Has anybody a list of losses from the 16 SFTS at RAF Newton or can point me in the right direction to find them preferably without a trip to the NA. I have the crew names and aircraft types but would like serial numbers and locations. Also the same for a 12 P APU Blenhiem RAF Spittlegate 19/8/44. As an aside to this , I have the death certificates from the GRO for the Polish killed outside the boundaries of the airfield but some from inside are not on record ( this is different to RAF listing usually down as " War Operations " ). Did the PAF bases come under Polish duristricion ? Example 2 Polish airmen riding 2's up on a push bike , hit buy a lorry on the Fosseway. 1 killed at the scene death cert at GRO , 1 taken to RAF Newton SSQ and dying there , no record at GRO. Both buried at CWGCplot Newark.
Here's two of the losses at No. 16 (Polish) Service Flying Training School: 16 (P) S.F.T.S. Miles Master DL627 L.A.C. Zmuda 16 S.F.T.S. Master W8474 L.A.C. Gawkowski You may want to talk to the webmaster of this site as he has plenty of information on Polish losses in WWII. Can't help you with part 2 of your request other than to say the unit's name was No. 12 (P) AFU, the F being for "Flying"
The formation of the Polish Air Force and acceptance of such a force by the Air Ministry was prolonged while the air war was being fought over Britain.Initially there were some senior officers and Air Ministry officials who looked on Polish officers who had escaped from France as "useless".Thus there was a period in the summer of 1940 when Polish air manpower was mounting up after escaping from France,a valuable source which the Air Ministry procrastinated with their mobilisation. Air Commodore Medhurst who had recently been appointed to the role of heading a new Air Ministry Department for managing the European air contingents,the Directorate of Allied Air Co-operation had his view.His view was that the RAF should insist that any Polish units should be incorporated into the home force and be directly under British Command. He further penned a memo to Sholto Douglas of the Directorate of Organisation on 3 July 1940 *An additional reason for attempting to secure this principle is that the senior Polish Air Force officers,i have been reliably informed,are completely useless and are only out to line their pockets in filling their pockets" Then on 12 July 1940 Newall ,the Chief of the Air Staff,wrote to the C in C Polish Forces,Gen K Sosnkowski informing him that the Polish Air Force legal status would be the same as the Polish land forces and the Polish Navy. Sosnkowski accepted the logic of this of having Polish air Force organised in the RAF structure but with the principle of Polish independence upheld.There were also negotiations relating to the funding of the Polish Air Force..incredibly the British government wished to back charge the Polish government in exile for equipping the PAF.....I was reminded of this at a past function by the daughter of a Polish WAAF. The principle of the RAF bearing overall operational control of the PAF had been accepted by the Poles but the sticking point as far as the Air Ministry was concerned was disciplinary matters.Since there had to be RAF groundcrew and administrative support at squadron level,the Air Ministry insisted that these personnel should be subject to PAF regulations.The AM also transferred any Polish manpower in the RAFVR to the emerging Polish Air Force to avoid disciplinary difficulties. In the end the Polish Air Force operational control resided with the RAF with the Polish Air Force responsible for discipline within its force which must have satisfied General K Sosnkowski interpretation of independence. Later on when PAF squadrons converted to the Lancaster and left their RAF Ingham Wellingtons behind,they took possession of the B.C Polish Air Force dedicated airfield at Faldingworth. There were instances when RAF crews were posted to the Faldingworth squadrons to cover shortfalls in strength...I cannot see these detached RAF crews being subject the PAF discipline and regulations. Throughout, Polish Bomber Command squadrons were commanded by Polish officers but I am not sure of if they had PAF Station Commanders when they had sole use of RAF Ingham (Wellingtons) and Faldingworth (Lancasters). While these squadrons were based at Hemswell as the sole squadrons there,the Station Commander was a RAF officer. The situation at Newton was different for when the station transferred from Bomber Command in July 1941 to Flying Training Command as the dedicated Polish Air Force No 16 (Polish) SFTS,Group Captain Kepinsi was appointed as Station Commander.The road accident must have occurred while the PAF was the sole resident and the PAF must have been the reporting authority...perhaps recorded in the PAF version of the Station ORB. Group Captain Kepinski must have relinquished the post in November 1942 when Group Captain E B Grenfell took over command until August 1944. Alan Brown's Flying for Freedom.The Allied Air Forces in the RAF 1939-1945 gives a first class account of the events of harnessing the European air expertise manpower available to the RAF from the dark days of 1940.
16 SFTS Dates I still have to sort : 23/7/42 Oxford 25/5/43 Master 7/7/43 Master 2/9/43 Master 24/25/2/44 Master 25/3/44 Master 12/5/44 U/Kn 16/6/44 U/Kn 19/7/44 Oxford 12/10/44 Master - these are the types and dates of death although it doesn't state if the crew man was killed out right or succumbed some time later so there may be some disparity. All buried Newark cemetery.
