SEPTEMBER 1, 1939

The Second World War began at dawn on September1, 1939, when German army units in East Prussia, Silesia and Czechoslovakia invaded Poland after several months of crisis-building by Adolf Hitler.

The Poles were outmanned and their army still used horses against German tanks. With the connivance of Stalin, who invaded the country from the east two weeks after the German invasion, the country was occupied by the end of September.

Occupied, yes. Surrendered - never!

In the next six years, Poland would field the fourth-largest Allied fighting force in the European war. They literally won the Battle of Britain, providing the “winning edge” when they fnally entered the battle - after fighting to convince the RAF leaders to use them, as is amusingly but accurately shown in the excellent movie “Battle of Britain. Their performance over London on September 15, the day the Luftwaffe was defeated, was nothing short of amazing.

Polish pilots of 303 “Kościuszko” Squadron in September 1940

The Polish pilots went on through the rest of the war to write what can only be described as a blazing history in the skies over Europe, North Africa, Malta, and Italy, with the Polish Air Force part of the RAF.

The pilots were not the only ones. The Polish Brigade was formed from men who had been taken prisoner by the Soviets and released after the German invasion of the USSR, who made their way to Persia where they joined the British Army. Fighting through North Africa and Italy, their most memorable action was the taking of Monte Cassino after three failed Allied assaults. Losing 50% casualties killed and wounded, they drove the German paratroops from the ruins of the monastery and opened the road to Rome.

Polish troops were the fourth-largest contingent at Normandy, after the US, Britain and Canada. The Polish airborne brigade dropped into Arnhem in the failed Operation Market Garden despite knowing the battle was lost, and held the German Waffen-SS troops at bay so that many of the British paratroopers were able to escape capture or death.

Here are some capsule histories of some of the more outstanding Polish pilots.

Capt. Mieczyslaw Medwecki was shot down by Leutnant Frank Neubert of I./StG 2 to become the first pilot shot down in the Second World War. The first Allied air victory came 20 minutes later when Medwecki's wingman, Wladyslaw Gnyś, shot down a Ju-87 Stuka; he later shot down two Do 17s.

The first large air battle of the war took place that morning over the village of Nieporęt just north of Warsaw, when 70 He 111s and Do 17s were intercepted 20 P.11 and ten P.7 fighters, and were forced to turn back.

On September 2, nine P-11s of 142 Dywizjon, led by Major Lesnievski, intercepted Do 17s over the Vistula River and shot down seven, two to Lieutenant Stanisław Skalski, for no losses.

Flying Officer Aleksander Gabszewicz of 114 Dywizjon scored the first victory in defense of Warsaw on September 1, flying P.11c 478-N, while Pilot Officer Tadeusz Sawicz later scored two victories flying this aircraft.

A total of 285 German aircraft were lost in the Polish Campaign according to Luftwaffe records, with at least 110 victories credited to the P.11, for the loss of about 100. At the end, 36 P.11s were flown to Romania, where they were taken over by the Romanian Air Force.

Stanislaw Skalski

Among the Polish pilots who would oppose the Luftwaffe over Britain that September was Stanislaw Skalski. Skalski completed pilot training in 1938 and was assigned to the 142nd Fighter Squadron, based in Torun. Taking off at first light on being warned of Luftwaffe aircraft violating the border airspace, Skalski scored his first victory - a Henschel Hs-126 reconnaissance aircraft at 5:32 a.m. If Wladyslaw Gnys had not destroyed two Do-17s at 5:30 a.m. - as some sources claim - but rather at 7:00 a.m. as Gnys himself reported - Skalski would have been credited with the first victory of the Second World War.

