Polish Spitfire Pilots
 

I am going to be doing a round the world flight next year in a Spitfire Replica 90% Mk26b for charity.
One of our 1st stops will be Warsaw and would love to meet any Polish spitfire pilots that live in Warsaw. My question is how do I find contact details of any of them.
I won't post my site until a PPRuNe Mod says so

Send us a PM. Depends on what the charity is.

jxc
There used to be a swag of them at the Polish Ex Servicemen's Club in Scunthorpe. Try the Polish associations in UK for some leads.

after the war a fair number of the Polish pilots who stayed in the UK were housed at Cark Airfield, Cumbria. Some of those then relocated to Lancaster and there are still a number of families in Lancaster descended from them.
It could well be worth contacting the Lancaster Polish Centre to see if they have details of any surviving pilots over here. They may have details of former colleagues in Poland

Address
Lancaster Polish Centre
Nelson Street
Lancaster
LA1 1PT

Northampton too.

A few months ago a woman appeared on Antiques Roadshow with the WWII flying memorabilia of her Dad, who had flown Spitires and Dakotas (and had a Caterpillar Badge), and had recently died. Odd, as I had known her from school in Harrow, not seen her for 45 years or so and recognised her instantly on TV. Stranger still, her parents had been Hon Granparents to my nephews and neice through the Catholic Church in N Harrow.

Courageous bunch, the Poles, Czechs, French and other Europeans from occupied countries who fought in all 3 services, at considerable risk to their familes, and to themselves if captured.

The Polish Air Forces Association and the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, both of which can be contacted via telephone and 20 Princes Gate, London, will be able to provide contact details.

When in Warsaw you MUST visit the Polish Air Forces memorial, which was opened a few years ago and is a fantastic piece of architecture with a surrounding wall containing the inscribed roll of honour. Incidentally, it includes those Poles who fought with the Russians!

Old Duffer

I Did have a feeling most probably live here in the U.K.

Repeat please.





:E

I think you will struggle.

I came from Poland in 1995 when I was a 13 year old lad & there were a fair number of Polish ex-servicemen still alive in UK. I knew ex-army doctors, tank drivers etc. One of the reasons they stayed was literally out of fear.

Back in Poland, ever since I was a kid I have NEVER heard or seen of an old veteran that has fought in the West during the war. The only ones I heard of that returned in late 40's were quickly found to be "spies" and "traitors" before being promptly tortured, executed etc.

By contrast try looking for WWII Polish Yak-3 pilots - you might have more luck ;)

Why not try an e-mail to the Defence Attaché in the British Embassy in Warsaw. He may have details of veterans, but will certainly have links to the Polish Air Force, who have all the records. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think there are any ex Spitfire pilots left in Warsaw - many of those who returned after the war were persecuted by the Russians, and those who survived or avoided that have passed on anyway.

Good luck.

The main reason to go to Poland was out of respect to them.

Jxc

I had a look on some Polish webpages for you.

Try this:

Lista lotnikw Polskich Si Powietrznych w Wielkiej Brytanii autorstwa T. J. Krzystka

At the bottom of the page, in the middle is a .doc file with a full list of all known Polish RAF personnel between 1940-1947. Although its all in Polish the header of the .doc has an Email address of a Polish gentleman in North Wales that surely will be able to help you.

Interestingly, repeating what I posted above, if you scroll down the list, on the far right column you will often see "1946-48 Polska" - in other words the year & place of death.

Natural causes ? hmmmm....

I had a look through that site - real shame its in Polish only, but I found some great galleries & linked them in if you like this sort of stuff.

Polish Fighting Team
Bitwa o Angli

Individual Fighter wings...
302 Dywizjon My¶liwski "Poznañski"
303 Dywizjon My¶liwski im. Tadeusza Ko¶ciuszki
307 Dywizjon My¶liwski "Lwowskich Puchaczy"
http://www.polishairforce.pl/dyw306zdj.html
309 Dywizjon My¶liwski "Ziemi Czerwieñskiej"
http://www.polishairforce.pl/dyw315zdj.html
316 Dywizjon My¶liwski "Warszawski"
317 Dywizjon My¶liwski "Wileñski"

318th Fighter reconnaissance squadron.

318 Dywizjon My¶liwsko-Rozpoznawczy "Gdañski"

Bomber squadrons...
300 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi Mazowieckiej"
Polskie za³ogi w 138 Special Duties Squadron
301 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi Pomorskiej" - 1586 Eskadra do Zada Specjalnych
304 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi ¦l±skiej"
305 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi Wielkopolskiej"

Great site

try this Google transliteration
Google Translate

Is it me or you have to be in the original Polish version for the photos to link correctly ? When Im in the transliterated version & click on a photo it just comes up with a red cross.

Seems to work OK for me
Could be a browser problem? I'm using Firefox 4

Could be worth trying Bristol, I understand there's a sizable Polish Club there. Good Luck, if the rest are like my friend there ( whose late Dad was involved ) I wouldn't want to be on their opposing side, in every way. :)

Grupa Historyczna Lotnictwa Polskiego - Aktualnoœci

might be useful