiment.

Between the wars he made his name as an aviation pioneer with major flights across Africa and across the Atlantic and became the only Pole ever to win the Bleriot medal (in 1936) for setting an international distance record of 3582 kilometres for a Class II tourist plane. On 1st January 1934 he was promoted to major and, in 1938 to lieutenant colonel at which point he became deputy commander of the 4th Air Regiment in Torun. In August 1939 he was sent to Romania as the Deputy Air Attache.

When war broke out, he played a major part in organising the transit of Polish airmen to France before escaping himself. In France he helped to organise the elements of the Polish Air Force in exile. In late June 1940 he arrived, via France, in England and in 1941, he took command of the Polish Flying Training School at RAF Hucknall, later moving to RAF Newton in the same capacity.

At his own request, in December 1941, he went to RAF Bramcote to train on Wellington bombers and, in April 1942, he assumed command of RAF Lindholme which was the home base for 304 and 305 Polish Squadrons. Although not directly attached to either Squadron, he was still a fighter at heart and began to fly bombing missions as second pilot. On 25th June 1942 he was on a 305 Squadron mission to Bremen when one engine failed and they were forced to ditch in the North Sea about 40 miles off Great Yarmouth.

He was the last to leave the aircraft and the rest of the crew managed to get into a dinghy and heard his cries for help for about half an hour but were unable to save him. He had taken refuge on a piece of wreckage but was swamped by a wave and washed away. The rest of the crew were picked up by a Royal Navy vessel after about eight hours in the water but Skarzynski drowned and his body was washed ashore on Terschelling Island in the Friesian Islands off the coast of the Netherlands. He was buried in West Terschelling cemetery. He was posthumously promoted to Group Captain. In 1983 a plaque was fixed to his gravestone; it reads ZAWSZE RAZEM JULIA which means “Forever together, Julia” and marks the fact that his wife’s ashes were buried in his grave.

During the course of his career he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari, the Cross of Independence, the Officer Cross of the Order of Poland, the Cross of Valour (four times), the Gold Cross of Merit and the Silver Cross of Merit. He also won the Cross of the Romanian Crown, the Hungarian Cross of Merit, the Brazilian Southern Cross and the French Legion d’Honeur. He was posthumously promoted to full colonel and awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta II Class.

He was used as the model for Edward Wittigowi’s design for the monument to airmen in Warsaw.

[karl]

Jan 25, 2011 11:38:33 GMT -7 archivist said:

Thanks for that Pawian. The thing I forgot to mention is that in Britain, the Spitfire is the most potent anti-nazi , anti-fascist symbol and spent its entire working career fighting against them. However, the BNP is so hate filled, and so determined to blame others for our failings, that they can't see that their blaming the Poles for our problems is as crass as Hitler blaming the Jews for Germany's problems in the 1930s.

Neville

For what you have presented is quite very interesting! Of course having knowledge of the movement in your country of the BNP is some what known, but, what I have not known until at this present, is the power these people have gained..

It is good your courts have taken this serious as a possible threat to the common good. For there remains always, through changing situations in both labour and opportunities, for these movements to take root in the minds of the public, as a cure for the ills that labour may suffer.

In your opinion: Would this be a back lash experienced in the long past colonial rule of India?

My intent is not to press the issue, but of your personal opinion for as a foundation of sound understanding of this issue.

From my own personal experience, was a very important lessons learnt from your countries Occupational Forces Authority. This being of British rule as being of justice/equality and sense of personal responsibility: Under the rule of the Crown at that time after a very long and nasty war.

{The Spitfire you have mentioned, was a very beautiful weapon of the air. They flew very close to the water near us and were readily identified by the turbine sound of there motors. We would try to see the pilot but this was very difficult for the high speed they flew}

Karl

[archivist]

Hello Karl,

The BNP put the Poles in the position of blame for all our ills because it coincided with a time when there were a large number of Polish immigrants into Britain. In the past, they blamed black people and lately Muslims.

There are people who hate any foreigners and blame them for taking our jobs etc and they all jump on the BNP bandwagon. A very large proportion of these are skinheads, thugs and people who don't want work anyway.

I believe that there will be a backlash and it will be violent but the true cause will be the politically correct do gooders who are making this country into a haven for the work shy and those who cannot live in the British way.

