STANISLAW MALCZYK

He was born at Filipowice, Chrzanow , Poland on 21st January 1916 and, being 23 years old on the outbreak of war, he must have done his National Service and been placed on the reserve.  In any event, he was conscripted and posted to 2nd Air Regiment at Krakow.

When the Russians entered the war, on 17th September 1939, he was evacuated to Romania where he was disarmed and interned.  However, the resourceful Polish  government had arranged for all evacuated servicemen to be  provided with funds, travel documents and false identities through their Embassy in Bucarest.  Slipping away from the internment camps was easy at this early stage of the war and he made his way to France.  His route is unknown but it is likely that he came to the Polish base at Lyon-Bron, probably via Marseilles.

On the fall of France it is most likely that he escaped through St Juan de Luz and took a ship to Britain.  On arrival he would be placed in a temporary tented camp before being sent to the Polish Depot at Blackpool.  There he would have gone through the usual induction process of learning English, learning the King's Regulations and familiarisation with British equipment.

It is known that he attended the No 4 Gunnery School at Tranwell Airfield (RAF Morpeth) in Northumberland before being posted to 18 OTU at RAF Bramcote, Nuneaton, Warwickshire on 30th August 1941.  This was where he learned British tactical warfare and became part of an integrated crew before being posted to 304 Squadron at RAF Lindholme on 1st December 1941.

Once with the squadron he would train with them until he was ready to be sent into action.  This happened rather slowly due to the appalling weather conditions and his first three missions (in January 1942) were all cancelled.  He got his first chance on 14th February when he was sent to bomb the docks at Le Havre and there were four further missions to Essen, Cologne (2) and Rostock before the squadron was switched to Coastal Command.

In all he flew 45 missions with 304 Squadron, many of them were long and boring flights over the sea but there were some moments of excitement.  On 24th September 1942 on his 22nd mission with the squadron his aircraft was attacked by two Junkers Ju88 fighters.  He raked one of them with fire and hits were observed but the second aircraft attacked and he put a long burst into it at short range taking out the port engine and making hits on the wing root and below the cockpit.  This aircraft was seen to roll over and crash into the sea.

On 22nd November 1942 his aircraft was attacked by a Focke Wulf Kurier and the pilot skilfully reached cloud cover whilst he and the front gunner kept the enemy aircraft at bay with a few short bursts of machine gun fire but it was not possible to tell whether they had scored any hits.

At 10.02 am on 8th February 1943 Wellington Mk 1c HE103 (V) took off from RAF Dale on an anti-submarine patrol.  The patrol itself was uneventful but strong winds, heavy rain and low cloud took their toll on the fuel supply and the crew was forced to abandon the aircraft.  The plane carried on and crashed into high ground at Parc Llwydiarth in a remote area known as the Dyfnant Forest in near Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire (now Powys), Wales.

The first indication of the crash was debris found by  Private Watkin Jones of the local Home Guard platoon.  There were also reports of German parachutists from various points, one of whom had landed near the Lake Vyrnwy Dam at Boncyn Celyn.  It was the co-pilot, F/O Dobrowalski, and he had broken his leg and was in severe pain and was speaking in Polish.

Local Constables and Home Guard platoons picked up the rest of the crew The pilot F/O J Wroblewski had injured his arm and the rear gunner, Sgt Stanislaw Malczyk's parachute had been caught up in a tree and he had hung there all night and had to be treated for shock and exposure.  The rest of the crew were uninjured.  He only flew two more missions after this and, tour expired, he was posted to the Polish Depot on 22nd April 1943.

 

Little is known of his service between this time and February 1944 when he was posted to 1586 Special Duties Flight and was posted overseas to RAF Campo Casale in Italy where he became part of the crew of F/Lt Szostak, flying frequent and dangerous missions in support of resistance and partisan groups across Europe notably to Poland.

 

Aircrew from 1586 SD Flight

Stanislaw Malczyk is second from the right

His last flight was in support of the Warsaw Uprising and took place on 15th August 1944 on Liberator KG890 (GR-S) piloted by F/Lt Szostak.  They successfully dropped a cache of arms, ammunition and food at very low level onto Krasinski Square in Warsaw.  On the way home they were attacked by two night fighters and suffered serious damage.  The pilot ordered his crew to jump from the burning aircraft but those who made it out of the plane were killed when their parachutes failed to open due to the low altitude.  They were shot down by Lt Gustav Eduard Francsi of NJG100

 

Lt Gustav Eduard Francsi

 

They crashed near the village of Great Nieszkowice in the Niepolomice Forest in Bochnia, Southern Poland.  The crew were buried in the cemetery at Pogwizdowie with full military honours; their funeral was attended by about 200 locals and the German Army fired a volley over their graves.  After the War, the bodies were removed and reburied in the British Military Cemetery in Krakow.

