Witold Urbanowicz (30 March 1908 – 17 August 1996) 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

Second World War 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 ...

. According to the official record, Witold Urbanowicz was the second highest-scoring Polish fighter ace, with 17 confirmed wartime kills and 1 probable, not counting his pre-war victory. He was awarded with several decorations, among others the

Virtuti Militari The War Order of Virtuti Militari (Latin: ''"For Military Virtue"'', pl, Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari) is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was created in 1792 by Polish King Stan ...

and British Distinguished Flying Cross. He also published several books of

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

Biography

Urbanowicz was born in

Olszanka, Augustów County Olszanka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowinka, within Augustów County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. Notable people * Witold Urbanowicz Witold Urbanowicz (30 March 1908 – 17 August 1996) was a Pol ...

. In 1930 he entered the Szkoła Podchorążych Lotnictwa

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

flying school in

Dęblin Dęblin is a town at the confluence of Vistula and Wieprz rivers, in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Dęblin is the part of the agglomeration with adjacent towns of Ryki and Puławy, which altogether has over 100 000 inhabitants. The population of ...

, graduating in 1932 as a 2/Lt. Observer. He was then posted to the night bomber squadron of the 1st Air Regiment in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. Later he completed an advanced pilotage course to become a fighter pilot. In the 1930s he flew with the 113th and the No. 111th "Kościuszko" Squadron. In August 1936, flying a

PZL P.11 The PZL P.11 was a Polish fighter aircraft, designed and constructed during the early 1930s by Warsaw-based aircraft manufacturer PZL. Possessing an all-metal structure, metal-covering, and high-mounted gull wing, the type held the distinction of ...

a, he shot down a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

reconnaissance plane In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers, ...

which had crossed into Polish airspace. He was officially reprimanded and unofficially congratulated by his superior officer and as "punishment" in October 1936 he was transferred to an air force training school in

where he was nicknamed " Cobra".

Second World War

During the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

in 1939, Urbanowicz was in an improvised Ułęż Group, composed of flying instructors, flying obsolete

PZL P.7 The PZLP.7 was a Polish gull wing monoplane fighter aircraft designed in the early 1930s at the PZL factory in Warsaw. It was the main fighter of the Polish Air Force between 1933 and 1935. The PZLP.7 was replaced in Polish service by its follow-up ...

a fighters and covering the Dęblin and

Ułęż Ułęż is a village in Ryki County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Ułęż. It lies approximately east of Ryki and north-west of the regional capital Lublin Lublin ...

airfields. Despite a few encounters with enemy airplanes the Polish fighters (which could barely match the speed of German bombers) were not able to shoot down any enemy planes. On 8 September the school was evacuated from Ułęż and Dęblin.King 2010, p. 339 He was ordered with the cadets to

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 ...

, where they were told to await re-equipment:

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

aircraft were rumoured to have been sent, but no aircraft arrived. Urbanowicz returned to Poland to continue to fight, but after the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subse ...

, he was captured by a Soviet irregular unit. The same day he managed to escape with two cadets and crossed the Romanian border and eventually found his way to France where, after the fall of Poland, a new Polish army was being formed. While in France he and a group of other Polish pilots were invited to join the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. After initial training with 1 School of Army Co-operation at

Old Sarum Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, South West England, is the now ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. Situated on a hill about north of modern Salisbury near the A345 road, the settlement appears in some of the earliest re ...

, he was sent to 6 OTU for re-training on fighters in July 1940. In August he was assigned to No. 145 Squadron RAF, and became operational on 4 August 1940. On 8 August he shot down a

Messerschmitt Bf 110 The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often known unofficially as the Me 110,Because it was built before ''Bayerische Flugzeugwerke'' became Messerschmitt AG in July 1938, the Bf 110 was never officially given the designation Me 110. is a twin-engine (Des ...

flown by Major Joachim Schlichting of V./

LG 1 ''Lehrgeschwader'' 1 (LG 1) (Training Wing 1) formerly ''Lehrgeschwader Greifswald'' was a Luftwaffe multi-purpose unit during World War II, operating fighter, bomber and dive-bomber ''Gruppen''. The unit was formed in July 1936 and operated t ...

while flying with No. 601 Squadron (although he was never officially attached to the unit) and on 12 August a

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...

KG 51 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 51 "Edelweiss" (KG 51) (Battle Wing 51) was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II. The unit began forming in May 1939 and completed forming in December 1939, and took no part in the invasion of Poland which start ...