I am a moderate but I can see why people are angry. We have a judge who wants to introduce Sharia Law in some cases. The basis of the British Constitution is one law for everybody. We have an outcry when a man is not prosecuted for burning the Koran but not when Muslims deface the Christian Bible. The newspaper "Black Voices" is acceptable but "White Voices" would be racist.

Some British cities will not allow the Union Flag or the Cross of St George to be flown in case it offends immigrants.

In my view this is a sort of reverse racism discriminating against ethnic British people. I am not about to go on the streets and riot over this, but I can see that it is playing into the hands of the fanatics - like the BNP - and I can see how violence will erupt.

I am not a racist and I do not condone racist behaviour but I am not blind and I can see trouble coming. All I want is a country where everyone is equal regardless of race or creed.

Neville

[karl]

Neville

Thank you for your very kind and revealing post return. Some many issues that have a tendency to become complex if not presented in an understandable manner. more or less, to the audience of intention.

What you are experiencing is not so different then upon our own shores. Leadership wish to lead, but to the best direction, is a question that is perplexing. For not all things are simple as simply taking action in a responsible manner.

Our {yours} leadership must depend upon a great deal for proper background of the issue at hand. With this tool of knowledge, then how best to create the situation that will commensurately be the best choice. In this manner, very seldom as a person will I take the liberty of condemnation of our leadership for their decisions upon what ever issue is at hand. For that is the burden of leadership, to make the best choices with the information at hand at that time and place. Later, perhaps time will prove those decisions as correct, or perhaps the decisions proved to be faulted. That is the burden of leadership.

We as our selves, are too much small to make a difference. But, it is to our selves in what ever lifes position that has placed us to be. To then do the very best of our ability with the powers vested upon us, to assist and make sure of the decisions our leadership has placed that is within our selves to accomplish, in good faith.

Neville, I personally with intrinsic feelings, understand you for all your country as the UK ultimately stands for. It is freedom/fairness/ with a great sense of personal and national pride in that what you are: A free man {man being as specious, not gender}. It is this that is a common trait, is the glue that binds you and your fellow country man alike in common thought and purpose.

What I say above is not to be construed as flattery, it is truth gained from experience.

It will be to your self and those of integrity, to show as example, your strength in courage to weather out this storm. I tend to believe as you have brought forward, there is indeed a storm front on the horizon. This storm front is not of endangerment from with-out, but from within. And this is the most dangerous to people of good conscience. For it is the loss of national integrity and removal of the foundations that support the flagg that is what so much in past was fought for under the Crown.

For as aforementioned, one person has little voice, but: If that voice carries the message through the mechanism of mass media. This becomes another matter entirely, but this voice as spoken, must be in the language of understanding to the target recipients in a manner they understand, and, in the manner you intend for them to understand.

For as only one example that comes to mind at this moment in thought: You have for some time with great success, have presented an ongoing singular subject of: 304 Squadron Polish Air Force...with highly excellent success.

This above excellent success was not accidental. For you have refined you information. Targeted this information to the audience you have chosen with intention. It is a formula used for centuries for good, and as opposite, for destruction. The formula is very well known by most, and very simple:

Know your subject

Know your audience

Know the mechanics of presentation

Do it

The above using the technique of perhaps a simple weekly article in any one of the vast number of publications in the target area. It may be written under the heading of:{ Our National Front} on a suggestion as example.

Then as you Begin upon the first sentence, the remainder will then take a life of self. It possible may become a shock as feed back begins, for as to the number of people looking forward to your next published text of {Our National Front}. It is easy,,,for not was so difficult upon your out lined writing you presented to my self in our post exchange of this subject?

People, believe what is placed in print, as a person of high ethics, this would be very simple for you.

The above is example that is contrary to common thought of one or just a few voices will not make a difference. The previous is not true, for one voice will make a difference, is voiced through a media of mass appeal.

Once again, the above is gained from experience. I am not a brave man, for be it. For speaking infront of my colleges, is frightening to me, my insides freeze and fear takes my brain into little particles of nonsense matter. For this reason, as a person, I check and recheck my information for flaws and mistakes. I have worked my craft for 43 years and still have not out grown my fear in speaking infront of a group. It feels as of a thousand eyes are looking into my self for every flaw I possess as a human being.

But, once with my bow of knowledge, I may then shoot my arrows straight into the heart of the matter. For that is my total concentration and purpose of being.

I realize this post is quite very long and boring. With this, perhaps over burden you with material you know so very well. It is my hope and trust, that perhaps a thought within the confines of this post, will trigger perhaps a forgotten bit that was your intent to build with in the first.

