Eugeniusz Horbaczewski

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eugeniusz Horbaczewski (September 28, 1917 - August 18, 1944) was a Polish fighter pilot, a flying ace of the World War II, also known as "Dziubek".

He was born in Kiev, then his family moved to Brzesc. At school, he attended gliding course. In 1938 he entered a cadet flying school in Dęblin, which he graduated in 1939.

During the Invasion of Poland in 1939, he was made a 2nd Lieutenant, but he had no combat assignment. He was evacuated through Romania, Yugoslavia and Greece to allied France. Still without combat assignment, he then evacuated in June 1940 to the Britain.

After training on RAF aircraft, on August 21, 1941 he was assigned to the famous Polish No. 303 Squadron, flying the Spitfire Mk.V. He probably shot down his first aircraft, the Bf 109 fighter on November 6, over France. His first confirmed kill was a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 on April 4, 1942. Then, he shot down the Bf 109 (16 April) and the Fw 190 (19 August). In February 1943 he volunteered for the Polish Fighting Team, also known as the "Skalski's Circus", attached to the Desert Air Force. Fighting from March 1943 in the Tunisia Campaign, the flight were attached to No. 145 Squadron RAF. On March 28, he shot down a Ju 88, then four Bf 109's (on April 2, April 6 and two on April 22). On April 6 his Spitfire IX was hit and started burning, but as he prepared to jump, the wind extinguished the fire and he managed to land on an airfield. Remaining in Africa after the Flight was disbanded, he was transferred to No 601 Squadron, prior to being offered a flight command in No. 43 Squadron RAF. He commanded the flight from May 1943, then in August he became a Squadron Leader (being one of three Poles commanding British squadrons). He fought with No. 43 squadron over Malta, Sicily and Italy. On September 4 he shot down a Fw 190 and on September 16 two more. In October he handed over command and returned to England.

Horbaczewski commander of the 315th Polish squadron, in the background his Mustang PK-G FB387 (1944).

On February 16, 1944 Horbaczewski took command of the Polish No. 315 Squadron, flying the new P-51 Mustang Mk. III. On June 12, 1944 he shot down a Fw 190, on July 30 one Bf 109 individually and one with his wing man (counted as 0.5). At this time, he also shot down four V-1 flying bombs.

On August 18, 1944, Horbaczewski led his squadron of 12 aircraft over France on a 'Rodeo' mission, despite being ill with flu. The Poles, using an element of surprise, attacked a group of 60 Fw 190 of Jagdgeschwaders 2 and 26, over an airfield near Beauvais. Horbaczewski quickly shot down three Focke-Wulfs, but went missing during the dogfight. In 1947 the wreck of his Mustang with his body was found crashed near Valennes. Exact circumstances are unclear; he was probably shot down in combat by an aircraft of II/JG26. The Poles were credited with shooting down 16 aircraft in this encounter, with the only loss their Squadron leader (according to German documents, 8 Fw 190 of JG 26 and 4 of JG 2 were destroyed).

According to official lists, Eugeniusz Horbaczewski was the third best Polish fighter ace, with 16.5 confirmed kills (16 individual and 1 team one) and 1 probable kill. He was awarded with several decorations, among others Virtuti Militari IV class (posthumously) and V class, four times Krzyz Walecznych, Distinguished Service Order (posthumously) and Distinguished Flying Cross (twice).

A nickname Dziubek literally is the diminutive of 'the beak' in Polish, spelled in another way.