Stanislaw Malczyk was awarded the Virtuti Militari and the Cross of Valour and two or three bars (accounts vary).

This article has been written and illustrated by material sent to me in response to a request for information on the HE103 Wellington crash.  Any further details would be most welcome, particularly on his service with 1586 SD Flight or the time immediately after leaving 304 Squadron.

Copyright holders of the photographs used are unknown



 

TADEUSZ JAN KWAK

 

He was a pilot, born on 29^th November 1911 at Krakow.  He was killed on X9829 which was shot down by a night fighter near the estuary of the River Ems close to Manslagt, Germany during a raid on Rostock on 24^th April 1942.  This was a raid by six planes from 304 Squadron, each one carried 450 x 4lb incendiary bombs and 42 bundles of nickels (propaganda leaflets).  Rostock was a city of largely wooden buildings and this was the first of a series of fire raising attacks. He is buried in the Sage War Cemetery, Oldenburg, Germany, his body having washed ashore some time after the raid.

Luftwaffe records show that it was shot down by Hauptman Hans-Georg Schutze. He flew with 4/NJG2; shot down and confirmed a Wellington of 304 squadron X9829 at 03.37 hrs over the River Ems near Pilum, 15 kilometres North West of Emden.  Hauptman Schutze was killed shortly afterwards in air combat on the 17/18th May 1942. He was credited with 5 kills, this Wellington was his 4th.
 

Tadeusz Jan Kwak (3rd from right) and crew probably at

RAF Lindholme

 

Tadeusz Kwak's grave at the Sage War

Cemetery, Oldenburg, Germany

 

With fellow aircrew probably at RAF Lindholme

 

Off duty and relaxing with friends location unknown

 

Photographs courtesy of his Grandson Jaruslaw Kwak

LOSS OF WELLINGTON R1602

This aircraft was unable to operate from its base at RAF Lindholme due to bad weather conditions and the extreme wet state of this aerodrome.  It took off from RAF Swanton Morley on a mission to bomb the Krupp Works at Essen.  Not all the aircraft were able to bomb the primary target but all did bomb military targets.  On its return, P/O Alfred Osadzinski was forced to land at RAF Oakington because of fuel shortage.  Whilst he and his crew were being debriefed, another incoming aircraft struck R1602 and both aircraft were destroyed in the ensuing fire.

The incoming aircraft was Vickers Wellington Mk III X3642 (SR-G) of 101 Squadron, based at RAF Oakington.  It had flown out of RAF Bourn on a mission to Essen but was hit by flak and crash landed at RAF Oakington on its return, striking R1602 as it landed.  There were no serious injuries but the navigator ( P/O P.H. Waterkeyn) was taken to hospital in Ely; however he made a full recovery and retired in the 1970s as a Wing Commander.  The pilot, Sgt C.G.A. Ward won an immediate DFM for his coolness and courage in landing the shot-up aircraft with only one wheel down and with no serious injuries to the crew in spite of an eye injury incurred during the mission.

PARTS FROM THE WRECK OF R1268

Two of the parts shown in my earlier post have now been identified; the following information comes from John Lattimore who worked on the Loch Ness Wellington and has considerable expertise in this field.     

He states "...the upper item in your photo is the remains of a small fuel hose with a small section of rigid pipe still attached, the other end fitting being missing. This can be identified as a fuel hose due to the outer braiding being made of fabric and the end fittings are not heavily swaged. Had this been a hydraulic hose the braiding would have been of wire and the end fittings more heavily swaged."

"The second item in your photo, a small roughly triangular piece of metal with two items riveted to it is almost certainly the remains of one half of a severely damaged double wishbone joint used to attach the geodetic structural members to the  tubular longerons or other tubular wing or fuselage members. There are several hundred such joints on the aircraft so once again specific identification is impossible."

The second item is shown, undamaged and in situ (this one is on the Loch Ness Wellington) in the photograph below.