. On 21 August he was transferred to the Polish-manned No. 303 Squadron, flying a

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

as "A" Flight commander. On 6 September he shot down a Bf 109 of

JG 52 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 52 (JG 52) was a German World War II fighter ''Geschwader'' (wing) that exclusively used the Messerschmitt Bf 109 throughout the war. The unit originally formed near Munich in November 1938, then moved to a base near Stuttga ...

. On 7 September he became

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

, after

Zdzisław Krasnodębski Zdzisław Krasnodębski, alias ''Król'' (10 July 1904 in Wola Osowińska – 3 July 1980 in Toronto) was a Polish pilot and the founder and commander of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron. Early life and career After schooling in Siedlce, Łomż ...

was badly burned. On 15 September Urbanowicz claimed two Dornier Do. 17's of

KG 2 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 2 " Holzhammer " (KG 2) (Battle Wing 2) was a Luftwaffe bomber unit during the Second World War. The unit was formed in May 1939. The unit operated the Dornier Do 17 light bomber, Dornier Do 217 and Junkers Ju 188 heavy bom ...

. On 18 September 1940 Urbanowicz was awarded the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari by the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Forces, General

Sikorski Sikorski (feminine: Sikorska, plural: Sikorscy) is a Polish-language surname. It belongs to several noble Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth families, see . Variants (via other languages) include Sikorsky (disambiguation), Sikorsky, Sikorskyi, and S ...

. On 24 October, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. On 27 September he was officially credited with shooting down four aircraft: two Ju 88s of

KG 77 ''Kampfgeschwader 77'' (KG 77) was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II. Its units participated on all of the major front (military), fronts in the European Theatre until its dissolution in 1944. It operated all three of the major German b ...

, a Bf 109 and a Bf 110 of 15.

. On 30 September he claimed three Bf 109s (one from stab.

JG 26 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 26 (JG 26) ''Schlageter'' was a German fighter-wing of World War II. It was named after Albert Leo Schlageter, a World War I veteran, Freikorps member, and posthumous Nazi martyr, arrested and executed by the French for ...

, one of II./

JG 53 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 53 (JG 53) was a Luftwaffe fighter-wing of World War II. It operated in Western Europe and in the Mediterranean. ''Jagdgeschwader'' 53 - or as it was better known, the "Pik As" ''(Ace of Spades)'' Geschwader - was one of the ...

and one of 4.

JG 54 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 54 (JG 54) was a Luftwaffe fighter wing during the Second World War. JG 54 flew most of its missions on the Eastern Front where it claimed more than 9,600 aircraft shot down. It was the second-highest scoring wing in the Luftw ...

) and one

Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing a ...

KG 3 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 3 "Blitz" (KG 3) was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II . KG 3 was created in 1939 as the Luftwaffe reorganised and expanded to meet Adolf Hitler's rearmament demands. It was founded in May 1939 and by December 1939, ...

. Despite his success Urbanowicz was never popular at the Polish headquarters and on 21 October he was forced to hand over command of the Squadron to

Zdzisław Henneberg Zdzisław Karol Henneberg VM, DFC, KZ***, CdeG (11 May 1911 – 12 April 1941) was a Polish airman who flew with the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain and a flying ace of the Second World War. Early life and career Henneberg was ...

. During the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

, he claimed 15 confirmed kills and 1 probable, which made him one of the top Polish aces (second only to

Stanisław Skalski Stanisław Skalski, (27 November 1915 – 12 November 2004) was a Polish aviator and fighter ace who served with the Polish Air Force and British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Skalski was the top Polish fighter ace of the war and ...

) and among the top ten Allied aces of the battle. Between 15 April 1941 and 1 June 1941 he commanded the 1st Polish Fighter Wing based at

RAF Northolt ("Ready to carry or to fight") , pushpin_map = Greater London , pushpin_label = RAF Northolt , pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London , coordinates = , type = Royal Air Force station , code = , site_area = , height = , owners ...

, before being posted to staff work at

No. 11 Group RAF No. 11 Group is a group in the Royal Air Force first formed in 1918. It had been formed and disbanded for various periods during the 20th century before disbanding in 1996 and reforming again in 2018. Its most famous service was in 1940 in the Ba ...

