INFORMATION NEEDED

Here is a second batch of 304 Squadron men for whom I have little or no information.  There must be someone out there who has information on at least some of them.  If you can help, please contact me on neville.bougourd@gmail.com

CIELUCH W/O Henryk P-704295
CIESIELSKI L/Ac Mieczyslaw P-794298
COMPER L/Ac
CYBULSKI Ac1 Krzysztof P-706945
CYBULSKI F/Lt Marian P-2442
CYGAN Cpl Jan P-780549
CYLWIK W/O Stanislaw P-704107
CYMBORSKI Sgt Jan Adam P782182
CZAJA W/O Waclaw P-794899
CZAJKOWSKI Cpl Mieczyslaw Michal P-780550
CZAPSKI Cpl Jerzy P-792508
CZARNECKI Sgt Kazimierz P-703390
CZECH L/Ac Tadeusz P-792665
CZEKALSKI Sgt Franciszek P-792381
CZEKALSKI Sgt Waclaw P784143
CZELADKA F/Sgt Wilhelm Jan P-706443
CZERNIEWSKI Sgt Stanislaw P-794362
CZERNIEJEWSKI Sgt Marian Jozef P-793025
CZERNIEJEWSKI Sgt Marian Jozef P-793025
CZERNIUK L/Ac Aleksander P-792657
CZERNY-HOLOWNIA Sgt Kazimierz P-703902
CZERPAK Sgt Wladyslaw P-783361
CZERWINSKI Sgt Wladyslaw P-782094
CZESZNIEWSKI W/O Albert P-704992
CZWIENCZEK L/Ac Wilhelm P-708652
CZYZ Ac1 Longin Wladyslaw P-793983
CZYZEWSKI Sgt Jan
CZYZUN P/O Hieronim P-1813
DAAB F/O
DABEC F/O Lucjan P-2629
DABROWA L/Ac Mieczyslaw P-706531
DABROWSKI Sgt Jan P-706454
DABROWSKI F/Lt Zygmunt Zdzislaw Claude P-2460
DADACZ Sgt Antoni P-781916
DAJNOWSKI Cpl Wladyslaw P-781474
DANGEL Sgt Jerzy Marian
DARKOWSKI F/Lt Bronislaw P-2181
DARNA L/Ac Wladyslaw P-780743
DAROSZEWSKI Sgt Czeslaw
DASZKIEWICZ-KORYBUT F/Lt Antoni P-1923
DATKIEWICZ F/Sgt Brunon P-784898
DEBSKI Sgt Bronislaw P-704524
DEC L/Ac Jan P-794363
DEJLIDKO Cpl P-793775
DEMAND Ac1 Jan P-708650
DEMBSKI Ac2 Antoni Wiktor P-783967
DLUGOSZ L/Ac Stanislaw P-793681
DOBCZYNSKI Cpl Franciszek Jozef P-78120
DOBROWOLSKI L/Ac Edward P-703172
DOBRUCKI Sgt Tadeusz Edward P-704994
DOKURNO Cpl Kazimierz P-707988
DOMAGALA F/O Boleslaw P-3015

DOMANSKI F/Lt Zbigniew Jan P1815
DOMZALSKI L/Ac Stanislaw P-708977
DONAJGRODZKI L/Ac Stanislaw P-780257
DOWKONTT F/O Szymon Boguslaw P-2241
DRAGANIK Cpl Otto Jan P-783212
DRAGOWSKI L/Ac Jan
DROZDZ F/Sgt Henryk P-780262
DROZDZ Sgt Jozef P-780987
DROZDZ Cpl Michal P-709967
DROZDZEWSKI Sgt Waclaw
DROZDZIOK Sgt Pawel P793787
DRWIEGA Cpl Wladyslaw P-793288
DRUCIAK Sgt Wlodzimierz S
DRUZYNSKI L/Ac Dezyderiusz P-703535
DRWIEGA Cpl Wladyslaw P-793288
DUBIEL Sgt Karol P-782075
DUBIEL F/O Wladyslaw P-2869
DUCHNICKI P/O Stanislaw P-0022
DUCHNOWSKI Sgt Jozef P-783728
DUCZYNSKI Sgt Andrzej Zygmunt P-704109
DUDEK L/Ac Marian P-780944
DUDEK Sgt Tadeusz Franciszek P-704197
DUDEK Cpl Wladyslaw P-780451
DUDZICKI L/Ac Jozef P-784654
DUNCZEWSKI F/O Zbigniew Kazimierz Bronislaw P-0441
DUNSKI Sgt Zygmunt P-792244
DUSZA Ac2 Mieczyslaw P-709640
DUSZCZAK Sgt Remigiusz P-794723
DUTKIEWICZ L/Ac Janusz Kazimierz P-781448
DWORZNIK Cpl Czeslaw P-780557
DYBALA Sgt Wladyslaw P-781133
DYNOWSKI W/O Henryk Jerzy P-703849
DZIEDUSZYCKI F/O
DZIEDZIC F/Lt Jan P-1716
DZIEGIELEWSKI-GELESKI P/O Kazimierz P-1549
DZIERZBICKI P/O Lech Stanislaw
DZIEWULSKI L/Ac Jozef P-793679
DZIUBA Cpl Jozef P-781165
DZIUBA Cpl Stefan P-781154

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.