During the next two weeks, Skalski became an ace by shooting down an additional five German aircraft: one Ju-86, two Do-17s, one Ju-87, and one more Hs-126, plus a third Hs-126 shared with another pilot. Skalski flew his last sortie against the Luftwaffe on September 16, 1939; in company with several other pilots, he flew to Romania on September 17, in hope of being able to continue the fight. Interned by the Romanians, Skalski and his fellow pilots eventually managed to get to France in early 1940, where he flew in the Polish squadron of the Armee d’ l’Air during the German blitzkrieg of May-June 1940, finally arriving in England in late June, 1940,

Fighting throughout the rest of the war in England, North Africa, Italy, and continental Europe Skalski became the most successful Polish ace of the Second World War, with 22 confirmed victories. He was awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross three times. Following his return to Poland after the war, he was imprisoned by the Communist regime in 1949 on a charge of espionage for the West. He spent six years in prison, waiting for execution, a "reward" from the communists he shared with many other Polish soldiers returning from the West.

Boleslaw “Mike” Gladych

Aviation has always attracted “larger than life” personalities, particularly so during wars. Among the most interesting was Boleslaw “Mike” Gladych, whose wartime exploits have become merged with romance, hearsay, rumor and embellishment, obscuring his very real achievements. His wartime score of 17 official victories, all achieved with the RAF, makes him the only leading Polish ace who never flew in a Polish Air Force squadron. Tthe U.S. Air Force recognizes 10 victories claimed with the 56th Fighter Group, but these are not officially recognized by the Polish Air Force, due to the “irregular” manner with which he and the other Poles attached themselves to Francis Gabreski’s 61st Fighter Squadron in 1944. He deliberately under-claimed so he would avoid promotion and could continue flying combat.

Gladych was commissioned on September 1, 1939, too late to see active service. Toward the end, he led a group of pilots who flew fighters to Romania, where he was interned. Escaping that December - reportedly killing a guard in the process - he reached France and joined the recently formed Armee de l'Air Polish volunteer unit- Groupe de Chasse I/145.

Gladych claimed victories during the Blitzkrieg, but these were never confirmed. Gladych managed to get to Britain and was sent to 303 (Polish) Squadron. His first claims were not made until June 23, 1941, when he claimed 3 Bf 109's shot down and a probable. In January 1942 he transferred to 302 “City of Poznan” Squadron, promoted to Flight Lieutenant and as Flight Commander.

With his second RAF tour completed in January 1944, Gladych was in no mood for a ground assignment. He and Flight Lieutenant Witold Lanowski turned the friendship they had made with Polish-American Major Francis Gabreski during his service with the Polish Wing in the summer and fall of 1942 into an opportunity to serve in the 61st Fighter Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group. Officially, he was assigned to organize air combat training for replacement pilots, but managed to fly combat missions. He first scored two Bf-109s shot down on February 21, 1944 during “Big Week.”

Polish pilots in the 56th FG (L) Mike Gladych, (3rd from L) 61st FS leader “Gabby” Gabreski, (R) Witold Lanowski

In June, 1944, the Polish Air Force discovered Gladych, Lanowski, and four other Polish pilots were flying combat with the Americans. The Polish authorities threatened to expel all of them from the Polish Air Force, and four pilots did quit the 56th. Gladych and Lanowski continued and were expelled. Between June and October 1944, neither man was officially in anybody’s air force! The Polish government relented in October and restored them to the Air Force. Thus, the Polish Air Force does not recognize Gladych’s ten aerial and five ground claims with the 56th, though the USAF does. During his time in the 56th, Gladych was unofficially carried as a “Major,” the equivalent of his RAF rank of Squadron Leader. All the P-47s he flew in the 56th were named “Pengie,” the nickname of his Canadian WAAF girlfriend, which continued to Pengie V as he received newer aircraft. His insignia was the cartoon image of a penguin on the left side of the engine cowling.

Gladych was summarily dismissed from service with the USAAF at the end of the war, but not before he used his unofficial “USAAF” status to rescue his brother, a Polish resistance fighter, from a Soviet POW camp. During the war, Gladych was awarded the Virtuti Militari, (Cross of Valor) with three bars by the Polish Air Force, the Distinguished Flying Cross by the RAF, and the Silver Star with two clusters, and the Air Medal with three clusters by the USAAF.

