Mushroom Model Magazine - Blue Series 7105 - 315

138 Pages·2004·4.12 MB·English

by  Wojtek Matusiak

Wojtek Matusiak
Robert Gretzyngier
Piotr Wisniewski
No 7105
Robert Gretzyngier
Wojtek Matusiak
Piotr Wisniewski
(Polish)
315
Squadron
"Dfblin"
PublishedinPolandin2004bySTRATUS
ArturJuszczak,Po.Box123,27-600Sandomierz1,Poland
e-mail:[email protected]
for
MushroomModelPublications,
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©2004MushroomModelPublications.
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Allrightsreserved.Apartfromanyfairdealingforthepurposeofprivatestudy,research,criticism
orreview,aspermittedundertheCopyright,DesignandPatentsAct,1988,nopartofthispublica
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ISBN 83-89450-00-3
Editorinchief RogerWallsgrove
Editors BartlomiejBelcarz
RobertP~czkowski
ArturJuszczak
Editedby JamesKightly
Pagedesignby ArturJuszczak
RobertP~czkowski
CoverLayout ArturJuszczak
DTP RobertGretzyngier
Translation WojtekMatusiak
Proofreading RogerWallsgrove
JamesKightly
ColourDrawings RobertGrudzien
RobertGretzyngier
Getinthepicture!
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Table of contents
315Squadronairfieldlocations 4
Hurricanetimes 5
'Non-stop'offensive 19
Resting 39
BackatNortholt 51
Bally 65
2ndTAF 73
MustangEra 76
DoodlebugHunt 88
Backto Escorts 96
Post-warduties 102
Appendixes 105
Commanding officers 105
Roll ofHonour 105
Pilots 106
Losses 108
Victories 110
Aircraft 114
Bibliography 120
Colourplates 122
Acknowledgements:
We would liketo expressourgratitudetothepilots oftheSquadronand theirfamilies who sharedwithus their
memoirsand/ormadetheirpersonalmemorabiliaavailable:TadeuszAndersz; JakubBargielowski; MichalCwynar;
FrancisGabreski;TadeuszG6ra;EdwardJaworski;PiotrKuryUowicz;BoiydarNowosielski;IgnacyOlszewski;Lind
seyPietrzak;StanislawRudowski;TadeuszSawicz;TadeuszSlon;KonradStembrowicz(viaFranciszekGrabowski);
StanislawWandzilak.
Our research into the history ofthe Squadron was mainly based on documents held at the PolishInstitute and
SikorskiMuseum,LondonandtheNationalArchives(previouslyPublicRecordOffice),Kew.Wewouldliketothank
theirstaffforcontinuousassistance.
SpecialthanksgotoWilhelmRatuszynski,who hasdonealotofresearch intothehistoryof315 Sqn(andother
Polishsquadrons,see:http://www.geocities.com/skrzydlal)andhaskindlysharedwithustheresultsofhisefforts.
Wealsothankalltheindividualsandinstitutionswhoprovidedphotographsforthisbook,whoarecreditedappro
priately.
315 Squadron airfield locations
Hurricane times
\ ~
315DywizjonMysliwski"Dyblinski",knownas315(Polish)Squadron Line-up of 315 Squadron
intheRAF'snomenclature,wasfonnedofficiallyatAcklingtonon21Janu HawkerHurricaneIsatSpe
ary 1941 (as the tenthPolish squadroninBritain),when thefirst groupof kedispersal.Thesoftground
Polishofficers underthe commandofS/LdrStanislawPietraszkiewicz ar requiredatrackedtowvehi
rived. ItwasthefifthPolishdayfighterunitinBritain.Withinthenextfew cletobringthebowsertothe
days additionalflying and technical personnel arrivedfrom the Polish Air aircraft.Lined-upareP3835
ForceDepotatBlackpool.On25JanuaryS/LdrHumphreyDesmondCooke PK-E, V6728 PK-M and
tookcommandofthisPolishunit.HisBritishflightleaderswereF/LtThomas P2827 PK-K.
HumphreyDavyandF/LtAllenLairdEdy. viaRobertGretzyngier
Thefirstaircraft,HawkerHurricaneIserialnumberL1740arrivedatAck
lingtonon3February1941.Fivedayslater315Squadronreceivedfourmore
machines.On8Februarypilotsoftheunitundertookinitialflightsintheir"new"
aircraft.Theunit'sHurricaneswerewornoutandallofthemrequiredintensive
maintenance.Thetrainingprocesswasoftendisruptedbyheavysnow.
