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VoyTech

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June 9, 2008 at 9:46 am in reply to: Goraszka 7 06 2008 #510897

VoyTech
Participant

You need a Roundel Police in Poland (wouldn’t that be Squardrel Police?), and quickly! Only the TS-8 has got the correct checquerboard:
rw
wr
The CSS-13 and the Jak-18 have the ‘negative’ which is only used since 1995. Changed in a fit of anti-Communist hysteria I believe, even though the original sequence had been in use before 1939 just as well.

Arthur, you seem to be wrong on both counts. I am not sure what is the meaning of your reference to ‘anti-communist hysteria’, but the change of 1993 was dictated by hyper-correct heraldics, not politics. Polish flag is white at the top and red at bottom, so it was believed that the AF insignia should ‘start’ (left side) with the same colour layout. Before 1939 and during wartime I don’t think anyone was bothered with ‘correct’ layout and if you check old photographs you will find that both styles (white at top left or red at top left) were used. Interestingly, Polish Air Force was officially made an independent service when it was resurrected in France in 1939/1940 (it had been a branch of the land forces until the war) and Polish aircraft in France in 1940 were usually marked with the Polish square that featured a white field at top left – exactly as in the ‘correct’ style of today.

June 9, 2008 at 9:29 am in reply to: Goraszka 7 06 2008 #510903

VoyTech
Participant

Ummmm… is that a BBMF Spitfire? In Poland? 🙂

Yes. And yes.

June 9, 2008 at 9:24 am in reply to: Tiger Moth in Polish markings #1238254

VoyTech
Participant

Two pictures from Goraszka during the air show.
Jerzy Glowczewski in the front cockpit of the Tiger Moth with the aircraft owner/pilot Jacek Mainka behind.
A unique moment yesterday afternoon, as BBMF Spitfire V AB910 was coming in to land following the air display and the Tiger Moth circled the airfield.

May 27, 2008 at 12:16 pm in reply to: Tiger Moth in Polish markings #1173453

VoyTech
Participant

I’ve been to Poland many times, but have never been to the show at Goraszka… I’m looking forward to it! – Will you be there? Are you based in Poland?

Yes on both counts. (Between you and me, Mark12 might pop in, too.)

May 27, 2008 at 11:54 am in reply to: Tiger Moth in Polish markings #1173476

VoyTech
Participant

Well done all, as an ex-Booker aircraft it’s great to see the old girl is getting plenty of attention,

As an ex-Booker aircraft it would be great to see T7230 fly with AR213!

will you be adding segmented spinner colours as in the WWII photo? it’d be a nice little touch IMHO.

I’m sure Jacek would not mind doing this, provided someone can tell him the actual colours.

I will have the pleasure of meeting Jacek (and hopefully Jerzy Glowczewski) in Poland next week. I’m traveling out there for the Goraszka airshow.

Have you been there before?

I think they’ve done a great job with the paint work.

It’s not paint, actually. It was done by the same people who did the Polish markings for MH434 (SZ-G with the ‘Boxing Dog’ motif) back in 1997.

May 20, 2008 at 11:15 am in reply to: Three Cheers For Fluffy! #1179228

VoyTech
Participant

And the book is available everywhere, all good bookshops and really bad ones too, etc!

Not where I live…

April 21, 2008 at 12:28 pm in reply to: Best Looking Spitfire? #1205308

VoyTech
Participant

Best looking in terms of overall looks or in terms of flying display? Early Mk IX for the former (elliptic wing tips, rounded rudder, no-filter air intake), but definitely Mk XII for the latter (not that I have seen a Mk XII in flight, but how I wish I have!).

Let’s hope the Authorities haven’t contrived to end public display flying by then.

If they have, we’ll have to see it in private. Judging by the number of people actually able to appreciate the Mark XII, and with Mark12’s help, this should still be doable…

April 2, 2008 at 12:05 pm in reply to: Booker Spitfire Mk.1 AR213 G-AIST (merged) #1227782

VoyTech
Participant

27/28th Sept – Northolt – Polish Tribute

Landing?