In the early 1950s, Gladych emigrated to the United States and settled in Seattle, Washington, where he married “Pengie” and returned to school to gain a Ph.D. in psychiatry. A friend of the legendary Gil Robb Wilson, then editor of “Flying” Magazine, he wrote about his adventures in the magazine during the 1950s, which is where this then-young avid reader of all things “airplane” first ran across his name. During the 1980s, Gladych, by then a well-known psychotherapist, became a Buddhist and embraced the philosophy of nonviolence, giving up all contact with his wartime comrades.

Witold Lanowski

Witold Lanowski was born in 1915 in the city of Lwow. In 1935 he joined the Cadet Military Aviation School in Deblin. After graduation, he became a flying instructor. Lanowski flew one operational sortie during the German invasion. He and others were evacuated to southern Poland. Just before crossing the Romanian border on September 17, they were captured by Soviet cavalry. Lanowski and a few others escaped and on September 27 they arrived in Romania. A month later, he headed for France.

Unfortunately, he dared to criticize the French military command and was imprisoned in May 1940. He escaped again and landed in Great Britain in July 1940. In November 1941 he was posted to 308 "City of Krakow" Squadron. In January 1942, he moved to 317 "City of Wilno" Squaddron. In December 1942 he arrived in 302 "City of Poznan" Squadron, assigned as leader of A Flight.

After being grounded for criticizing the Polish government-in-exile, he managed to get assigned to the 353rd Fighter Squadron of the 354th Fighter Group, where he flew P-51 Mustangs and was nicknamed “Lanny.” Learning that Gladych and Stefan Laszkiwicz had found a new home with the 56th Fighter Group, Lanowski wangled a transfer. After 98 scoreless missions with the Polish Air Force, he scored 4 victories during 1944 with the 56th FG.

Returning to Poland and discovering the fate that awaited Poles who had fought in the West, Lanowski escaped and returned to England, where he rejoined the RAF, serving until 1957. In 1962, Lanowski joined his wartime comrade Jan Zumbach in a mercenary unit Zumbach had organized to fight for the breakaway province of Katanga in the Congolese Civil War. Flying for Katanga until the Katangese Air Force was destroyed in 1964, he returned to England via Angola. Lanowski never received any payment for his combat in Africa.

Eugeniusz Horbaczewski

Captain Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, C.O. of 315 Squadron came to prominence in 1943 as a member of the Polish Fighting Team attached to 145 Squadron in Tunisia, where he had scored 5 or the 75 kills attributed to the team during the two months they fought in the Tunisian campaign.

Assigned to 315 Squadron newly equipped with the P-51B known as the Mustang III in the RAF, after the Normand invasion the squadron made deep-penetration missions for attacks against German ground targets and pursuit of the Luftwaffe. On the morning of June 12, Horbaczewski led four Mustangs of 315 Squadron on a dive-bombing mission north of Mortagne, during which they ran across seven Fw-190s at low level. Horbaczewski and F/O Kirste got one each, while F/S Bargielowski got two.

On June 22, Horbaczewski led another strafing mission, during which two pilots were downed by flak. He saw W/O Tamowicz crash-land in a marsh, then spotted an American Emergency Landing Strip (ELS) under construction nearby. He landed, borrowed a jeep, and drove to the scene of the crash. Wading through hip-deep mud and water, he got to the Mustang and pulled the wounded Tamowicz from the wreck, got him back to the jeep and back to the ELS. Tamowicz climbed into Horbaczewski’s airplane, who sat on his lap and flew them both back to England.

