Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II
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There is a pretty good coverage of Polish burials on the Polish internet, and a few years ago there was a book published (in Polish) covering all flying deaths of Polish airmen 1939-1945. There was also one less detailed covering all AF deaths, and in 1952 a list of all deaths of Polish Army 1940-1947 has been published. As to Szempliński, he was killed in a crash in bad weather in a Mosquito, together with RAF navigator, Frank Tillman. Tillman was buried next to him, I think.
Nice to hear Polish airmen are well remembered.
Szemplinski is buried in grave 12 while Tillman is buried in grave 8. Not next to each other, but pretty close.
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OffshoreSLF
You can check for info here. This website is continuously updated.
https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/?langue=en
You can check for info here. This website is continuously updated.
https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/?langue=en
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At 2 ANS Thorney Island '57 - '58 there were quite a few Polish staff Pilots. Only one commissioned a Flt/Lt on the NF10s but driving the Varsitys many NCOs and M/Ps with unpronounceable names beginning in Z...…., so long they would not fit in the box in ones log book. At least one whose Penglish was very challenging. Quite a few names on here vaguely ring bells.
I did some exercises with a M/P Garbuz whom Pontius Navigator recalls some 7 years later still up front in a Varsity. No wonder it has been said they knew their way round the British Isles without maps, charts or student help.
In Franek Grabowski's link http://www.muzeumlotnictwa.pl/digitalizacja_archiwaliow/katalog/1974/20.jpg there is a co-pilot listed whose name probably still strikes fear in the hearts of his former students for his lack of CRM.
I did some exercises with a M/P Garbuz whom Pontius Navigator recalls some 7 years later still up front in a Varsity. No wonder it has been said they knew their way round the British Isles without maps, charts or student help.
In Franek Grabowski's link http://www.muzeumlotnictwa.pl/digitalizacja_archiwaliow/katalog/1974/20.jpg there is a co-pilot listed whose name probably still strikes fear in the hearts of his former students for his lack of CRM.
Franek, I had the honour to fly in Flt Lt Ignatowski's Hastings when my late father's 202 squadron disbanded in 1964 after years of met reconnaissance from RAF Aldergrove. We were one of three escorts and I can still see him working hard to hold formation on the lead aircraft which continued with the squadron standard to Leconfield, I think it was. One could almost count the rivets on the leader's tailplane ...
F/Lt Ignatowski, known as Iggy to everyone, and a colleague had stolen a light aircraft when the Germans invaded Poland. They managed quite a long distance across Europe until they could no longer obtain fuel, and by devious means they reached England where Iggy continued his flying career.
Another vastly experienced pilot was Master Pilot Frantisek Radina (1915-1968) who escaped from Czechoslovakia to join 311 Sqn on Wellingtons. In 1943 he was posted to the Bahamas as an instructor on Liberators, ending up with 202 Sqn first on Halifax and later on Hastings. The air and ground crews had an impressive reliability record built up over many years, each Bismuth flight taking off at 0800 and lasting between eight and 10 hours despite the Atlantic weather.
F/Lt Ignatowski, known as Iggy to everyone, and a colleague had stolen a light aircraft when the Germans invaded Poland. They managed quite a long distance across Europe until they could no longer obtain fuel, and by devious means they reached England where Iggy continued his flying career.
Another vastly experienced pilot was Master Pilot Frantisek Radina (1915-1968) who escaped from Czechoslovakia to join 311 Sqn on Wellingtons. In 1943 he was posted to the Bahamas as an instructor on Liberators, ending up with 202 Sqn first on Halifax and later on Hastings. The air and ground crews had an impressive reliability record built up over many years, each Bismuth flight taking off at 0800 and lasting between eight and 10 hours despite the Atlantic weather.
Last edited by Geriaviator; 1st Sep 2018 at 16:27. Reason: This new Prune garbles my punctuation!
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I have checked my list for Z, but I do not find any particulalry hard names but Zmitrowicz. I wonder of Szczygielski.
That said I recall a story about Joe Kmiecik, longest flying Polish pilot in the RAF, who once sought for a navigator - this was late 1970s or early 1980s I think. He approached a young chap with nav wings, and asked him to fly. The chap then refused, saying he has no maps or equipment, but Joe said, that it is not necessary, that he knows the route, and he just cannot take off without navigator due to regulations.
Geriaviator
Iggy is known to me. He is the only Polish pilot known to me to fly Neptune in the RAF. He passed away not so long ago. Do you have your father's log books by any chance?
I have checked my list for Z, but I do not find any particulalry hard names but Zmitrowicz. I wonder of Szczygielski.
That said I recall a story about Joe Kmiecik, longest flying Polish pilot in the RAF, who once sought for a navigator - this was late 1970s or early 1980s I think. He approached a young chap with nav wings, and asked him to fly. The chap then refused, saying he has no maps or equipment, but Joe said, that it is not necessary, that he knows the route, and he just cannot take off without navigator due to regulations.
Geriaviator
Iggy is known to me. He is the only Polish pilot known to me to fly Neptune in the RAF. He passed away not so long ago. Do you have your father's log books by any chance?
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3rd September, 1939 was a quiet autumn Sunday morning, and all Britain waited in a state of dull resignation. Among them was the 17 year old Danny, glued to the home "wireless" like everybody else.
At 11:00 our Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Neville Chamberlain, came on to say:
"This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final Note stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany".
