MARIAN MICHAL SZCZODROWSKI

He was born on 30^th September 1916 at Krotoszyn, a Prussian  province of Posen, and was educated there.  He graduated in May 1937 and then joined the army, being enrolled in the Officer Cadet Artillery Reserve School at Wlodzimierz Wolynski. 

On 3^rd January 1938 he was assigned to the Officer Cadet Aviation School in Deblin, where he trained as a pilot on the PZL23 Karas bomber.  He graduated from this course in 81^st position on the XIII Promotion.  He was promoted to 2^nd Lieutenant on the first day of the war and was evacuated to Eastern Poland on the same day.

When the Russians invaded on 17^th September 1939, his group crossed into Romania where he was interned in the camp at Slatinie.  He escaped a few days later and made his way, via Bucarest, to Balcik, a port on the Black Sea where he boarded a ship (the St Nicolaus) for Beirut, Lebanon.  From there he, and a group of Polish Air Force officers, boarded another ship (Ville de Strasbourg)  and sailed for Marseilles.  He made it to Marseilles on 29^th October 1939 and reported to the barracks at Salon.

Deblin 1938  -  PWS-26 Advanced Trainer

 

He volunteered to come to Britain and then, in January 1940, took a boat from Cherbourg to Southampton and was posted to RAF Eastchurch in Kent.  His first tasks were to learn English and to familiarise himself with the Kings Regulations.  At the end of the spring of 1940, he finally moved, with the whole Polish contingent to RAF Blackpool.  This was because RAF Eastchurch was a front line fighter base for the Battle of Britain and not a safe place to train these desperately needed volunteers.

From there, he was assigned to 15 Elementary Flying Training School at Carlisle in Cumberland for a refresher course and to make himself familiar with the controls of British aircraft, which were radically different from those of Polish and French aircraft.  He was also sent to 1 Air Armament School at RAF Manby, Lincolnshire for practical flying experience on British aircraft.  Later, on 15^th July 1941, he was sent to 18 OTU, at RAF Bramcote in Warwickshire for operational training prior to combat flying.

In September of that year he transferred to 304 Squadron at RAF Lindholme, Lincolnshire  from where he saw his first combat.  On the night of 7^th October 1941 he flew on his first mission to bomb the docks at Boulogne, France, beginning a campaign of bombing the French coastal ports.  He followed this up with an attack on Cherbourg on 25^th October and another on Calais on 7^th December.

On 16^th December 1941 he was second pilot to Squadron Leader Jan Blazejewski and they took off in R1064, at 16.57 hours on a mission to Ostend, Belgium.  His aircraft was shot down by a German night fighter and was seen to crash into the sea about 30 kilometres from the Kent Coast.  At 19.05hrs, a distress signal was received at RAF Manston in Kent, but nothing could be done.  The whole crew perished and only four bodies were found; his was not one of them and he has no known grave.  He was posthumously awarded the Field Pilot’s Badge.  The other crew members were PO Jan Komlacz, Sgt Boguslaw Golabek, Sgt Kazimierz Suwalski and Sgt Hubert Rutkowski.

My thanks to Ryszard Kolodziejski for much information and photographs from his collection

JAN BLAZEJEWSKI

He was born on 4th February 1904 at Winnica Podole. He trained as a pilot at the Aviation Cadet School in Deblin and graduated on 15th August 1933 as a Second Lieutenant and was attached to 6th Air Regiment as an observer. Between 17th May and 6th October 1934 he was back on the strength of the Cadet School to complete his training at the Squadron Pilot School in Sadkow.

He fought in the September Campaign between 1st and 16th September 1939 and was then evacuated to Romania, then on to France, and finally to Great Britain where he eventually joined 304 Squadron.

On 16th December 1941 he took off in Vickers Wellington R1064 from RAF Lindholme, in Lincolnshire, on a mission to bomb the docks at Ostend in Belgium. His aircraft was seen to plunge into the sea and the whole crew perished; the cause remains a mystery. His was one of the four bodies recovered and he was buried in the Duinkerken Town Cemetery, France.

He was posthumously awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari on 21st November 1941 by Air Vice Marshal Ujejski for bravery in action. He also won the British Distinguished Flying Cross for courage and exemplary leadership after twenty bombing missions over France, Germany and Continental Europe (more than 120 hours). This was recommended on 31st July 1941 by Air Vice Marshall Oxland.



                   

An informal pre-war photo

Photo courtesy of Aircrew Remembrance Society

DFC Recommendation courtesy of Chris Kropinski
Informal photo courtesy of Lech Blazejewski