In mid July, 133 Wing was pulled out of 2nd Tactical Air Force and reassigned to Air Defense of Great Britain to participate in the anti-diver patrols against the newly-introduced V-1 flying bombs. After a successful campaign against the V-1s, during which he personally shot down four of the flying bombs, Horbaczewski led 315 on their first air-combat mission since their withdrawal from France on August 18 against the Luftwaffe base at Beauvais. The squadron surprised 60 Fw-190s at the field. In a 15-minute fight, the 16 Mustangs dispatched 16 Fw-190s, including Horbaczewski's 16th, 17th and 18th victories. As he opened fire on the last victim, a Fw-190 rolled in on his tail and delivered a fatal burst; the Mustang was seen to roll on its back and dive straight in, exploding upon impact.

The first squadron of the Polish Air Force formed within the RAF was 303 Squadron, named “Kościuszko” in honour of the famous Kościuszko Squadron formed by American volunteers - one of whose leading lights, Merian C. Cooper, is better known to history for having created “King Kong” - which fought during the Polish-Soviet War in 1920. The unit was formed July 22, 1940, at Northolt with pilots from 111 “Kościuszko” and 112 “Warszawa” squadrons of the Polish Air Force, commanded by S/Ldr Ronald Kellet, with F/Lt John Kent and F/Lt Athol Forbes, commanders of “A” and “B” Flights respectively. The Polish commander was S/Ldr Krasnodebski with F/Lt Urbanowicz and F/Lt Opulski as flight leaders. The British feared the Poles, unused to modern high-performance aircraft and the ground controlled interception system developed by Fighter Command, would be unable to fight in this modern air war.

They entered combat on September 2, 1940; the Poles more than proved their worth, with 303 becoming one of the most successful squadrons of the entire Battle of Britain in the five weeks they flew combat. In their first week, they scored more than 20 victories without loss. Most were older and had hundreds of hours of flying time, as well as combat experience in both Poland and France. Unlike the RAF, they had not been trained to rely on a sophisticated radio and radar network. As a result, said one British flight instructor, "their understanding and handling of aircraft was exceptional." While they understood the value of tools like radio and radar, the Poles never stopped using their eyes to locate the Luftwaffe. "Whereas British pilots are trained to go exactly where they are told, Polish pilots are always turning and twisting their heads to spot a distant enemy," an RAF flier noted.

Additionally, British pilots were taught to open fire on the enemy at a distance of not less than 150 yards. The Poles had been trained to use their planes the way a cavalryman uses his horse - to crowd and intimidate the enemy, make him flinch, and then bring him down. After firing a brief opening burst at a range of 150 to 200 yards, they would close to almost point-blank range. "When they go tearing into enemy bombers and fighters, they get so close you would think they were going to collide," observed Athol Forbes. Only then would the Poles open fire, which, as Forbes noted, "will cut chunks out of any part of a German bomber and generally disable it in one attack."

In January 1941 where they re-equipped with Spitfires and eventually became part of The Polish Wing under the leadership of Wing Commander John A. Kent flying offensive sweeps over France.

The 1942 season began in April, with 303 again at Northolt, flying nearly-daily sweeps. On May 25, 8-victory Battle of Britain ace Jan Zumbach took command. On June 5, during an afternoon escort mission, Gladych, P/O Szelestowski and Sgt Stasik each shot down an Fw-190 without loss. On August 19, the Poles participated in Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe raid, where 303 flew four missions that day.

(R) Jan Zumbach

Zumbach was replaced as Squadron CO on December 1 after increasing his score from 8 to 13.5. After flying escort missions for American bombers during the early months of 1943, 303 returned to 11 Group in March 1943, re-equipping with the Spitfire IX that summer. By the time they were sent for a rest in Northern Ireland that November, they had shot down their 250th and last victory, making them the most successful of the Polish squadrons that flew with the RAF during the Second World War.

After the war, Zumbach returned to Poland, but escaped in 1947 after the communists took power. In 1961, he formed the short-lived breakaway Republic of Katanga Air Force in the former Belgian Congo, which he led with other Polish mercenaries until 1965.

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