August 25, 2005 at 4:43 am
WARSAW, Aug 21 (Reuters) – General Jacek Bartoszcze, the chief of Poland’s air force, died in the crash of a two-seater plane on Saturday, a military spokesman said on Sunday.
“An inquiry is under way into the crash of the plane in which the General Bartoszcze was killed,” Army General Staff spokesman Colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski told Reuters.
Bartoszcze, 44, was performing aerobatics with an unnamed Belgian friend when the plane crashed in a rural area of eastern Lublin province, reported private television channel TVN-24.
The television station called the U.S.-trained Bartoszcze, who was promoted to general only last week, an energetic advocate of modernising Poland’s air force in line with NATO standards.