Soon the ground was softened by rain. On 5March 1941 SgtMarek
Slonskiforce-landedHurricaneV7188PK-XatAcklington,luckilyremain
inguninjured.
TheunitreceivedasignalaboutmovingtoSpeke,nearLiverpool,on11
March 1941.Twodays later 16HurricanesledbyS/LdrCookewereair "The aircraft were marked
borneonthewaytotheirnewbase.Twounserviceableaircraft(V70I0and withthe squadron codesPK,
V7081)wereleftatAcklington. whichresultedintheinformal
nickname of ,railwaymen'
[PKP is the officialdesigna
tionofPolishRail]. The title
machine ofB Flight, coded
PK-P, wasassignedto me"
EdwardJaworski,oneofthe
Squadronpilotswrotein his
memoirs. One aircraft so
coded,mostprobablyP2974,
displaysunusualproportions
of the yellow-outlined fuse
lage roundel.
viaRobertGretzyngier
315Squadron 5
HURRicANE riMES
PIO Marek Slonski of 315 Squadron repeated his 'achievement' of
.5March ten days later, damaging the portwing ofthe same Hurricane I
V7188 PK-X whiletaxiing inafterasuccessfullanding.Threedays later
(on 18 March) the unitbecame operational atSpeke, and startedto send
convoypatrolsovertheIrishSea.AfteroneofthepatrolsPIOFranciszek
Komicki of315 Squadron also force-landed at Speke in his Hurricane I
V7675PK-M,damagingtheplane.
March 27, 1941 was ablack day for 315 Squadron. Out ofsix pilots
takingpartinatrainingflightonlytworeturned: SgtPiotrZaniewskiand
PIOEugeniuszFiedorczuk.(Seep. 12fordetails)
On24Mayoneofthemostfortunatepilotsof315Sqn,PIOEugeniusz
Fiedorczuk, damagedhis Hurricaneduring alanding atSpeke. This time
R4122PK-S suffered,butFiedorczukwasnottoblame.Accordingtothe
CompositeCombatReportsentto9GroupHQ,atabout2.50pmPIOEuge
niusz Fiedorczuk and F/Lt Bronislaw Mickiewicz (in V7660 PK-V) had
beenorderedtointerceptaJunkers88closingtowardsChester.BothPolish
pilotsnoticedtheGermanbombersomewhereoverRuthin.F/LtBronislaw
Pictureof315Squadronpersonnelandthe'SquadronMother',LadyJersey,probablytakenon6June
1941.Inthefrontroware(lefttoright):MrsCooke(?),PIOTadeuszNowak,S/LdrH.D.Cooke,Lady
Jersey,PIOMarianLukaszewicz(ontheground),S/LdrStanislawPietraszkiewicz,personalassistant
toLadyJersey, FlO BronislawMickiewicz (on the ground), FlO Bernard Groszewski, FlO Zbigniew
Czaykowski. Middle row (I. to r.): FlOKazimierz Wolinski, SgtMarek Slonski-Ostoja, SgtAndrzej
Niewiara,FlOJerzyLeonChrzanowski(Eng.Officer),unk,FlUThomasHumphreyDavy,FlUAllen
Laird Edy, Intel. Officer, FlO Edmund Olszewski (Adjutant), PIO TadeuszAndersz, FlO Walerian
Jasionowski, PIO J6zefCzachowski, PIO Wladyslaw Grudzinski, unk, FlU StefanLaszkiewicz, Sgt
MarianStalinski.Rearrow(I.tor.): SgtMichalCwynar,unk.,LAC ZygmuntRayski (Admin.),F/Sgt
FranciszekGaca(ChiefMechanicAFlight),3unk.,ChiefMechanicBFlight,unk.,PIOWlodzimierz
Miksa,FlU StanislawLuranc(Eng.Officer),PIOJ6zefGil. FranciszekKornickiarchive
6 315Squadron
HURRicANE TiMES
Mickiewiczfiredallhisammunitioninonelongburstandthenbrokeaway.