REMNANTS OF R1268

The items shown are parts of R1268 that were retrieved at the time of the crash and have not spent the last 71 years in the ground.  They were collected by a local after the recovery crew had left and have been in storage in a private collection ever since.  The four pieces are well marked and should be easily identifiable as being from a Wellington 1c.  I acquired them from a man who lives only four or five miles from the scene of the crash.  R1268 is the only Mk 1c EVER to crash in this area.  I will try to make a positive identification of the parts and their functions and identify them here later.

MIECZYSLAW BOREK - UPDATE

He was born on 30th September 1922 at Smyga, Dubno Wolyn and was the eldest of five children. On the outbreak of war the family was taken to Siberia and on their release, they travelled to Palestine. He joined the Polish Army in September 1942 and escorted German Prisoners of War to the United States of America.

In October 1942 he transferred to the Polish Air Force and was assigned to 304 Squadron, who were then part of Coastal Command and based at RAF Dale in Pembrokeshire, South west Wales. Their primary function was submarine killing and convoy protection but they also harassed enemy shipping.

He survived the war and made the transition to Transport Command (still with 304 Squadron) where their new function was transporting food and medical supplies to Greece and Jugoslavia. Whilst doing this he was in a serious accident on a routine training flight. On 18th January 1946 the Vickers Warwick in which he was flying caught fire on landing at RAF Chedburgh, Sussex.

Part of the wreckage from Vickers Warwick HG273 (QD-X)

The pilot, W/O Bojarczuk, was killed but W/O Borek and W/O Zurek survived. Mieczyslaw was pulled from the burning aircraft with his clothes on fire. He suffered a badly broken right leg and the tendons in his right ankle were severed. He was sent to 2MRU (Medical Rehabilitation Unit) at RAF Collaton Cross in Devon. He remained there until his discharge from the Air Force on 11th April 1947 after which he became part of the Polish Resettlement Corps.

                    Recovering at 2MRU, RAF Collaton Cross, Devon

He married an English girl in 1952 and raised a family over the coming years. In 1955 he moved to Bristol where he trained as an aircraft engineer. In the mid 1970s he qualified as a teacher and followed that profession until he retired. Subsequently he did voluntary work as an interpreter for the United Nations in Bristol. He was one of those presented with Maundy Money by the Queen at a ceremony in Bristol Cathedral. He was known to be living in Cadbury Heath, Bristol in 2009.

Photos © Mike Borek

ZYGMUNT JAN SOLECKI

He was born in Kolomyja on 6th May 1921 and trained as a fitter and turner before his military service which he began in 1937 at Bydgoszcz. He qualified as a wireless operator at Krosno in 1939 but because of the outbreak of war he was evacuated to Romania, crossing at Kuty. He left Romania in December 1939 and made his way via Syria and Lebanon to France where he arrived on 18th January 1940. On the capitulation of France he escaped to England where he arrived on 27th June 1940 and was sent to the Polish Depot at Blackpool. He underwent further wireless and gunnery training and then operational training with 18OTU.

He was posted in to 304 Squadron on 26th April 1942 at RAF Lindholme where he served until 1st August 1943 and completed his tour of duty before moving to 6OTU as an instructor. On 19th July 1944 he began training with 1651 Heavy Conversion Unit where he trained on four engine heavy bombers before moving on to 1586 (Special Duties) Flight at Brindisi in Italy until the end of the war. After this he moved on to various ferry units and, later, 206, 242 and 242 Transport Squadrons and later he was involved in the Berlin Airlift. Finally he joined 40 Transport Squadron in March 1948 and stayed with them until his demobilisation in October 1948.

He was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari and the Cross of Valour three times in his career. This was achieved during 52 operational missions with 304 Squadron and 22 particularly dangerous Special Duties trips with 1586 Flight (301 Squadron).

He settled in Britain and worked in a prominent position in a shipbreakers yard until he retired in 1986. He died in Neath, West Glamorgan, Wales on 28th February 2005 and was cremated there.

STANISLAW JAKUB SKARZYNSKI

This is a new and updated version of an old posting. It contains more details, particularly of his early life fighting in the Bolshevik War. Inevitably there is duplication but it gives a more accurate picture of the man.

