Witold Urbanowicz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Witold Urbanowicz (March 30, 1908 - August 17, 1996) was a Polish fighter ace of the World War II.

He was born in Olszanka, a village near Augustów. In 1930 he entered a cadet flying school in Dęblin, which he graduated in 1932. Later he also completed an advanced pilotage course to become a fighter pilot. In the 1930s, he flew in fighter squadrons no. 113, then no. 111. In August 1936, flying on PZL P.11a, he shot down a Soviet reconnaissance plane which crossed into the Polish airspace. He was officially reprimanded and unofficially congratulated by his superior officer and as a "punishment" was transferred to an air force training school in Deblin where he was nicknamed "Cobra".

During the Invasion of Poland in 1939, Urbanowicz was in an improvised Ulez Group, comprising of flying instructors. They were flying on obsolete fighters PZL P.7a, covering Deblin and Ulez airfields. Despite a few encounters with enemy airplanes, Polish fighters who could barely match the speed of German bombers were not able to shoot down any enemy planes. On September 8 the school was evacuated from Ulez and Deblin. He was next ordered to move with the cadets to Romania where they were told to wait for British and French aircraft, which were to be sent there but it turned out to be just a rumour.. Urbanowicz returned to Poland to continued to fight, but after the Soviet invasion on Poland, he was captured by Soviet irregular unit. The same day he managed to escape with two cadets, and then, crossed the Romanian border yet again and eventually found his way to France where after fall of Poland a new Polish army was being formed.

While in France he and a group of other Polish pilots were offered to join the Royal Air Force in Great Britain. After re-training on British aircraft, he was assigned to No. 145 Squadron RAF, and became operational from August 4, 1940. On August 8 he shot down his first Bf 109 fighter and on August 12 a Ju 88.

On August 21, he was transferred to the soon to be famous Polish No. 303 Squadron, flying on Hawker Hurricane, as a Flight "A" commander. On September 6 he shot down another Bf 109. On September 7, he became a squadron leader, after an injured Zdzislaw Krasnodebski. In the next days, he shot down further aircraft. On September 26, he was officially credited with shooting down four aircraft: 2 Ju 88, Bf 109 and Bf 110, and the next four three days later: 3 Bf 109 and one Do 17. Despite his success as a fighter pilot, Urbanowicz was never popular in the Polish headquarters, and on October 21 he was forced to hand over the squadron command to Zdzislaw Henneberg. During the Battle of Britain he had 15 confirmed kills and 1 probable which made him the top Polish ace, and in the top ten of best allied aces of the battle.

Between April 15 1941 and June 1 1941, he commanded the 1st Polish Fighter Wing. Then, he was withdrawn to staff work. In June 1941 he was assigned the 2nd Air Attaché in the Polish embassy in the USA.

In September 1943, Urbanowicz accepted an offer to join the USAAF units in China. On October 23 joined the 75th Fighter Squadron (Flying Tigers). Flying P-40 Warhawk, he took part in several combat missions. On December 11 he fought against six Japanese fighters (identified as 'Zeke'), and shot down two of them. According to his reports, he also shot other airplanes over China, and destroyed some on the ground, but those victories were not officially confirmed.

In December 1943 he returned to the United Kingdom, and later became an Air Attaché in the USA again. After the war, in 1946 he returned to Poland, but was arrested by Communist secret police as a spy. After release, he fled to the USA. He lived in New York City, working for American Airlines, Eastern Airlines and Republic Aviation. He retired in 1973. He visited Poland only in 1991, after the fall of communism and again in 1995, when he was promoted to the rank of General. He died in New York City on August 17, 1996).

According to the official record Witold Urbanowicz was the second best 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 Virtuti Militari. He also published several books with memories.