Stanisław Brzeski (21 April 1918 – 3 December 1972) was a Polish

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

of the

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with 8 confirmed kills and one shared.

Biography

Stanisław Brzeski was born in Lipnik near

Staszów Staszów is a town in southeastern Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (historic province of Lesser Poland), about southeast of Kielce, and northeast of Kraków. It is the capital of Staszów County. The population is 15,108 (2010), whi ...

in 1918. In 1932 he entered the Non-Commissioned Officer's School for minors in Nisko. Then he served in the 77th Infantry Regiment. In 1936 he was transferred to the

. Initially he became a glider pilot, then he was trained as a fighter pilot.Sikora 2014, p. 229. At the outbreak of

, Brzeski served in the Modlin Army. On 3 September 1939 he destroyed a German

Observation balloon An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War ...

.Sikora 2014, p. 230. The next day he escorted bombers

PZL.23 Karaś The PZL.23 ''Karaś'' (''crucian carp'') was a Polish light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft designed in the early 1930s by PZL in Warsaw. During the interwar period, the Polish High Command had placed considerable emphasis upon the role of ar ...

, his plane was hit and damaged by flak, Brzeski was forced to land, but the same day he came back to his unit. On 9 September he damaged a plane near

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

. On the night of 18/19 September, he crossed the border with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, then on 19 November he came to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

via

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

.Zieliński 1994, p. 34. He was assigned to a new unit only on 18 May 1940. Due to the difficult situation in France Brzeski was evacuated to the UK. Initially he was assigned to

No. 307 Polish Night Fighter Squadron No. 307 (Polish) Squadron, also known as No. 307 (City of Lwów) Squadron ( pl, 307 Dywizjon Myśliwski Nocny "Lwowskich Puchaczy" ) was one of several Polish squadrons in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was formed as p ...

, but on 14 October he was transferred to

No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron No. 303 Squadron RAF, also known as the 303rd "Tadeusz Kościuszko Warsaw" Fighter Squadron, was one of two Polish squadrons that fought during the Battle of Britain along with No. 302 Squadron, of 16 total Polish squadrons in the Royal Air ...

where he began training on

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

.Sikora 2014, p. 231. On 10 February 1941 he downed a

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

over

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.No. 317 Polish Fighter Squadron No. 317 "City of Wilno" Polish Fighter Squadron ( pl, 317 Dywizjon Myśliwski „Wileński") was a Polish fighter squadron formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom in 1941. It ...

. Since 23 April 1943 he served in

No. 302 Polish Fighter Squadron No. 302 (City of Poznan) Polish Fighter Squadron RAF ( pl, 302 Dywizjon Myśliwski "Poznański") was a Polish fighter squadron formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom in 194 ...

and on 28 December he came back to No. 303 squadron.Sikora 2014, p. 233. On 21 May 1944, he was hit by flak over Abbeville, Brzeski slightly wounded, managed to land. After four hours he was captured by Germans and sent to

Stalag Luft III , partof = ''Luftwaffe'' , location = Sagan, Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland) , image = , caption = Model of the set used to film the movie ''The Great Escape.'' It depicts a smaller version of a single compound in ''Stalag ...

.Zieliński 2019, p. 52. In January 1945 he was deported to the West. After the liberation, he returned to England and served in RAF as instructor and flight controller. Stanisław Brzeski died on 3 December 1972 in Norwich and was buried in the cemetery of Dereham.Krzystek 2012, p. 114.

Aerial victory credits

* He 111 - 9 September 1939 and one probably destroyed * Bf 109E - 10 February 1941 * Bf 109 - 18 February 1941 * 1/2 Bf 109 - 10 July 1941 * 1/2 Ju 88 - 14 July 1941 * Bf 109F - 8 November 1941 and one damaged * Ju 88 - 6 December 1941 * Fw 190 - 25 April 1942 * Fw 190 - 26 July 1943 probably destroyed * He 111 - 19 August 1942 * Fw 190 - 2 May 1943 * Fw 190 - 24 June 1943 * 1/2 Fw 190 - 4 September 1943wg. cieldegloire - shot down one aircraft, not shared * Fw- 190 - 23 September 1943 probably destroyed

Awards

Virtuti Militari, Silver Cross
POL Krzyż Walecznych (1940) 4r BAR

Cross of Valour (Poland), four times
DistinguishedFlyingCrossUKRibbon

Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom), with two bars,
Dso-ribbon

Distinguished Service Order (United Kingdom)

Biography

Aerial victory credits

Awards

References

Further reading