Karl

[archivist]

SKULSKI L/Ac Roman Vladimir P-704952

He was born on 15th April 1921 at Stryj. In September 1940 he moved to Trochaniv where he took up the post of school teacher, which he held until 15th April 1941, his twentieth birthday, when he was conscripted into the Red Army and sent to Russia.

This involved a two week train journey in primitive and unhygienic conditions until he reached the city of Voroshylovsk (now Stavropol) where he was issued with his uniform and a rifle but no ammunition. He was also trained to drive a T33 tank and to load and fire its gun; this must have been difficult as there was no petrol and no ammunition available.

About three months after the Germans turned on their Russian allies, in the late summer of 1941, he was sent to the city of Novorossyisk where he trained on mortars and spent a lot of time working as a lumberjack and living in a leper village. Here he records many hours watching the German bombers pounding the city by night, with no opposition from Russian fighters.

In November 1941 his group set off to march to Stalingrad (now Volgograd), marching only at night and through severe blizzards. After sixteen nights they were put on a train and sent to Rostov-on-Don, backtracking more than half of their march, to meet the German advance. Here they had to dig huge anti-tank trenches as a barrier to the German panzers; they worked twelve hours a day, digging first through the frozen snow and then sixty centimetres of permafrost before reaching soft earth.

At the end of March 1942, he was sent to Stanica Krymskaya, just North of the Black Sea, where he and his team were put to work building a road and an airfield. One of his jobs involved standing waist deep in a river digging out gravel for the concrete. At the beginning of June of that year his group were de-militarised and became a civilian work group – paid but virtually slave workers, with low pay and increased working hours.

On 19th July 1942 he and three friends made a bid for freedom in the hope of joining the newly forming Polish Army in Exile under General Anders> He was wearing his ‘new’ uniform which had a bullet hole through the left breast , with a dark stain around it. The Russians were so short of uniforms that they were stripping dead soldiers.

Furtively they made their way, via back lanes and woodland, to the railway station and mingled with Russian soldiers before taking a train to Krasnodar. From there they got a train immediately to Groznyy, capital of the Chechen-Ingush Soviet Republic; they were heading for Makhachkala which was a port on the Caspian Sea and the capital of Dagestan Soviet Republic. Fron there they caught another train to Baku in Azerbaijan. Here they approached the authorities for help to join the Polish Army, but were arrested by the NKVD (forerunners of the KGB) and were about to be deported back to Russia (?) when they escaped and tagged on to a group of wounded Russian soldiers, eventually boarding a vessel named \Dagestan bound for Krasnovodsk (now Turkmenbashi) in Turkmenistan.

In Krasnovodsk they met a Polish Officer who directed them to the Polish Military office there and were then astounded at the attitude of the man in charge, Colonel Bering, who threw them out, called them nothing more than a bunch of deserters and threatened to have them arrested by the NKVD. However, a sympathetic Polish Officer gave them food and cigarettes and suggested they go to Guzar in Uzbekistan to join General Anders’ army.

After three uncomfortable days on a train through the Kara Kum Desert, they arrived at Bukhara in Uzbekistan and narrowly escaped being arrested by border guards. After a very short time they took a train for the three hour journey to Guzar. As the train was pulling in to the station, Roman was caught by a Policeman but managed to escape through a toilet window and lost himself in the crowds on the station platform. With considerable difficulty, the four men were accepted into the Polish Army on 29th July 1942 and they were fed, given clean uniforms and a shower with real soap. He wryly remarked that they were given toilet paper and that was the first he had had in his fifteen months in the Soviet Union.

Through all their adventures, Roman had to take the lead because he was the only one who was fluent in Russian.

On 4th August 1942 he was assigned to a tank battalion and nine days later the Poles left Guzar and returned to Krasnovodsk where, on 19th August 1942 they boarded the Russian vessel Kaganovych bound for Pahlevi in Persia (now Enzeli in Iran). Whilst there he became the victim of a series of nasty illnesses; firstly it was malaria and then a bout of dysentery followed by yellow jaundice and then a serious eye infection which virtually blinded him – this was caused by a sea water parasite picked up whilst bathing. Soon after leaving hospital he volunteered to go to England to join the Polish Air Force in Exile.

