I mean which version of his death is correct?
I’m the kind of person who likes to separate fact from fiction!!

This is certainly true:

“…71-year-old “Johnny” Zumbach had been found dead in Paris. No cause of death was ever announced…”

But if you give it a thought, many people die at 71 without anybody thinking there is something unusual about it.

Speaking of mysterious deaths and potential film heroes, Eugeniusz Horbaczewski would be another one.
He joined the Polish AF shortly before the war, and his commission date was 1 September 1939.
When in Britain he was posted to 303 Sqn in 1941. He opened his score there, and was a brilliant fighter from the outset, despite the fact that he didn’t look much like a fighter pilot: short and thin, and rather weak in appearance. In late 1942 he was kicked out of the famous Polish squadron, the reason being that he ran a slightly too colourful life, so to speak. Incredibly, the 303 OC that had him go was… Jan Zumbach, not really a strict disciplinarian! It was then that Horby (or Dziubek as he was known to friends) swore he would better Zumbach’s score of air kills.
In 1943 Horby fought in North Africa in the Skalski’s Circus, and then volunteered to fly with an RAF squadron. He soon took command of no. 43 Sqn. He was really loved by his men. One of his pilots, Norby King, wrote in his memoirs that when he learned of Horby’s death later in the war, his first thought was if I am to go, it would have been good to have gone down with him…
Horby then went back to Britain and took command of no. 315 Sqn, soon making it the top scoring Polish unit of the period. He also managed to fulfill his oath, at the time when his squadron was part of a wing led by J. Zumbach. He was killed in an epic mission when no. 315 was credited with the largest number of enemy aircraft ever destroyed by a single squadron in one combat.
Circumstances of his death have not been ascertained. Some accounts said he was shot down by the Focke-Wulfs, others credited his death to Flak. It was said that he was ill when he flew his last mission, and said before taking off that if we encounter the Germans I will not return. Others said he may have chosen to die a glorious death rather than face political dilemmas – by that time he already knew the Eastern part of Poland (where his home town was) had been handed over to Stalin by Western Powers, to be incorporated in the USSR. And it seems certain that more than one girl weeped after he failed to return…

Voytech, I really like the sound of your idea of him for a subject of a film, but I have to say (however accurate) Daz’s ending sounds more dramtic and better for a feature film. 🙂

That’s probably why the American authors chose this version of the story to put in their book 😉

Hmmm… VT, don’t want to question your sources or knowledge, but the book For Your Freedom And Ours states something otherwise about Zumbach’s death.

At least I’m pretty sure it’s him, anyway, I could of course be (and probably am) wrong.

Daz,
1) By all means, do question my sources or knowledge if you think I’m wrong! Other forumites have tried to in the past, and many of them succeeded. That’s what this forum is about, isn’t it?
2) I don’t have my copy of “A Question of Honor” (that’s the original title which got changed when they translated the book from American to English), so I cannot check at the moment what you meant – do you mind being more specific?
3) Anyway, I meant to say that he didn’t die in any of the wars he fought in, nor was he killed in a crashed aeroplane or anything like that. I know various stories are told of the actual circumstances of his death, but AFAIK: he was pretty old when he died, he was a family man when he died, he was quite happy with his life when he died.

Argh, those two RAF Squadron IDs and codes are driving me nuts. Something tells me it was 65 Squadron and….92 Squadron? (Both wearing the codes ‘QJ’??)

Ah, you meant nos. 92 and 616 both using QJ during the Battle of Britain. QJ was no. 616’s pre-war code (GR being 92’s), but for some reason 616 continued to use them well into the war. Some nice pictures of 616’s Spitfires are usually captioned as ‘no. 92 Sqn Spitfires’.

Cheers Mike,

That lower one is a new to me.

Can you please PM details.

Is it still in print I wonder?

Ditto.

I have one of the TB752 books (the one with all of the titling in blue) and find it very good. The first Spitfire book I know of that reproduced an original order for Spitfire XVI’s where they are referred to as “Mk IX (Packard Merlin)”! Also some great 66 Sqn Spitfire shots, previously unpublished to my knowledge.

Nedless to say, both Hugh Smallwood’s books – the PL965 and ML407 ones are top quality. I only wish he did that MK959 publication he was working on some years ago when I last saw him…

May I ask, JDK, if there is any particular reason why you have asked the question…?

another beauty; RAF Mustang wrapped in plastic before crating ans shipment to the UK.

Martin / Swiss Mustangs

That’s nice!
Got any more RAF Mustangs in colour?

Hmmm…found another one in my collection.
—
Allan

Nice collection, Allan. But it seems to me that the last one was in fact a b&w shot that was coloured for publication.