He was born 1 May 1899, near Warta Sieradz and in 1918 he was already a volunteer in the military and was involved in disarming the surrendered German forces. He fought in the 29th Kaniowskich Rifles during the Bolshevik War and was wounded in the back in December 1919. On 16th August 1920 he received shrapnel wounds in the knee, by shrapnel from a grenade in the Battle of Radzymin, and, due to severe infection, he was told he would never be fit to fight again. He was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari for his actions in this battle.

However, he remained in the army and, in June 1925, he went to the flying school in Bydgoszcz. During his first flight, his aircraft burst into flames but he managed to land safely; he graduated as a pilot in 1925 and was posted to an Air Regiment based in Warsaw. On 1st January 1927 he was promoted to Captain. Prior to the outbreak of war, he progressed through various squadrons and rose through the ranks to commander of an air regiment.

Between the wars he made his name as an aviation pioneer with major flights across Africa and across the Atlantic and became the only Pole ever to win the Bleriot medal (in 1936) for setting an international distance record of 3582 kilometres for a Class II tourist plane. On 1st January 1934 he was promoted to major and, in 1938 to lieutenant colonel at which point he became deputy commander of the 4th Air Regiment in Torun. In August 1939 he was sent to Romania as the Deputy Air Attache.

When war broke out, he played a major part in organising the transit of Polish airmen to France before escaping himself. In France he helped to organise the elements of the Polish Air Force in exile. In late June 1940 he arrived, via France, in England and in 1941, he took command of the Polish Flying Training School at RAF Hucknall, later moving to RAF Newton in the same capacity.

At his own request, in December 1941, he went to RAF Bramcote to train on Wellington bombers and, in April 1942, he assumed command of RAF Lindholme which was the home base for 304 and 305 Polish Squadrons. Although not directly attached to either Squadron, he was still a fighter at heart and began to fly bombing missions as second pilot. On 25th June 1942 he was on a 305 Squadron mission to Bremen when one engine failed and they were forced to ditch in the North Sea about 40 miles off Great Yarmouth.

He was the last to leave the aircraft and the rest of the crew managed to get into a dinghy and heard his cries for help for about half an hour but were unable to save him. He had taken refuge on a piece of wreckage but was swamped by a wave and washed away. The rest of the crew were picked up by a Royal Navy vessel after about eight hours in the water but Skarzynski drowned and his body was washed ashore on Terschelling Island in the Friesian Islands off the coast of the Netherlands. He was buried in West Terschelling cemetery. He was posthumously promoted to Group Captain. In 1983 a plaque was fixed to his gravestone; it reads ZAWSZE RAZEM JULIA which means “Forever together, Julia” and marks the fact that his wife’s ashes were buried in his grave.

During the course of his career he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari, the Cross of Independence, the Officer Cross of the Order of Poland, the Cross of Valour (four times), the Gold Cross of Merit and the Silver Cross of Merit. He also won the Cross of the Romanian Crown, the Hungarian Cross of Merit, the Brazilian Southern Cross and the French Legion d’Honeur. He was posthumously promoted to full colonel and awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta II Class.

He was used as the model for Edward Wittigowi’s design for the monument to airmen in Warsaw.

Photo courtesy of www.polishairforce

JOZEF NILSKI

Sgt Jozef Nilski (survivor); photo supplied by his son Zygmunt Nilski

R1392 (NZ-N) 28th May 1941

This aircraft was hit in the port engine by flak whilst on its way home from a bombing mission over Boulogne, France, one crewman baled out either over the target or over the sea and his body was never found. The pilot managed to regain control and another two crewman baled out over England and survived, one landing in a tree where he was left suspended by his parachute. At first, the other survivor was mistaken for a German flier then he was assisted and taken to hospital. The plane crashed at Darwell Hole near Brightling in Sussex. P/O Waroczewski, who was killed in this incident was a survivor of the crash of R1268 in December 1940. He is also remembered on Panel 75 of the War Memorial at RAF Northolt The other fatalities were: F/O Cezary Wieczorek, P/O Bronislaw Kuszczynski and Sgt Jozef Drozdz. Sgt Jozefiak and Sgt Nilski survived but suffered serious injuries

The aircraft struck a tree and the remaining crew were very badly burned in the ensuing fireball. F/O Waroczewski was burned beyond recognition. The bodies were taken to RAF Hawkinge and returned to Newark for burial. Amazingly, the tree they hit is still standing today. The event was included in the squadron ORB:

“The funeral of F/O WAROCZEWSKI, F/O KUSZCZYNSKI and P/O WIECZOREK, who were killed when A/c No. R 1392 was destroyed in KENT after an operational flight took place at 10.30 hours in NEWARK CEMETERY and was attended by G/C KARPINSKI of No. 1 Group, G/C WASKEIWICZ of the Polish Inspectorate General, and many Officers and other personnel. F/O KARCZEWSKI was Officer in charge.”