12/5/44: Collision between Oxfords I's LW915 and LW965 near Orston. LW965 suffered starb. eng. failure but landed safely. LW965 crashed, near Orston I presume, F/Lt W Peski Killed. 19/7/44: Oxford I PG994 lost control at night and crashed between Normanton on Trent and Skegby. 3K. Give me a while & I'II see what I can find. 16/6/44 might be a Mosquito...
23/7/42 Oxford I V3866 Spun into ground at night. Cpl M Malcznski K. 25/5/43 Master III undershot and crashed at Tollerton. F/O W Czerwinski I think survived. Do you know otherwise? 25/5/43 Master III stalled into grnd nr. Radcliffe on Trent railway station. LAC J Gorski K. I tried a local search for more info on this one but failed, so far. 2/9/43 Master III "FL676" (number corrupt) crashed Edwalton. Sgt Waydowicz K. 25/2/44 Master DM283 crashed Gregory's Rose Gardens Stapleford. Pilot died at Nottm Gen Hosp 26/2.LAC M Sierzega. (crash mentioned in Bygones sometime last decade or so) 25/3/44 Master III DL938 crashed to T/O Newton. Sgt Brown (passenger) & P/O Szwede K. Going from memory, this might be the one within the airfield boundary, N side, nr. windmill. Poss the one photographed in Tim O' Briens book (just can't find my copy ATM!) 19/7/44 Three casualties referred to in the above post are: Koper, Mierniczek (pilot) and Tomaszewski. 12/10/44 Master III DM424 crashed Plumtree. LAC Maciula K. I have a photo of this crash but have yet to match it to the ground and background I have a Mosquito listed for 17/6/44 but it isn't Polish. Do you have more details please?
Ossington as stated + bits I have : 25 May 1943 Master W8450 16 SFTS RAF Newton LAC Euzebiusz Mroczek ML - Born 1919 Warszawa Poland. W8450 crashed after hitting a tree at Coppice Road Arnold, Nottinghamshire, whilst lost on a night training flight. Killed, buried Newark cemetery. 2 September 1942 Master DL676 16 SFTS RAF Newton Sgt Stanislaw Waydowicz ML- Born 1915 Jaroslaw Poland killed. DL676 crashed at Edwalton, Nottinghamshire, whilst on a training flight . Buried Newark Cemetery 12 October 1944 Master DM424 16 SFTS RAF Newton. While practicing overshoots at RAF Tollerton there was a fire in the cockpit, DM424 crashed on Clipstone Road Plumtree. AC2 Zdzislaw Maciula ML - Born 1922 Rawa Ruska Poland. Pilot under training killed, buried Newark cemetery. If I could have a copy of the photo please ! 16/17 June 1944 Mosquito HJ767 60 OTU. Take off RAF High Ercall on night training ( Number 22 Course 8 wks Intruder training ) , tried to make emergency landing at Newton after the loss of an engine but spun into the ground and caught fire West of the airfield killing both crew. P/O Joseph De Roeck - Son of Theophilis Everard De Roeck and Mary De Roeck buried Nottingham South Cemetery Sgt Finlay Hearn - Son of James Wilfrid Hearn, and of Annie Winifred Hearn, of Banbury, Oxfordshire buried Oxford Botley Cemetery
Thanks Ossington. 25/3/43 F/Lt Witold Czerwinski 2xKW 2xML ODRK injured. 7 July 1943 Master W8706 16 SFTS RAF Newton. W8706 crashed at Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, whilst on a training flight. LAC Jozef Gorski ML - Born 1921 Brzesc Poland killed. Buried Newark Cemetery. Not 25/5/43
14 January 1944 Miles Master DL941, 16 SFTS RAF Newton. Collided with Master EM385 during taxiing at RAF Tollerton. W/O Mieczyslaw Popek VM V kl 4xKW 2xML CV 2 Bars - Born 1916 Siedlce, Poland, killed. Served with 303 Sqn and in the Middle East before becoming an instructor at 16SFTS. Buried Newark Cemetery W/O Tadeusz Bubess - unhurt, served in 316 Sqn died 9/5/1988 at Nottingham ashes interred at Newark Cemetery. Miles Master EM385, both crew unhurt. P/O Zygmunt Malinowski - Served with 305 Sqn. Died 16/6/1992 buried in Nottingham. Sgt Stanislaw Drazek - Served with 315 Sqn. Died 6/1/1975 buried in Norwich. Has anybody the aircraft number for Miles Master DL941 ? Photo from second half of 1944 so it wasn't 39 (unless they reused numbers ?)