After several aptitude tests and spending some time in Iraq, he left for England on 4th February 1943 and boarded the ship Islami at Basra bound for Bombay (now Mumbai) in India. A week after arriving there he boarded the ship Mariposa which travelled to England via Cape Town, South Africa. He finally arrived at the Polish Depot at Blackpool on 30th March 1943 and was transferred to the Elementary Flying Training School at RAF Hucknall where he also began to learn English. He then moved to Brighton, Sussex for further training and in May 1943 he began training as a pilot.

Due to serious and persistent bouts of air sickness he gave up the pilot’s course and went to Canada to train as a navigator. The air sickness was too much and he was grounded and returned to England as ground crew with 304 Squadron.

After the war he married an English girl in Brighton on 22nd June 1946 and moved to London and then Portsmouth. In the spring of 1949 he was discharged from the Polish Resettlement Corps and emigrated to Canada. He trained at McGill University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1955, later he moved to British Columbia. He raised a family of four children in Canada and made several holiday trips back to England.

He died in West Vancouver on 30th March 2008.

[archivist]

SGT JERZY TUSIEWICZ

He was born on 24th February 1922 in Pultusk in Warsaw Province. In 1939 he was in the 2 Cadet Corps in Rawicz. In September 1939 he was transferred to 2 Baloon Battalion in Legionowo. During the September Campaign, on 15th September 1939, he was captured by the Germans and became a Prisoner of War until 23 March 1942. It is highly unlikely that he was released so presumably he escaped.

In 1943 he found himself in England and was directed to the Polish Depot in Blackpool. In July 1943 he was posted to the Flying School at RAF Hucknall in Nottinghamshire (probably 15 Polish Elementary Flying Training School) and then to 16 SFTS (16 Polish Service Flying Training School) in Newton as pilot-cadet with Polish rank of plutonowy (the equivalent British rank is L/Ac). In December 1944 he was posted to Navigation School at RAF Blackpool as a pilot and navigator-cadet. In February 1945 he qualified and was posted to 304 Squadron as a pilot.

In May 1945 he was promoted to the polish rank of sier¿ant-podchor¹¿y (the equivalent British rank is Sergeant). In May 1946 he finished his flying service as a pilot in 16 SFTS in Newton.

In 1947 he emigrated to Canada and settled in Port Severn, Ontario. He became a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and later, Senior Administrator of the University of Toronto. He died on 18th May 2011.

[archivist]

On 2nd February 2010, I reported on Wellington HF208 (2S) which was apparently struck by lightning and crashed into Mount Brandon in Ireland on 21st December 1943. The story I had was that the crew were all killed by exploding ammunition from their own aircraft, rather than the crash itself.

I have recently been given some fresh evidence that this might be no more than local folk lore and that the plane actually flew into the side of a mountain in a snow storm - this being the true cause of the deaths. I intend to recheck both my sources and also Irish Army records (which I could not locate at the time) and publish the results here as soon as I can.

It is distressing to get something so badly wrong, but it is much more important to put it right than to worry about my bruised ego. Watch this space.

[archivist]

One of my sources has removed the story of exploding ammunition and changed it to the snow storm story. The other source has retained the original story but admits that it might just be a folk tale. The Irish military authorities have promised to send me the accurate version of events in due course, so the true version of events will be published here as soon as it arrives.

[archivist]

This is an eye witness account of the best kind - it comes from the only surviving member of the crew of Wellington Bomber R1268 NZ-T, 90 year old Stanislaw Boczkowski who was the co-pilot.

When he was posted to squadron 304, there was a brief period of time where nothing was happening. To make the best use of such time he was told to report for a training flight with the crew of R1268 (NZ-T). The purpose was to continue training of the two navigators attached to the flight as well as to allow Stanislaw Boczkowski to become more familiar with
that specific aircraft.

The plan was for a four hour flight and the weather was not too bad when we took off. Flying Officer Waroczewski piloted the plane for the first two hours and then Stanislaw Boczkowski took over. After a few hours in the air and while Stanislaw was at the controls, the weather got worse and the navigators lost their bearing. They were to practice flying on instruments only. The flight had no radio operator and therefore could not get a radio fix on their position. It was decided to descend and check their position by map and visual sighting.

The aircraft went through the clouds and it began to ice up on the wings. There was also trouble with the engines as they were running unevenly. One navigator took Stanislaw's position and he sat in the radio operator's position; the other navigator (Kostuch possibly?) went to the forward bomb sight. Both positions offered a better view of the land being overflown.