When in his 80’s Sgt (later S/Ldr) Jozefiak returned to the crash site and built a memorial to his dead colleagues.

R1473

R1473 9th May 1941

This Mk 1c was the British advisor to 304 Squadron’s aircraft, flying out of RAF Syerston, and was shot down by flak near Lingen-Em, whilst on a bombing mission to Bremen. Five of the crew were killed, one survived and became a Prisoner of War. The dead are buried at the Reichswald War Cemetery in Westphalia, Germany. F/Sgt Wady survived; the dead were: F/O F S Webb, F/O G J Lynes, F/Sgt S R Gear, Sgt W C Hamilton and W/Cdr W M Graham.

R1443

R1443 6th May 1941

Whilst on a night bombing mission from RAF Syerston to Le Havre, France, this aircraft was shot down by an enemy fighter. All crew members were killed. This was 304 Squadron’s first operational loss. P/O Feliks Sobieralski’s body was washed ashore on September 14th 1941 and was buried in the Noordwijk General Cemetery in the Netherlands. The other fatalities were P/O Stanislaw Duchnicki, P/O Antoni Sym, Sgt Stanislaw Bialek, Sgt Leon Hampel and Sgt Wladislaw Zolnowski.

R1212

Funeral of the crew; photograph supplied by the Aircraft Remembrance Society

R1212 15th April 1941

This aircraft was on a training mission and lost one, or both, engines and crashed whilst coming in to land near Flintham Woods near Newark, Nottinghamshire. Flying Officer Rudolf Christmann, Sgt Antoni Berger and Sgt Wieslaw Pietruszewski were killed; Flying Officer Galczynski, Sgt Ananowski and Sgt Jarosz survived.

R1014

This photograph, courtesy of Wojciech Zmyslony, shows the preparation for the funerals of the four men who were killed on R1014.

R1014 6th February 1941

This aircraft crashed shortly after take off from RAF Syerston, coming down at Station Farm near Bleasby, Nottinghamshire. The plane was on a training flight and the cause of the crash is not known. Sgt Cymborski, Sgt Jonczyk, Sgt Lichota and Sgt Tofin were all killed.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES

This is the first of a series of postings on aircraft lost by 304 Squadron.

R1268 (NZ-T) 14th December 1940


This was a cross country training mission out of RAF Syerston (Newark); the crew were lost and running perilously short of fuel. The aircraft crashed near Edmondsley, 5 Miles west of Durham City. Inexplicably flying with a crew of only 4 instead of the usual 6. This accident was 304 Squadron’s first actual loss, although it fails to get a mention in most accounts. It should be mentioned that this was one of the worst winters of the Twentieth Century and the aircraft, flying at 3500 feet, was heavily iced up.


The pilot had selected an emergency landing ground but lost sight of it because the cockpit windows iced over. An eye witness states that the pilot made a hard turn to avoid the farmhouse and hit trees on higher ground. This undoubtedly saved lives as the farm hands were almost certainly having lunch in the farm buildings.


The pilot, F/O Waroczewski, was later killed on 28th May 1941 after his aircraft, R1392, was seriously hit by flak over Boulogne and crashed near Darwell Hole, Brightlingsea, Sussex. He is buried in the military part of Newark Cemetery. F/O Kostuch suffered injuries which kept him away from the squadron until 17th March 1941. He is believed to have transferred to 301 Squadron and he was later awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari Silver Cross, 5th class and the British DFC. Little is known of his service after that except that he was posted to 300 Squadron on 21st March 1945 from the Polish Depot at Blackpool. F/O Stanczuk was killed in a road accident in 1943 and Sgt Boczkowski does not appear again in available records. However he moved on to 300 Squadron and was serving at RAF Hemswell in 1942 as part of the crew of the “Assam Bomber” BH-T, a Wellington that was bought by subscription by the people of South Africa. He is also known to have been in the crew of BH-W. He was a recipient of the Order of Virtuti Militari on7th September 1942 and is known to have survived the war and emigrated to Canada.