Alek Tarwid

[Fareastdriver]

I have heard through the Old Rotors that Alek Tarwid has died at the age of 95.
From what I gathered when I knew him in the 70s his father was the Controller of Polish Railways when the Germans invaded. Alek was a cavalry officer who got fed up with charging tanks and travelled to the UK and joined the RAF.

Spitfires during the war and helicopters at the end.


His funeral is to be held at Basingstoke Crematorium on Wednesday 16 August at 1400 hours

[Mogwi]

Many fond memories of Alek on my first tour with 72 from his perfect manners (Bless you my son!) to his slightly cavalier attitude to aircraft checks (checks 1 to 13 complete - we go!). A great charmer and natural leader of men, even if the crewman was always "Eric"!

A man who helped form modern history; rest in peace.

Mog

[teeteringhead]

Gosh - where does one start.....

From 72 I recall a trip I did with him in Norn Iron, just before a trappers' visit.

"Teeters my son - you fly with me. We know I can fly but you Training Captains know what these Fokkers looking for."

Transitioning away from a long thin into wind field in Tyrone in a (relatively) benign area. Just clear of the ground, a heavily accented "Clear left?" was rapidly followed (or even preceded) by vast amounts of completely unnecessary left bank, ensuring we struck the wires running along the left side of the field........... think it was August '72....

Fast forward to Oman in '74, where he led the Wessex det to SOAF (of which I wasn't a part - but I was there!) for which IIRC he was made MBE. I can do no better than quote - apologies for length - from Ian Gardiner's excellent In the Service of the Sultan.
The detachment was commanded by a Polish pilot called Alek Tarwid. Nothing was too much trouble or too risky for him or his team where we were concerned. A solution would be found. Alek, who was somewhat older than most pilots, had flown Spitfires during the Second World War. Once, he got me up beside him in the cab of his Wessex and gave me a demonstration of what it was like to fly a Spitfire. The Messerschmitts wouldn't have stood a chance! "A Spitfire is like a woman" he used to say in his marked Polish accent. He never amplified. I think it was meant as a compliment to Spitfires. We were always left to speculate what kind of women Alek liked, assuming he favoured women who were like Spitfires.........

And I recall in the height of the Cold War him opining that "the Russians would never come west; they know the Poles would never ever support them"

We thought at the time he was mad to say that, but of course he was proved right, and lived long enough to see that he was.

RIP Sir, they most definitely don't make 'em like that any more......

[Wwyvern]

I served with Alek on Wessex. He often explained to me that he considered himself to be a Scot, and he was a better Scot than I because he CHOSE to be a Scot.

RIP Alek

[oldbeefer]

Seem to remember he was known as the Bouncing Czech! Also remember one formation brief on 72 that he was leading - 'OK, no-one overtake me, OK?' - would have been impossible as we couldn't even keep up. God knows how much Tq he was pulling.

[LOONRAT]

Alek was my flight commander on 72 Sqn (1967 - 1970) and I can recall many stories about this charismatic non-pc larger than life personality who taught me a lot on how to operate a Wessex helicopter to its limit.

Alek had a lovely Collie dog named Dougal who had a propensity to leave a pile in the crew room and being a real gentlemen Alek would come and, while apologising profusely, would clear up the mess. Pete Begwin also had a dog called Susi who flew regularly with Pete in the co-pilots seat having her own flying suit harness and log book. ( I cannot imagine this happening today) Susi came into the crew room and was caught short so left a mound in the middle of the floor and left searching for Pete. Alek appeared shortly after and spied the mound on the floor and assumed, wrongly, it had been left by Dougal. He immediately removed it much to the amusement of the assembled pilots and crewman. Pete arrived back in the crewroom unaware of Susie's misdemeanor and was relaxing when Alek arrived highly agitated having been advised he had cleared up Susie's mess, strode up to Pete and shouted 'You owe me a sheet' turned and left the crewroom with Pete completely confused until the rest of the chortling members explained it to him.

I believe there is a great cartoon in the squadron line book showing a gentleman looking very startled as several low flying Wessex helicopters led by Alek flew low over his allotment in Warminster which he contended were so low they 'Sucked the carrots out of the ground'. Happy days.

RIP Alek

[Old-Duffer]

There is a ploy to get an Obit in the Daily Torygraph but the compiler needs to gather the necessary information, which can sometimes be difficult. If you are prepared to be 'grilled' by said compiler, please let me have your email address and send to me at: nimbuspublishing at tiscali.co.uk

Old Duffer

[Herod]

"If you don't hit your wheels on the ground every fifty yards, you are not low-flying"

Truly one of helicopter's greats.

[teeteringhead]

O-D

Good ploy mon brave. You know who/where I am; I stand ready to assist.

[D120A]

Yes, where does one start?

Situation: 72 Sqn crewroom, 1968. Me, visiting from Odiham Eng Wing, just finishing a coffee. Advised (by Dougal Lawton) not to leave because "Alek is about to give a briefing and this should be good." Alek is about to lead a 3-ship to Salisbury Plain, his other two pilots being on their first week on the squadron, straight from the OCU. They sit there in new flying suits, kneepads and Chinagraphs at the ready. They are expecting a route brief, task details, weather, frequencies, contingencies, the works. The room goes quiet.

"OK!" says Alek. "Ze briefink." He pauses. "Ve take off, me 1," (he points) "you 2, you 3. Ve beat ze **** out of ze place, and zen we go to Salisbury! Any qvestions?"

No questions. And that is what they did! Spectacular, the bit I saw.

R.I.P. Alek

[unmanned_droid]

Sounds like an awesome guy to be around!