PIO Eugeniusz Fiedorczuk made severals attacks firing short bursts. No
realeffectsofthefirewereobservedbytheBluesectionpilots.Theenemy
gunnerfired atthe attacking HurricanesandwasabletohitFiedorczuk's
aircraft. Bulletshit theportwing andbeneathtailplane. Thecockpitper
spexwasalsodamagedbybullets.AfterthistheJunkersbankedtoportand
dived intoclouds. PIO EugeniuszFiedorczukreported that he saw slight
blacksmokefromthestarboardengineoftheenemyaircraft,butnoclaim
wasmade.
315SqnpilotsalmostcertainlyinterceptedtheJunkers88A-5ofII./KG
77 which subsequentlybelly-landed atLe Culotairfield with two ofthe
crewwounded*. TheGermangunnerreporteddestructionofa"Spitfire",
which appears to have been Fiedorczuk's Hurricane. Had Polish pilots
claimedthisJunkers,thiswouldhavebeenthefirstsuccessfulencounterof P/O Eugeniusz Fiedorczuk,
315Squadron.Wecannowconsiderthisthefirstvictoryofthisunit. the unsung hero of 315
On31MaythreeaircraftwithgroundcrewweremovedtoRAFValley. Squadron. He was the only
Forthenexttwoweeksthreepilotsoftheunitweretrainedtherefornight one who returned to base
flying duties. Byrepeating this procedure, withinafew months allpilots from the fatal trainingflight
wouldbetrained,andtheunitwouldbecomeanightfighterSquadron. on 27 March 1941. On 24
On 23 June 1941 SgtMarian Stalinskidamaged aHurricaneIduring May1941hewasthefirst315
landing. All the minoraccidents of315 Squadron Hurricanes tookplace Squadron pilot who had a
duringtrainingflights andwerenon-operational. chancetoshootdownaGer
On30June 1941 afarewellpartywas heldtocommemoratecoopera man bomber. However, he
tionwithBritishpersonnel,andwhentheBritishofficerssoonleftthesquad neverlearnedthat his bursts
rontheunitbecamefullyPolish. damagedtheenemyaircraft,
On7July 1941 -PIOJerzyMichalCzerniakhittheaerodromebound and its crew barely
aryduetoenginefailurewhenapproachingSpeke,andhisHurricaneIP2827 reachedtheFrenchcoast.Had
PK-Kwaswrittenoffinthecrash. RAF authorities known the
On10July 1941fourSpitfireIsof457Sqnweretemporarilyloanedto fate ofthe bomber, P/O Eu
315Squadron.On11JulyF/LtA.1.EdyfromthesameSquadronarrived geniusz Fiedorczuk would
in315 (orratherreturnedtoit,ashehadabeenaflightcommandersince have been credited with the
315'sformationuntillateJune)onattachment,totrainPolishpilotsonSpit firstvictoryofthisPolishunit.
fires. Thesameday 315SqnsuffereditsfirstSpitfireaccident, whenFlO Later, he returned home in
KazimierzWolinskiretractedtheundercarriage toosoonwhiletakingoff shot-upSpitfiresthreetimes.
inX4473BP-B. He eventuallylosthis lifeon
AfterallthepilotshadreceivedtheirinitialconversiontotheSuperma 15 August 1942, during a
rinefighters,between 14and 16July 1941,315 SqnmovedtoNortholtto trainingflightinSupermarine
replace303 (Polish)Squadron(scheduledforarestperiodatSpeke). SpitfireVBL751PK·Z.
SomeoftheHurricanesleftatSpekeby315 Squadronwerelaterused viaTomaszDrecki
by303Sqn,whichwasbasedtherefromJulytoSeptember1941.
*Intherecentlypublished"AirWar1941:Theturningpoint.Part1,FromtheBattleof
BritaintotheBlitz"(AirResearchPublications1993)JohnForemandescribedthecombatof
87SquadronpilotsandlinkedthedestructionoftheII./KG77Ju88withit.Thisisincorrect,
becauseS/LdrIanGleedandSgtThorogoodclaimeddestructionofaDo18flyingboatwhich
crashedintothesea.
315Squadron 7
HURRicANE TiMES
Ceremony of raising the Polish Ensign
atRAFSpeke.
8 315Squadron
HURRicANE TiMES
MasssometimeinSpring1941.Theaeroplaneinfront is HumcaneP3112PK-A.
viaRobertGretzyngier
Thesameaircraftatthelandingground.HawkerHumcaneIP3112PK-Awasthefavouritemountof
FlUWladyslawSzcz~sniewskiwhoflew initon manyoperationalsorties.
DqbrowacollectionviaDrJanKoniarek
3J5Squadron 9