Fly Past

September 2018 FLYPAST 25

POLISH ACE 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

FEARLESS

SEAN FEAST PROFILES EUGENIUSZ NOWAKIEWICZ, A POLISH FIGHTER ‘ACE’ WHO GAVE NO QUARTER

later, having shared in the

destruction of a Dornier Do 17,

Gienek reportedly shot at one of the

its crew as he parachuted down, and

he killed another on the ground.

Total war was a concept that Gienek

engaged with wholeheartedly.

FRUSTRATING TIME

With the collapse in France, Gienek

found himself once again on the

move, but this time he had proven

himself as a highly capable fighter

pilot. Heading south, he made his

way to Bougie in North Africa

(now Béjaïa, Algeria), before

eventually arriving in Britain via

Gibraltar on July 16, 1940.

This was a frustrating time for

those who had been fighting in

France and were expecting to be

back in action immediately. The

RAF moved swiftly, but its

procedures had to be followed to

ensure the integration of many

nationalities – Polish, French,

Czech, Belgian, Dutch, etc – into its

organisation and culture.

As such, Gienek was enlisted into

the RAF Volunteer Reserve and sent

to the Polish Wing at 3 School of

Technical Training in Blackpool,

Lancashire, to await a posting. Here,

he was called ‘Nowak’, a shortened

version of his last name. Within a

month, he was sent to 5 Operational

Training Unit at Aston Down,

Gloucestershire, to convert to the

Hawker Hurricane.

His next destination was

Leconfield, Yorkshire, home of 302

‘Poznanski’ Squadron. While

Leconfield was a long way from the

fighting in the south, it was an ideal

location in which to mould a new

unit. The squadron had been

created on July 10, the week before

Gienek landed on British shores.

With Sqn Ldr William Satchell in

command, the Polish airmen had a

man they could respect, a man who

led by example.

Above left

The remains of a PZL

fi ghter after a crash

landing at a Polish

training base.

Left

Gienek, left, during a

moment of rest with

302 Squadron.

Below

Gienek in the cockpit

of a Hurricane.

“The ruthlessness with which Gienek applied his trade became the

stuff of legend among his contemporaries”

with which Gienek applied his trade

became the stuff of legend among

his contemporaries, but blurred the

edges of what is, or is not,

considered acceptable in war. Two

examples from different sources

serve to illustrate this.

In early June, Gienek

successfully attacked and shot

down a Heinkel He 111. As it

crashed, he flew over the

scene and strafed the

surviving German aircrew.

A few days