On 13th afternoon, Piotrus K. (F/Lt Kuryllowicz) did not returned from escorting Fortresses. They had a very tough time with several groups of Fockes and as they say, Piotrus lagged and they never saw him again. It happened so I couldn't "denounce" him being fatigued because I missed him in lunchtime. Fact is, that the day before, early afternoon, he went to London to see his girlfriend - I even gave him a car - and came back inn a following morning. Its known now that he wasn't well suffering from stomach pains.
On 15th afternoon Piotr Lewandowski and Col. Pawlikowski (C-in-C of Polish Fighter Command) didn't returned. Lewandowski was in my section, flying as a Zielonka's wingman. F/Lt Marcisz, new Flight Commander, led the section. Believe me, it was a miracle that three of us returned.
We were over Caen (between Le Havre and Cherbourg). While crossing the coast at 18K, without prior notice from Ops, I had noticed some a/c about three miles behind us. When we were turning west this a/c were steeply climbing on our left, converting on us. I was sure everybody saw them since we were told to watch out after the first warning. We flew left section when they started to peel off. Calmly, I R/T e/a attacking thinking that everything was under control. I was shocked to see no
reaction from a leader when it was a high time to
dodge this attack. Now we know that his radio didn't work. Also,
I was the only one to see them attacking from the right! So I
moved by Marcisz, giving space to Kazik (F/Lt
Zielonka) with Lewandowski to close on us. I was
pushed even more to the right when Kazio reacted to my maneuver
by banking right. Four FWs shot madly but luckily for us, their
deflection was too long. Seeing canon projectiles in front of us,
Marcisz dived to the right, while sliding under me Lewandowski,
put his tail right in the gun sights of yet another pair of
Focke-Wulfs. I saw them in the last moment only because I
monitored Lewandowski in order not to collide with him. I zoomed
to the left and he was already smoking heavily going down. One of
these two went after me, even closed up to 70 yards, but didn't
have a good shot at me since I was going nearly vertically. He
gave a short burst and went into the spin. Now, I was pursuing
him and after stopping my spin I had him in gun sight.
Intuitively, I took a quick look behind where to my horror, I saw
four Fockes on my tail. Thanks God, I didn't panic and let them
know that I see them. I leveled at full speed and waited till the
moment, when the one leading "line astern" formation,
was ready for a deflection shot when I turned toward them. Only
he gave a burst but far behind my tail where he himself passed. I
wanted to bite him back but he was already flipped over going
down while the other three were climbing. Maneuvering carefully,
I had managed to reach the supercharger level and I pressed home,
without any game. I think that if I had started to run, right after deciding not to shoot at my target, they would've split from their "line astern" formation and got me for sure. This all happened while flying on your "T" which is my "kite" now. She is fatigued and lacks oomph.
Pawliowski flew as a guest with Wing Commander K (Kolaczkowski). Both got stalked and the first one got lost after the turn, at the time as "Bloczek" (F/Lt Blok) was trouncing one.
Altogether, there was a lot of shooting recently. Najbicz took most out of it and now he is a Flight Commander in 308...
...Kazio Zielonka, our "Valentino", asking Wlodek (S/Ldr Miksa) to return his flying boot, which he accidentally took with him, leaving "Sierotka" with his, which doesn't fit. Thus, our "arbiter elegentarium" wants to boot-swap with Wlodek...
...Adam from 308 (P/O Habela) got killed (on May 14th) in
accident over Church-Fenton and
tomorrow is a funeral. I'm sadden particularly by a loss of Piotrus. Together with Tadzio Zurakowski they formed a great duo
to play jokes and latter is much quieter now. It's true that we
got used to it but our recent losses seem to be particularly
depressing.For consolation, Bruno Semmerling (shot down over France) returned. So I was right saying that he has to return; that even if he was caught by a German patrol, they wouldn't believe him to be a pilot as soon he started to talk. It didn't happen like so but, he returned luckily nevertheless...
...so, I think I'll end with "these are all the sins that I remember".
Please, relay my regards to Wlodek and "Jankowszczak" (F/Sgt Jankowski), for you my warmest greetings.
Adam.
(My italics. Letter courtesy of Michal Cwynar. Above, from left: P/O Cwynar and P/O T. Zurakowski. Northolt 1943)