[oldbeefer]

He was a man of the day - wouldn't be allowed these days!

[Wander00]

D120A - a bit of a leap from helicopters to Lightnings I should guess

[Herod]

Yes, but if anyone could make a Wessex perform like a Lightning, that man was Alek.

[D120A]

I am waiting for some kind soul to point out that if anyone could make a Lightning perform like a Wessex, i.e. land vertically..., it was D120A. Thank heavens for Martin-Baker.

At the end of an air test for a new coupling gearbox, Alek discovered that although I could hover, just, I had no experience of flying the approach and transitioning into the hover. He set about rectifying this in the most efficient way: after each one, he would hover-turn 180 degrees and fly back up the approach path to 300 feet, whereupon a torque turn would set me up for another one.

Gently I pointed out the aircraft coming the other way in the circuit, and some excited RT confirmed that other people had noticed the same thing.

Truly a man of the day.

[unmanned_droid]

He was a man of the day - wouldn't be allowed these days!

The paperwork doesn't do itself I guess.

I am somewhat depressed that I was born a couple of decades late, and missed out on all this fun.

[Fareastdriver]

You could do those sorts of things in those days. Up to the end of the seventies the RAF was the Greatest Flying Club in the World.

[GrumpyGramps]

I joined 72 in 1968 as a young crewman. One of my first detachments was to Weedon, near Blackpool. I remember Alek Tarwid saying 'Ah, Veeton. Dat is vere I learned to spik Inglish!' When I asked why 72 Sqn Wessex had red dayglo Snoopy zaps on the nose I was told it was to warn other pilots that aircraft had been flown by Alek Tarwid, and therefore over-torqued! ALL 72 Sqn Wessex soon sported the Snoopy zap.

[Herod]

Torque limit? Pull until the collective hits the stops.

[Pontius Navigator]

You could do those sorts of things in those days. Up to the end of the seventies the RAF was the Greatest Flying Club in the World.

On reflection, very true. I entered the 80s on the Shack, it was so slow we were still in the 70s. Then the Dominie and I managed to bag some good staff rides as the talking ADF.

[sycamore]

PN, presumably you had a calendar at all crew stations...?

[D120A]

As GrumpyGramps has pointed out, all 72 Sqn Wessex soon sported the red Day-Glo Snoopy on the nose; the IFF aerial fairing was the perfect place. Why Snoopy? Well, it indicated that the aircraft had been flown (and therefore very likely over-torqued) by the Red Baron...

With my engineering flight safety hat on, I put a modification proposal to Command that helicopter torque-meters should have an additional 'drag' needle, like g-meters do, to display the maximum torque applied during a sortie. It was the first (but not the last) 'bright' idea of mine to be turned down by higher authority. At the time I thought money was the show-stopper but, who knows, perhaps Alek had friends in high places!

[Fareastdriver]

helicopter torque-meters should have an additional 'drag' needle

A waste of time. The hanger would soon be full of u/s aircraft because of normal harmless transient over-torques.

Alek's just used to be a bit longer than most.

[babil]

Can anyone confirm that the "Alek Tarwid " being spoken of was also on No.72 in 1955 flying Meteors?? He was my next-door neighbour in PMQ's at Church Fenton - his wife's favourite tune was "Unchained Melody" - I think that reflected Alek's attitude to authority!!! As I recall he was a prisoner in Russia at the beginning of WW2 and walked all the way to freedom in Turkey.
I remember him with a smile!!!

[Old-Duffer]

Babil,

Yes, it is.

His funeral was well attended, with a decent sized RAF helicopter 'gang' present. His son delivered an exceptionally good eulogy.

Old Duffer

[Fareastdriver]

also on No.72 in 1955 flying Meteors??

Just a thought.

There was a system in the sixties where you could apply to rejoin your old squadron. A friend of mine was on Valiants and had served on 18 Sqn at Finningly and then had been put on a Mareham Valiant bomber squadron when 18 Sqn folded.

When the Valiants were scrapped he applied to rejoin his old squadron which was now a helicopter squadron. He was posted on to helicopters which meant he escaped from Bomber Command.

Maybe Alek was facing a similar situation of being sent off to some boring Comms. squadron or ground tour so he may have plugged for 72 Sqn and helicopters.

[Bill4a]

I met Alek when in 1963 as a very new SAC I arrived on 225 Sqn at Odiham. About day 2 he came into the crew room said ' Airtest I need ballast ..... You!'
That was my first and most exciting ride LHS in a Whirlwind, and as I recall he spent a lot of the time swearing in Polish!
He was always known as 'Jock', and maintained that he was more English than any of us as he'd been in the country since 1940 and most of us weren't born then.
He was truly one of the greats and his stories are legion.
It really was an honour to have known him.

[Franek Grabowski]

Aleksander Tarwid was the last Polish WWII pilot to see combat. Sad to find a note of his passing. Please continue with stories about him. He is virtually unknown in his native Poland.

[Farrell]

http://www.ashpole.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Kuching1.jpg

(L-R) IAN RICHARDSON, ALEC TARWID, TOM HOOPER, JOHN BARLOW, RON KING

[wellbrook]

I was a young clerk on 72 Squadron in 1972 and well remember Alek Tarwid. John Price, then a Wg Cdr, later AVM, was the Squadron CO. Alek was OC 'A' Flight and Tom Porteous 'B' Flight. Alek was known on the Squadron as the Red Baron for the way in which he flew the Wessex HC, particularly on the NI runs, and the border patrols and re-rationing of the outposts. Many happy memories of 72 Sqn at that time including detachments to NI. Alek was a gentleman to serve with.