POLISH ACE 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
September 2018 FLYPAST 27HEAD ON
Gienek soon recovered from his
injuries, but did not add again to
his score until March 1941, when
he shared in the destruction of a
Ju 88. He was flying Hurricane
II Z2523 in the company of Plt
Offs Włodzimierz Karwowski
and Zbigniew Wroblewski on the
afternoon of March 13.
It was Gienek’s third patrol of the
day. Spotting the German bomber
over Selsey Bill on the Sussex coast,
he and Karwowski attacked, leaving
the enemy badly damaged. Lack of
fuel and ammunition obliged the
patrol to return to Westhampnett
(the present-day Goodwood
aerodrome), satisfied with their
afternoon’s work. Later, they
received word that the Junkers had
been destroyed.
By May, 302 Squadron had moved
again, this time to Kenley, Surrey.
On May 8, Gienek took off in the
afternoon as White 2, with
instructions to patrol Dover.
Climbing to 25,000ft and five miles
northeast of the town, he spotted
three Bf 109s in a ‘vic’ heading
southwest. He signalled to the rest of
the flight, but they failed to
recognise his meaning.
In typically fearless fashion, the
young Pole opted to take on the
enemy alone: “I turned head on.
Concentrating on one e/a I
delivered three further attacks from
astern, chasing the e/a towards the
French coast.
“White smoke emission was
followed by black smoke and finally
the e/a plunged into the sea some
two-thirds across the Straits of
Dover. In the meantime, another
Me 109 had got on my tail,
delivering several cannon bursts
which I managed to avoid by
making zig-zag fashion for the
English coast.”
Leutnant Karl Ponec of 4./JG 3
was Gienek’s victim. This was to be
the Pole’s last victory prior to 302
moving to Jurby on the Isle of Man
for convoy protection duties.
Gienek’s time on the Isle of Man
was not without incident. On the
afternoon of July 9, he took off for a
training exercise with one of the
groundcrew in a Miles Magister.
Only ten minutes into his flight, the
engine failed. Gienek put it into adive and attempted to restart the
engine, but without success. Obliged
to force land, the aircraft smashed
into earthworks, causing
considerable damage. Fortunately,
the pilot and his passenger escaped
with just a few cuts and bruises.FATAL BLOW
Later in the year, 302 Squadron
returned to the mainland and
was re-equipped with Spitfires for
offensive sweeps over Northern
France. Pilots often flew two ‘ops’
in a day.
On July 23, the recently
commissioned Plt Off Eugeniusz
Nowakiewicz was one of four
squadron pilots tasked with a“Exhausted, he collapsed in a nearby
wood and had an overriding memory of
“Exhausted, he collapsed in a nearby
wood and had an overriding memory of
“Exhausted, he collapsed in a nearby
watching a spider spinning its web and
wood and had an overriding memory of
watching a spider spinning its web and
wood and had an overriding memory of
seeing the early morning dew glistening on
watching a spider spinning its web and
seeing the early morning dew glistening on
watching a spider spinning its web and
its threads”
seeing the early morning dew glistening on
its threads”
seeing the early morning dew glistening on
Above
The remains of
Gienek’s Spitfi re V
BL549 after his forced
landing of July 23,
1942 near Boulogne.Below
Pilots and ground
crew of 302
Squadron. Nowak is
kneeling, second from
right.