The cloud cover at this point was quite low and heavy ice had formed on the wings. The crew knew that the ‘plane was going to go down one way or the other. Waroczewski piloted the plane down as best he could with Stanislaw still in the radio operator’s seat and the navigator sitting in his seat. Not surprisingly, Stanislaw does not remember the crash itself.

After the crash, Stanislaw climbed out through the nearest hole in the fuselage. He thought that he had lost his right eye as he could see nothing out of it. He clambered over to to the pilot who was badly hurt but conscious and still strapped into his seat. Waroczewski asked to be pulled out of his seat but Stanislaw could not manage it due to his injuries. All of Stanislaw's ribs were broken and the blindness in his right eye was caused by a skin flap from his forehead covering that eye.

The navigator who had taken his seat was no longer there - Stanislaw didn't know where he was. The navigator who had been in the bomb bay was lying quite a way in front of the wreckage of the nose of the aircraft. He survived but I think that he never returned to flying.

People came as, well as an ambulance, to help; Waroczewski was placed on a flat surface - possibly a door - and taken to a nearby farm. Stanislaw was taken by ambulance to a nearby RAF station infirmary where he was treated for four days and then sent back to his own squadron - 304. He was given 10 days leave and immediately headed out to visit an adjoining squadron but was called back the next day and told to report immediately to join 300 squadron.

[archivist]

I have now received accurate information from the Irish Army regarding the story of Polish Airmen being killed by their own ammunition exploding in a burning aircraft. This has proved to be fanciful and little more than folklore. What follows shows the original story with all corrections from Irish Army records.

HF208 (2S) 20th December 1943

While returning from U-Boat patrol over the Bay of Biscay, the aircraft is thought to have been struck by lightning and went down in flames near Mount Brandon in the Irish Republic. The crew transmitted a request to end their patrol and return home due to their inability to get a proper navigational fix because of a malfunction in their radio location equipment.

The whole crew were killed and their bodies were given an honour guard by the Irish Army and handed over to the British authorities at the Ulster border, specifically at Middletown on the Monaghan and Armagh border. This occurred at 18.30 hours on 23rd December 1943.

Sergeant Naftali Pawel Kuflik was buried in the Carnmoney Jewish Cemetery in Belfast. The remainder of the crew were interred in the Milltown Cemetery, they were: Sgt Stanislaw Czerniewski, Sgt Kowalewicz, Flight Sergeant Klemens Adamowicz, Sgt Kazimierz Lugowski and Sgt Wincenty Pietrzak. The following extract is a direct quote from the website of the Warplane Research Group of Ireland:

R.A.F. 304 Squadron, based at Predannack, Lizard, Cornwall, flew Wellington Bombers. The members of this Squadron were Polish. Like many others, they too were involved in hunting U-Boats. On the 20th of December, 1943, their aircraft was seen by several Look Out Posts (L.O.P.’s) skirting along the coastlines of Kerry, Cork and Waterford. Indeed records show that their last reported position was over Lismore in County Waterford heading east-southeast presumably to Predannack. I cannot offer any reason why their aircraft should end up on the slopes of Mount Brandon a few hours later with the loss of all six crewmen on board but I can relate that all the crew were shot by the exploding ammunition in the fire that engulfed the aircraft. All the bodies were recovered outside the aircraft. None suffered burns.

The impact point was on the slopes above Slieveglass, near Cloghane, above Brandon village on the Dingle Peninsula.

Unfortunately, the last two sentences of this report are completely wrong! I have contacted the Irish Army authorities and they have allowed me access to documents which revealed a totally different story. The crash took place at 23.22hrs, probably due to losing its bearings in very bad weather. There were reports of snowstorms but I have seen no reference to any lightning.

Sergeant M. Duffy and other Gardai (Police) attended and took charge of the scene at 12.25 on 21st December 1943 and handed over to the military at 3 pm on the same day. Two of the airmen had suffered burns and one was badly charred but none had gunshot wounds (in accordance with the official report). They were identified by identity discs found in their pockets. The Coroner, Mr Sheehan, decided that an inquest was not necessary and the bodies were removed at 9 pm.

Captain Pringle of the Irish Army visited the scene and found four aerial depth charges, three of which were damaged and the other had burnt out (they were not primed). He also found two damaged incendiary bombs and a quantity of burned out, or otherwise unserviceable flare flare floats. The whole lot were destroyed at the scene by a charge placed on the depth charges and detonated. A large quantity of ammunition, both ball and tracer, was found with the six machine guns and presumably taken away as it would be too dangerous to dispose of at the scene – it had most certainly not “cooked off” and none of the bodies were reported to have gunshot wounds.