HQ. In June 1941 he was assigned as the 2nd Air

Attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...

in the Polish Embassy in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Witold Urbanowicz 11 January 1944 342-FH 000711

In September 1943 Urbanowicz joined the USAAF 14th Air Force on attachment in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. On 23 October he joined the

75th Fighter Squadron The 75th Fighter Squadron (75 FS) is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 23d Fighter Group, Air Combat Command and stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. The squadron is equipped with the Fairchild Republic A-10C Thund ...

of the 23rd Fighter Group ("

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

"). Flying a

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

he took part in several combat missions. On 11 December he fought against six Japanese

Mitsubishi Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was ...

s and claimed two shot down (these were actually

Nakajima Ki-44 The Nakajima Ki-44 ''Shoki'' (鍾馗, " Devil Queller") was a single-seat fighter-interceptor which was developed by the Nakajima Aircraft Company and operated by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. Its official de ...

"Tojo" fighters of the 85th Sentai).Aircraft of the Aces 100, Ki-44 "Tojo" Aces by Nicholas Millman, Osprey Publishing, p. 26 According to his reports he also shot other airplanes over China, and destroyed some on the ground, but those victories were not officially confirmed. According to Kenneth K. Koskodian, he downed 11 Japanese aircraft while being

Claire Lee Chennault Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958) was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the "Flying Tigers" and the Chinese Air Force in World War II. Chennault was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fighter ...

's guest. He was later awarded the US

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

and a Chinese Flying Cross. In December 1943 he returned to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and later became an

Air Attaché The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

in the USA again.

After the war

Hawker Hurricane gate guardian, RAF Uxbridge

In 1946, he returned to Poland, but was arrested four times by the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

as a suspected

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

. After his release, he fled to the USA. He lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

working for

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

and

Republic Aviation The Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island, New York, Long Island. Originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company, the company was responsible for the design and produc ...

, retiring in 1973. In 1991 he visited Poland after the fall of communism and again in 1995 when he was promoted to the rank of

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

. He died in New York on 17 August 1996. A fibreglass Hawker Hurricane gate guardian was unveiled at

RAF Uxbridge RAF Uxbridge was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Uxbridge, within the London Borough of Hillingdon, occupying a site that originally belonged to the Hillingdon House estate. The British Government purchased the estate in 1915, three years ...

in September 2010 in the colours of Urbanowicz's aircraft from the Battle of Britain.

Awards

, Silver Cross (18 September 1940) : POL Krzyż Walecznych (1940) 4r BAR

Cross of Valour, four times : DistinguishedFlyingCrossUKRibbon

Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers, and since 1993 to other ranks, of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countri ...

(United States) : Star Medal with Two Stars (Republic of China)

In popular culture

Witold Urbanowicz was portrayed by

Marcin Dorociński Marcin Grzegorz Dorociński (born 22 June 1973) is a Polish film, television and stage actor. Early life Dorociński was born in Milanówek near Warsaw and grew up in a small village Kłudzienko. His father is a blacksmith and his mother is a h ...

in the 2018 film '' Hurricane: 303 Squadron''.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * Fiedler, Arkady. Translation by Jarek Garlinski. (2010) ''303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron''. Los Angeles: Aquila Polonica Publishing * King, Richard. (2010) ''303 (Polish) Squadron Battle of Britain Diary''. Surrey: Red Kite * Koskodian, Kenneth. K. (2009) ''No Greater Ally''. New York City: Osprey Publishing * Tadeusz Jerzy Krzystek, Anna Krzystek: ''Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii w latach 1940-1947 łącznie z Pomocniczą Lotniczą Służbą Kobiet (PLSK-WAAF)''. Sandomierz: Stratus, 2012, p. 589. * Jerzy Pawlak: ''Absolwenci Szkoły Orląt: 1925-1939''. Warszawa: Retro-Art, 2009, p. 117. * Piotr Sikora: ''Asy polskiego lotnictwa''. Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza Alma-Press. 2014, p. 158-166. * Józef Zieliński: ''Asy polskiego lotnictwa''. Warszawa: Agencja lotnicza ALTAIR, 1994, p. 10-11. * Józef Zieliński: ''Lotnicy polscy w Bitwie o Wielką Brytanię''. Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza MH, 2005, p. 207-209.

External links

* http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/30/how-polish-airmen-succeeded/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Urbanowicz, Witold 1908 births 1996 deaths People from Augustów County Polish diplomats Polish generals Polish World War II flying aces Recipients of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland) Royal Air Force air marshals of World War II The Few Polish emigrants to the United States Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Polish Royal Air Force pilots of World War II