STANISLAW BOCZKOWSKI - HIS VERSION OF THE CRASH OF R1268

When he was posted to squadron 304, there was a brief period of time where nothing was happening. To make the best use of such time he was told to report for a training flight with the crew of R1268 (NZ-T). The purpose was to continue training of the two navigators attached to the flight as well as to allow Stanislaw Boczkowski to become more familiar with that specific aircraft.

The plan was for a four hour flight and the weather was not too bad when we took off. Flying Officer Waroczewski piloted the plane for the first two hours and then Stanislaw Boczkowski took over. After a few hours in the air and while Stanislaw was at the controls, the weather got worse and the navigators lost their bearing. They were to practice flying on instruments only. The flight had no radio operator and therefore could not get a radio fix on their position. It was decided to descend and check their position by map and visual sighting.

The aircraft went through the clouds and it began to ice up on the wings. There was also trouble with the engines as they were running unevenly. One navigator took Stanislaw's position and he sat in the radio operator's position; the other navigator (Kostuch possibly?) went to the forward bomb sight. Both positions offered a better view of the land being overflown.

The cloud cover at this point was quite low and heavy ice had formed on the wings. The crew knew that the ‘plane was going to go down one way or the other. Waroczewski piloted the plane down as best he could with Stanislaw still in the radio operator’s seat and the navigator sitting in his seat. Not surprisingly, Stanislaw does not remember the crash itself.

After the crash, Stanislaw climbed out through the nearest hole in the fuselage. He thought that he had lost his right eye as he could see nothing out of it. He clambered over to to the pilot who was badly hurt but conscious and still strapped into his seat. Waroczewski asked to be pulled out of his seat but Stanislaw could not manage it due to his injuries. All of Stanislaw's ribs were broken and the blindness in his right eye was caused by a skin flap from his forehead covering that eye.

The navigator who had taken his seat was no longer there - Stanislaw didn't know where he was. The navigator who had been in the bomb bay was lying quite a way in front of the wreckage of the nose of the aircraft. He survived but I think that he never returned to flying.

People came as, well as an ambulance, to help; Waroczewski was placed on a flat surface - possibly a door - and taken to a nearby farm. Stanislaw was taken by ambulance to a nearby RAF station infirmary where he was treated for four days and then sent back to his own squadron - 304. He was given 10 days leave and immediately headed out to visit an adjoining squadron but was called back the next day and told to report immediately to join 300 squadron.

This is remarkably close to the version of Tom Lamb, the eye witness on the ground, but obviously was written with more real knowledge of events.

RE: PREVIOUS POST

If anyone can identify any of these parts, please do so - you could save my sanity!

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.

GERMANY

In the statistics for this blog, I note that there are a lot of views from Germany.  I would like to make it very clear that my intention is to pay respect to the Polish airmen who fought for Britain.  I do not intend any disrespect to the Luftwaffe or its personnel and I appreciate that there were a large number of very brave men who fought amongst its numbers.  Never forget that Douglas Bader and Adolf Galland remained very good friends for the rest of their lives.

The war is over and it is time for all men, on both sides, to accept that and to acknowledge the bravery of friend and enemy alike.  If you are a German and can tell me anything about actions in which Polish airmen were involved, please do.  If you can tell me which fighter pilot shot down a Polish bomber, that adds to the historical information - it does not create enmity.  If your father was the German soldier who shot my father - c'est la guerre - he recovered and lived another 50 years!  If my father was the unknown enemy and shot your father - I'm sorry, but there's nothing anyone can do about it.

If your ancestor was a Luftwaffe pilot and you have useful information, please talk to me.  I promise you that I hold no grudge and I do not hate Germans!  I know that it is very difficult for German citizens to talk about the war, but I assure you that nothing you say will be used without your permission.

JEWISH AIRMEN

This is a completely secular tribute to the Polish airmen in exile - a hero is a hero regardless of his religion.  However, I cannot help but note the lack of information that is forthcoming on the many Jewish airmen who were a part of the PAF in exile.  I would like to include these men in this tribute but the only information available is gleaned from official sources and gives no flavour of the person or his personality.  The one exception came from the family of a Catholic friend of a Jewish airman.

I would really like to honour these men who, by virtue of their religion, took even greater risks escaping through territory controlled by Nazis or their sympathisers.  Those who were captured faced a greater risk of maltreatment, torture and murder.  Even Jerzy Tomasz Mondschein, one of the 50 executed escapees in the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III at Sagan (now Zagan), has very little written about him.  Does anyone know his life story?

Can I appeal to the Jewish community for information on these brave men who also deserve to be remembered for their courage, their patriotism and their contribution to the war effort.