Reporting on the wreckage, Major W. P. Delamere of the Irish Air Corps wrote that the visiting British Engineering Officer had disclaimed any interest in the wreckage as it would be too expensive to remove due to its remote and difficult location.

He described it thus: “The Wellington lies on a steep rocky slope 2500 feet above sea level and 3 and a half miles from base of Mountain over Marsh and Ravine, 2 streams and boggy land.” I think the photograph shows the difficulty in recovering the aircraft

He also said that the scrap value of the Duralumin would be £10 - £20 and not worth melting down as it was of little use. In England, where aircraft were being mass produced, it would have been a very different story.

It must be said that the Irish authorities were very thorough in the way they dealt with the situation and they were very respectful to the dead airmen.

My apologies for the original false story which I reproduced in good faith, having taken it from two independent sources.

[archivist]

BEZUSZKO Sgt John Walter P-794604

He was a pilot, born on 2nd October 1920 in a coal mining town near Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA. On graduating from high school he worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps at Quantico, Virginia in a quarry, mining stone for roads, dams and bridges in a National Park.

In August 1941 he went to Toronto, Canada and did his basic training in Owen Sound, Ontario before being sent to England via Liverpool in order to fulfil the desperate need for pilots and aircrew. After further training in England, he earned his pilot’s wings and was sent to the air gunnery school at RAF Tranwell near Morpeth, Newcastle upon Tyne where he flew target towing aircraft. He was later posted to 304 Squadron who were, at that time, in Coastal Command. His duties there were anti-submarine warfare, convoy protection and harassment of enemy shipping.

In May 1943, he was one of many Americans who were compelled to join the USAAF and was sent to Texas for training as a fighter pilot. He was posted back to Europe in January 1945 and flew Mustangs in the European Theatre until the end of hostilities. Towards the end of the war he flew ground support missions over Germany as part of the 48th Fighter Group; his aircraft was a Republic P47 Thunderbolt. In 1947, he returned to the United States.

After the war he was based at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona where he trained cadets to fly the modern fighters, later teaching combat tactics at Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert.

In 1950 he played an active role in the Korean War, volunteering to fly with the 49th Fighter group. He flew Lockheed F-80C Shooting Stars as ground support to the land forces. In that conflict he extended his tour of duty on three occasions. After the war ended he continued to fly fighters until 1957 – but even then he transferred to the Reserves at Long Beach, California, finally retiring in 1972.

In an illustrious career, he was decorated by the Polish Government in exile, the British, the French,
The South Koreans, the United Nations and both the US Army and the US Air Force.

After his military service he worked as a Technical Writer for McDonnell Douglas and the Rockwell Corporation, finally retiring at the age of 72. He died on 28th April 2000 at Long Beach, California, USA.

[archivist]

FRANCISZEK KICINSKI

He was born on 29th January 1914, in Warsaw, the son of Stanislaw Kicinski and Stanislawa Domagalska. He was educated in Warsaw and trained as a hairdresser. In 1934 he joined the army and served in the Ostroleka horse artillery, where he completed his non-commissioned officer training. He later trained as a glider pilot at the military school at Ustianowa near the border with Ukraine. He transferred to the Air Force and trained as a pilot in Warsaw

At the end of 1938, he left the military and went to work as a clerk for the Warsaw public transport corporation but, when war was imminent, he was mobilised and rejoined the air force in Warsaw. Little is known of him after that except that he escaped to France through Romania, arriving in France on 22nd January 1940.

His route is not known, except that he arrived at Marseilles by sea, in a group of Polish pilots, on one of two voyages made by the French liner Explorateur Grandidier from Beirut to repatriate French soldiers from the Levant (now broken up into Palestine, Israel, Jordan,Syria and Lebanon). This vessel was later scuttled near Marseilles by the Germans. On making contact with the Polish authorities, he was posted to the aviation school at Lyon but did no training or fighting. On the capitulation of France, in June 1940, he went to England by sea but his route is unknown.

He wasbased in the cluster of RAF Stations around Blackpool. He spent over a year under training and learning English, he moved, on 1st September 1941 he went to RAF Leuchars at St Andrews, Fife in Scotland.

