Zbigniew Andrzej Komornicki was born at Radomski, Lodz,
Poland on 20th December 1918 son of Brunon Komornicki and Kazimiera Komornicki
(nee Pawlikowska). Prior to his miltary
service he was employed as a clerk.
His military records show him as having served from 4th
November 1937 with 41 Eskadra of the 4th Air Regiment supporting the Modlin
Army and based around Warsaw and Torun particularly at the time of the Winter
Campaign. They were flying an outdated
aircraft - the 3 seater PZL 23A Karas in which he would be the rear gunner with
only one machine gun to defend the aircraft from behind. The only other gun being at the front. Whilst it did have some success it was slow,
with a maximum speed of 198 mph and was no match for the modern Messerschmidts
in weaponry, armour or manoeuvrability.
He flew
several times during the September Campaign, notably on 10th September when his
aircraft made a rough landing and tore off its propeller near Pultusk,
Wyszkow. The crew were only slightly
injured. They were Leon Osmialowski
(observer/navigator), Michal Leszkiewicz pilot and Zbigniew Komornicki
(gunner).
It was soon evident that the Polish forces were no match
for the onslaught from the Germans and, on 18th September 1939, the day after
the Russians attacked from behind, this group were ordered to fly their planes
to Romania. It is not clear whether they accomplished the
journey on foot, by vehicle or in flight but the route they took was Torun-Mokotow-Zdunowo-Krzesk-Siennica-Brzesc--Luck
and crossed the border at Kuty. Several
aircraft had been lost or destroyed and so some of the crews flew over the
border, along with crews from 51 Eskadra, and those without aircraft crossed
over in staff cars.
Initially they were disarmed and interned but the
Romanians were sympathetic at that stage and the Polish Embassy supplied false
papers, money and travel documents so the men could easily slip away by various
routes. Many of the "fake"
documents were pre-authorised and signed official Romanian documents which had
either been given by sympathetic Romanian officials or provided in exchange for
a small bribe. Initially, the ID
photographs were taken by Corporal Oswald Krydner who later became the official
photographer to 304 Squadron. They made
their way to France where they joined L'Armee de L'Air and planned to continue
the fight from there.
Unfortunately, the French soon collapsed and they were
forced to flee again for Britain. It was
a constant complaint that they were unable to get back into the fighting. However, he arrived at Lyon-Bron on 18th
January 1940 and was obviously one of the first to volunteer to come to England
to fight, arriving here at RAF Eastchurch, Kent on 1st March 1940 well before
the mass evacuations from Dunkirk and the Atlantic and Mediterranean ports. The Poles had complained about uncomfortable
conditions and lack of hot water in France and were very pleased to be in
England where conditions were much better and hot showers freely available.
RAF Eastchurch was to become a front line Battle of
Britain airfield and they were moved to the Blackpool Depot on 30th May 1940 so
that they could train away from the front line fighting and at a place that was
at the extreme range for German bombers and therefore relatively safe.
For the first three months he was involved in square
bashing, learning English and familiarising himself with British equipment and
the King's Regulations. Then, on 7th
September 1940, he was sent to No 4 Air Gunnery School at RAF Morpeth,
Northumberland where he would train whilst flying out over Druridge Bay and the
North Sea before being posted to 304 Squadron at RAF Syerston near Newark in
Nottinghamshire.
He flew 31 combat missions with the Squadron whilst it
was still in Bomber Command and later whilst it was in Coastal Command when he
flew anti-submarine warfare, air sea rescue and anti-shipping missions. Some of his bombing missions lasted an
incredible 40 minutes over the target area.
During the period between 18th August 1942 and 17th September 1942 he
attended a Gunnery Leaders course at the Central Gunnery School, RAF Sutton
Bridge, Lincolnshire.
In the time he was with the Squadron he also served at
RAF Lindholme near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, RAF Tiree in the Inner Hebrides,
RAF Dale (twice) near Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales and RAF Docking in
Norfolk. During this tour of duty he
came under fire many times from enemy aircraft and shipping as well as heavy
flak during his time in Bomber Command.
After leaving the Squadron on 13th May 1943 he was posted
back to the Blackpool Depot until 2nd July 1943 after which he also spent some
time at No 16 SFTS although it is not clear why as this was jumping the gun on
his pilot training. However it might
have been for familiarisation and aptitude testing. He was then posted to the Air Crew Training
Centre at RAF Hucknall Nottinghamshire for final selection.
Next he was posted to the Polish Initial Training Wing at
Brighton which was largely for theory and to learn the principles of flight
from 15th April 1944 until 4th September 1944.
After this he was posted to No 25 Elementary Flying Training School at
RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire where he would have his first experience of
actual flying in a Tiger Moth II before moving on to the No 16 Service Flying
Training School at RAF Newton, Nottinghamshire on 14th December 1944. This is where his real flying training
started and he learned to handle the larger machines. The training was on single engined Miles
Masters and twin engined Airspeed Oxfords.
He finally qualified on 29th August 1945 and gained his Gapa (Polish
pilot's wings) unfortunately too late for the war. He was then posted to the Polish Depot at
Blackpool where he would train and practice flying but only until he was admitted
to the Polish Resettlement Corps pending his return to Poland. This was from 6th December 1946 until 4th
July 1947 when he was technically employed by the RAF.
After qualifying as a pilot in August 1945 note Polish Gapa and RAF Wings
During his time in military service he was awarded the
Krzyz Walecznych (Cross of Valour) plus three bars and the Virtuti Militari -
Poland's highest award for bravery - and the Polish Air Force Medal. He was also awarded campaign medals by the
RAF, these being the 1939-45 Star, the Air Crew Europe Star and Clasp, the
Defence Medal and the 1939-45 War Medal.
Receiving his Virtuti Militari award
As an addendum to the story, the Polish Communist
Government welcomed him home by putting him in prison in Lodz. The Communist government forced him to
divorce his English wife so that she could return to England thus preventing an
international incident. His father,
Brunon Komornicki, sold some personal possessions so that he was able to bribe
the guards to help him escape from the prison.
The escape route has never been publicly revealed but it is believed to
have been later used by MI6 to insert agents into Poland.
The former prison at Lodz; now an apartment block
Once back in England he was initially employed as a
translator by the intelligence services and later became a machinist. Sadly, he died at the age of 46 in
Hillingdon, London in 1965.
With thanks to Graham Murray and Alicja Morawiec for the photographs
Posts