No one who heard those lugubrious words can ever forget them. WWI had ended less than 20 years previously: so all adults knew what the words meant. For us youngsters, all our lives (if not ended) would be changed beyond recognition in the next six years.
Of course, precious few of the hearers that morning are still alive, but even so, I would've thought that somewhere on "New Posts" mention might have been made. Perhaps it has ?
At 11:00 our Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Neville Chamberlain, came on to say:
"This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final Note stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany".
No one who heard those lugubrious words can ever forget them. WWI had ended less than 20 years previously: so all adults knew what the words meant. For us youngsters, all our lives (if not ended) would be changed beyond recognition in the next six years.
Of course, precious few of the hearers that morning are still alive, but even so, I would've thought that somewhere on "New Posts" mention might have been made. Perhaps it has ?
Last edited by Danny42C; 3rd Sep 2018 at 14:05. Reason: Tidy up.
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I missed it, as I was but a gleam in Dad's eyes, but I've heard it re-broadcast often enough to still send a shiver down my spine ... knowing now what was to follow.
DANNY: I don't know what became of Frank Radina other than commander of one of the Hastings when 202 Sqn went to Leconfield to convert onto SAR Whirlwinds. I have, however, found an entry on the 202 Sqn website which states: "... someone asked me if I knew who carried out the burial at sea for Master Pilot Frank Radina and I replied that I had forgotten, but would look it up. The answer is Master Pilot H A Harrison on 11 April 1968 in Whirlwind XJ437 accompanied by Squadron Leader Faulkener.
FRANEK: My father was ground crew, his job being to have a Hastings ready to go at 0800 every morning, plus a spare if it went u/s. The other three were on maintenance and could be raided for spares if really necessary, just as long as Bismuth met its ETD! As a youngster at RAF Binbrook (Lincolns, 1949/51) I remember the shoulder flashes for Commonwealth countries, for Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Poles and Czechs spoiled us kids rotten. I have never forgotten my father explaining that many of these brave men had left their own families behind what became the Iron Curtain.
FRANEK: My father was ground crew, his job being to have a Hastings ready to go at 0800 every morning, plus a spare if it went u/s. The other three were on maintenance and could be raided for spares if really necessary, just as long as Bismuth met its ETD! As a youngster at RAF Binbrook (Lincolns, 1949/51) I remember the shoulder flashes for Commonwealth countries, for Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Poles and Czechs spoiled us kids rotten. I have never forgotten my father explaining that many of these brave men had left their own families behind what became the Iron Curtain.
Hastings ready to go at 0800 every morning, plus a spare if it went u/s. The other three were on maintenance and could be raided for spares if really necessary
The next day he would fly the bits and blokes back.
FED's story had echoes 30-odd years later when the RAF required its few remaining Vulcans to attack the Falklands. Unfortunately most had been scrapped, in particular the refuelling probes being no longer available. A procession of senior personnel then toured the scrapyards to buy back the necessary components, no doubt to the benefit of the scrap men. Plus ca change ...
Danny:-
He immediately followed that by adding:-
"You can imagine what a bitter blow it is to me that all my long struggle to win peace has failed. Yet I cannot believe that there is anything more or anything different that I could have done and that would have been more successful."
As if anybody was trying to imagine how he felt when they were rather more preoccupied with their own feelings! The full text can be seen on the Beeb Archive. Saying that we and France were now going to the aid of the Poles was stretching things rather, especially as it was immediately followed by the "Sitz Kreig". :-
BBC - Archive - WWII: Outbreak - The Transcript of Neville Chamberlain's Declaration of war
At 11:00 our Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Neville Chamberlain, came on to say:
"This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final Note stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany".
"This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final Note stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany".
"You can imagine what a bitter blow it is to me that all my long struggle to win peace has failed. Yet I cannot believe that there is anything more or anything different that I could have done and that would have been more successful."
As if anybody was trying to imagine how he felt when they were rather more preoccupied with their own feelings! The full text can be seen on the Beeb Archive. Saying that we and France were now going to the aid of the Poles was stretching things rather, especially as it was immediately followed by the "Sitz Kreig". :-
BBC - Archive - WWII: Outbreak - The Transcript of Neville Chamberlain's Declaration of war
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Chugalug
. Also called the "Phoney War". We sang: "We're going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line / Have you any dirty washing, Mother dear ?
We had to eat our words in 1940 !
especially as it was immediately followed by the "Sitz Kreig"
We had to eat our words in 1940 !
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Who knows where any military ventures will lead? If anyone knew, they probably wouldn't start them in the first place! I won't cite examples, as the 20th and 21st Century are full of them, some of which are on-going.
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My father was a pilot on 202 from 1947 to 1950 on Halifaxs. A year or so before that he had been ferrying new Halifaxs from the factory to Edzell in Scotland to be broken up. There was a chronic shortage of spares for Halifaxs as there were only two squadrons, the other in Gibraltar. To overcome this my father would load half a dozen in a Halifax, fly them to Dyce, then stay at the Caledonian Hotel in Aberdeen whilst they drove down to Edzell and robbed the remains for what they could get.
The next day he would fly the bits and blokes back.
The next day he would fly the bits and blokes back.
He was a National Serviceman.
Sorry Franek, we have only a few family pictures from 1948/1951 period and none with our Polish friends. I did have one with Iggy in the cockpit but to my consternation it was lost in a house move many years ago.