April 1, 2008 at 10:39 am in reply to: RAF Service Record Queries #1229237

VoyTech
Participant

His name was Stefan Kozub, and unfortunately I don’t have a photo of him to hand, but my sister-in-law has a shot of him in his RAF uniform.

Was he Stefan Kozub service no. 781995, born 10.5.1918, or Stefan Kozub service no. 705083, born 1.3.1920?
I have copies of some photos depicting erks working on Nos. 316 and 302 Sqns Spitfires, so a portrait photo might help identify him in those.

Do the SE numbers relate to particular Squadrons – for example does 6302 relate to 302 Squadron? And what was 3109 SE attached to?

Initially the SE’s were numbered in a sequence of their own. Then they were linked with particular squadrons, so yes, No. 6302 was attached to No. 302 Sqn.

March 28, 2008 at 1:40 pm in reply to: RAF Service Record Queries #1233098

VoyTech
Participant

SE stands for Servicing Echelon (the ground crew of a squadron once they split under 2nd TAF organisation scheme in lat 1943)
AFHQ is Airfield Headquarters, the term applied to what is generally known as wings between 1943 and early 1944

It looks like he was a ground crew on Spitfires of No. 302 Sqn in No. 131 Wing. Very interesting! Everyone knows aces, and pilots in general, but ground crews are usually labelled ‘unknown’ in photos. Would you care to post a WW2 photo of your father-in-law and reveal his name?

March 27, 2008 at 12:09 pm in reply to: RAFM Hendon Spitfire & Hurricane new colours, and a hidden gem #1234180

VoyTech
Participant

TB546 was FT-E at Zeltweg. Presumably they used a colour profile of the starboard side as pattern, but didn’t know why the number was truncated this way…

March 27, 2008 at 11:57 am in reply to: RAFM Hendon Spitfire & Hurricane new colours, and a hidden gem #1234185

VoyTech
Participant

Presumably TB546 with the Sky band overpainted.

March 26, 2008 at 2:34 pm in reply to: Happy Birthday Fluffy #1235172

VoyTech
Participant

I didn’t realise, until I saw this thread, what was the reason behind those pints I had last night. So, in retrospect, cheers!

March 26, 2008 at 2:18 pm in reply to: Who is this Polish BoB Pilot? #1235220

VoyTech
Participant

Looks like Eugeniusz Fiedorczuk to me. Not exactly a BoB pilot, but very close.
Born on 28 October 1918 at Chita in Russia of Polish parents, he graduated from the Polish Air Force College in the last pre-WW2 class, commissioned on 1 September 1939. A pilot in a liaison unit during the Polish campaign in 1939. In France posted to GC I/145 ‘Varsovie’ – the only all-Polish fighter unit to become operational before the fall of France. Evacuated to Britain in June 1940. Trained briefly in No. 5 OTU, then posted to No. 303 on 5 November – just too late to qualify for the BoB title. In January 1941 re-posted to No. 315 Polish Sqn then forming. On 24 May 1941 he shared in what was in fact No. 315’s first victory (a Ju88), but was never claimed as the pilots (F/Lt Bornislaw Mickiewicz was the other one) didn’t think they had hit it properly. On 9 August 1941 Fiedorczuk was credited with 0-0-1 109 during Circus 68, then on 21 October 1941 with 0-1-0 109 during a sweep over St Omer.
He was a lucky survivor of a number of mishaps in France and Britain. On 27 March he was the only one to return home from a sortie during which his flight was virtually wiped out through bad luck (two pilots were killed in a collision, two other ditched through lack of fuel, only one of them surviving). He then suffered accidents or combat damage on 6 April, 24 May, 9 and 16 August, 21 and 24 October 1941, and was eventually killed in a low flying accident (in Spitfire V BL751 PK-Z) on 15 August 1942 at Southport. He is buried in the RC cemetery at Formby, Lancs, grave 1-17a.
Franciszek Kornicki’s memoirs about to be published in English (“The Struggle” is the title of the book, IIRC) has some recollections of Fiedorczuk and his tragic death.

March 17, 2008 at 12:55 pm in reply to: New Spitfire Picture Thread #1241081

VoyTech
Participant

magazine bulges, cannon barrels, and with that tailwheel

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