How many Pruners would be grumbling if it was a life size photograph cut-out of Section Officer Harvey.......

It would seem that the Pole is in pole position in this poll. According to the press the Polish embassy has started a mass social media campaign and Franciszek Kornicki now leads with over 300,000 votes. He still lives in London and is reportedly 'Bemused' by all this, saying there were many other and better pilots than him involved.

Polish squadron commander voted greatest spitfire pilot | Daily Mail Online

A Pole, who was a poler in a Spitfire, is in pole in the people's poll.

(Do join in...)

Repeat please.

If it was South African Group Captain Adolf "Sailor" Malan DSO & bar, DFC & bar, in "pole" position would there be so many negative comments?

and how could Squadron Leader Geoffrey Crisp possibly be left out?

The negative comments are directed at the concept and most certainly not at Sqn Ldr Kornicki whose hand I would feel honoured to shake. It is just silly to select a 'people's pilot' from amongst all those heroes going into battle with a tank of petrol at their knees.
I fear the 'people's princess' syndrome strikes again.

Unfortunately it seems that - according to a letter from his son, Richard in to-day's Torygraph that "they've" got the wrong man. Kornicki senior was too late for the battle and wasn't credited with any kills. Richard Kornicki is of the opinion that it is Czech pilot Sgt. Frantisek with whom he is being confused with.


Anyway, as others have stated it's a bloody silly concept, there is no greatest.

Repeat please.

Yes I agree - was very disappointed when I visited there earlier this year. But the main reason for my visit was to see Lord Ashcroft's VC / GC collection. Even that, I thought was a bit dumbed down. The stories behind the medals were all at comic book level.

Wikipedia isn't kind to Sailor Malan. Especially the paragraph on the "Battle of Barking Creek" with a blue-on-blue, then Malan denying responsibility and testifying against his own pilots.

Precisely Basil. Doesn't matter who was picked roving, the negative comments (including my own) started long before this Polish campaign. It is the concept of the thing we are against, not any particular "winner". I haven't seen any negative comments about Sqn Ldr Kornicki on here, so I think you are way off the mark.

Ttn, I know that you and others who served with the Royal Air Force hold strong views about the decision of the RAFM to hold this poll.

Whether or not I agree with those views, I respect the strength of the argument.

However in the last couple of days there been contributions to the discussion which might lead some to think that the intervention of the Polish Embassy and overwhelming support of the very distinguished WWII fighter pilot that you have named in some way strengthens the case against holding the Poll.

As the son of a WWII fighter recon pilot who incidentally did fly a MKV Spitfire in 1943, I hold no view about the Poll, other than to recognise that it reflects another attempt to engage public attention on the role of those who served in the the Royal Air Force in that war.

Engaging public attention can only be applauded: in this case, it's the means that are not.

Moving the argument away from picking a particular pilot, there is also the matter of "why the Spitfire"? As has already been mentioned by others, much as the Spitfire was a superb aircraft, it was not the only type which flew in the Battle, and indeed the Hurricane had a higher proportion of kills. This is a fact which I am sure all on here know, but if we are talking about "engaging public attention" then this poll only serves to reinforce the erroneous public perception that it was the Spitfire which won the Battle.

Wasn't there another oversight, I seem to remember reading a Battle took part in action but was not official recognised and I believe the crew did not get the bar.

We should not, of course, forget RJ Mitchell, the chief designer of the Spitfire, who developed cancer in 1933 but continued to work until 1937, the year in which he died.

Yes, and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose...craft_designer)

Try us.

Show us what you've got. With or without her webbing.

Even a poll of Poles, or p'raps even a poll of poles, might result in a majority result on that basis.

What a silly silly vote!

The whole damn thing is just bloody silly.

People flew Spitfires, Bf109s, Hurricanes, et al, because they wanted to and because they thought they were winning the race race.

As it happens, neither side won that race. It was a draw. Get over it.

But please understand why it is much more likely that a Polish plumber will respond to your emergency call about a burst pipe than any German one ever will.

megan (#6),

Only just come across your Post (took one lookat this Thread and found the whole idea distasteful in the extreme) What are they going to do - throw it open to the public like a TV competition, and vote for a winner ?

I must disqualify myself on tthe grounds (a) I did not touch a Spitfire until two years after the Battle, (b) because I never flew one operationally, and (c) I never flew a V - I; II; IX (in dispute); XIV, XVI; XXII.

All who fought in the War are now "heroes". I never tire of pointing out that we were just ordinary blokes who happened to be there when the balloon went up: we had to deal with it as there was nobody else around and we would have been less than men if we didn't. That's all.

Having said that, I take my hat off to them: our Army was beaten to the wall, the Navy was not yet winning the Battle of the Atlantic, only the R.A.F. stood in Hitler's way. It was enough.

The Spitfire was the sweetest thing that ever flew, and I am eternally grateful that it fell to my lot to get to fly one.

Danny,