He learned to fly British aircraft on De Havilland Tiger Moths at 25 EFTS at RAF Hucknall and later on Airspeed Oxfords at 16 FTS at RAF Newton – both in Nottinghamshire. After finishing these courses, he qualified and was promoted to Sergeant. He was then, September 1941, posted to 3 Air Gunnery School at RAF Castle Kennedy in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Here, his tasks were flying the gunners under instruction and flying the aircraft which towed the targets. The aircraft he flew were Bristol Bolingbrokes and Blackburn Bothas.

On 15th July 1943, he was posted to 3 School of General Reconnaissance stationed at RAF Squires Gate (Blackpool). His main task was to learn to navigate over water for the duties that would be required by Coastal Command – seeking out U-boats and enemy surface vessels. He was then posted to 6 OTU at Silloth, Cumberland, for operational training. The purpose of this was to bond the crews of the U-boat hunters and their Wellington bombers.

On 29th February 1944 he joined 304 Squadron at RAF Chivenor, Barnstaple, Devon who were then dedicated to Anti-Submarine Warfare. His first operational flight was in March 1944 and he went on to fly several missions filling in for crew who were sick or on leave. At the beginning of August 1944 he was posted to 6 OTU at RAF Silloth, Cumberland, to form a team of his own for future missions. He returned to 304 Squadron, after the six week course, with his own regular crew – but by this time they had moved to RAF Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides.

Soon after the war ended, at the end of May 1945, he was posted to RAF North Weald, Essex with the rest of the squadron, which became part of Transport Command and later to RAF Chedburgh in Suffolk. Their task was to fly men and supplies between England, France, Italy and Greece. The aircraft they used were Wellingtons, Warwicks and Halifaxes – all ex bombers converted to cargo planes. He stayed with them until the squadron was disbanded in December 1946 and then transferred to the Polish Resettlement Corps to stay in uniform but also to prepare for life as a civilian in Britain. During his time with 304 Squadron, he won the Cross of Valour twice.

He stayed in Britain until 1957 when he moved his family to Melbourne, Australia. He became an artist and had several exhibitions there. He died there on 22nd January 1992; he was cremated at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery. He is recorded there as Frank Kicinski.

[sunnyflorida]

A major Hoolywood movie about the " Kosciuszko Squadron " is being developed. There is much news about this in Poland's media. It is a project of the " Foundation To Illuminate America's Heroes ". Here is a link to their website ... www.illuminateamericasheroes.com ... they have a video trailer on the great story and feature film project ... photos ... press releases and more info.

They are asking for a massive viral internet campaign to forward links to their website and Youtube video titled " The Greatest Story Not Yet Told " to interested friends and contacts ... asking them to do the same ... to make this great story and feature film project known throughout the world.

If you do a Google search on " The Foundation To Illuminate America's Heroes " you will see all the reports about this. The media in Poland has many stories about this project.

It is the incredible true story of legendary Hollywood Producer Merian C. Cooper who created the origianl King Kong Movie ... and his team of fellow volunteer American fighter pilots who came to Poland's aid in The Polish-Bolshevik War of 1919-1920. They formed the original Kosciuszko Squadron and came to Poland's aid in her hour of need ... to repay America's greatest debt to the foreign heroes like Kosciuszko and Pulaski who came to America's aid in the revolutionary War.

Three of the American pilots lost their lives. They helped the Poles win the famous battle of Warsaw "The Miracle on The Vistula". Merian Cooper and other American pilots received "The Militari Virtuti " from Marshall Josef Pilsudski himself.

Their heroism was so loved by the Poles that they continued to keep the name of the "Kosciuszko Squadron". Merian Cooper visited the Polish pilots of The "Kosciuszko Squadron" in England in World War II ... where the "Kosciuszko Squadron " was the top rated squadron in the RAF (Royal Air Force) in The Battle of Britain. They shot down more German planes than any other squadron. All of this is mentioned in the film treatment now being developed. Cooper remained a great friend of Poland until he passed on in 1973. Many surviving Polish exiles and pilots visited him during the dark days of communism. Today the current "Kosciuszko Squadron" still exists in the air force of the new Free Poland ... still carrying the origianl "Kosciuszko Squadron Emblem" which Cooper and the American pilots designed.

Does anyone here know more about this great story of Merian Cooper and his fellow volunteer American fighter pilots who formed the original Kosciuszko Squadron in The Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920?

The link to the website about this film project is ... www.illuminateamericasheroes.com ... can someone post and attach a link to the YouTube video "The Greatest Story Not Yet Told" here? I do not know how to attach those links.