Originally Posted by
petit plateau
As SLXOwft said, I too can vouch that 1980s Dartmouth staff were indeed still teaching the RAF's underhand behaviour in the matter of the CVA01 etc cancellation of the 1960s (whether rightly or wrongly; and indeed whether it was necessary or not). There was definitely a sense in that period (and since) that the RN had to work extra hard simply to maintain its viability as a reasonably rounded force.
Regarding skippers being fairly grim individuals the RAF shouldn't feel particularly singled out. If you take a read of Bartosik's behaviour you'll appreciate that they could be even more grim to their own brethren. This is only one of many such dits I've heard over the years,
"During his time in command of London he was involved in a notorious incident. Having sacked his second-in-command in the newly commissioned guided-missile destroyer London in late 1965, he was sent the strong character Mike Henry as a replacement. When London arrived in Singapore for maintenance work Bartosik, for unspecified reasons, had him placed under arrest in his cabin. Mike Henry endured this treatment, but the Fleet chaplain had to intervene with the Captain of the Fleet to obtain his release."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jozef_Bartosik
To be fair to the late Captain Mike Henry, you missed a bit in your quotation from Wiki, and in order to keep a proper perspective on the current thread subject, it may also be helpful to see what, with deference to Chugalug and apologies for quoting myself, he and I posted in 2015, vide:
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The highest rank they obtained, at least as far as I am aware, was Wing Commander. - Chugalug
That is rather sad for many reasons in view of their outstanding war service, and provides an interesting, and perhaps equally sad, contrast with the post war career of Rear Admiral Józef Bartosik CB DSC, as will readily be seen by reading between the lines in both
Rear-Admiral Joe Bartosik - Telegraph
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Bartosik
The reference in the latter to Commander (later Captain) Mike Henry in which the then Captain Bartosik is quoted as saying 'that he considered Henry unsuitable for an important submarine appointment "understood to be impending"' is of special interest since the appointment concerned was as Commanding Officer of HMS RESOLUTION (Port Crew), the first Royal Navy Polaris submarine, and subsequently as Captain of the 10th Submarine Squadron, consisting of the four SSBNs.
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Old 17th Oct 2015, 10:25
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Chugalug2
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Thanks for those interesting links, UJ.
It seems that Bartosik was very much the exception, both for good and for bad! I guess that generalisations about the Poles, or any other group of people for that matter, are best avoided as every one is an individual. There is no doubt though that as a group they very much enhanced the Royal Air Force, both in their finest hour and thereafter.
Danny good point about sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters in turn. The RAF especially should be proud of its Polish constituents and hopefully will always contain them in that way.
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