AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.
Our only wish is to honour and respect sacrifices made and to record historical facts: but if in so doing any of our content is inadvertently inappropriate, please contact us via Helpdesk and we will correct the matter.
317 Squadron Crest
01.07.1949 237 OTU Spitfire PRXIX PS925 W/O. Fraczek

Operation: Training

Date: 01st July 1949 (Friday)

Unit: No. 237 Operational Conversion Unit

Type: Spitfire PRXIX

Serial: PS925

Code: -

Base: RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland

Location: At field RAF Leuchars

Pilot: W/O. Wacław Frączek 792124 RAF Age 28. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Shortly after take off after having been airborne for just 10 minutes he requested permission to land. The controllers gave it but he never acknowledged.

The aircraft was then seen to spin into the ground from about 800 ft - killing the Polish pilot. It was established that he had suffered an engine problem.

During the war he trained at 58 OTU, Grangemouth, Scotland, then served with 317 (P) Squadron.

Taken on or about 06th May 1942. Front row: Sgt. Werner Ryszard Kirchner 783095, P/O. Adam Tadeusz Habela 783464 (KIA), P/O. Zdzisław Uchwat 783580, P/O. Zygmunt Jan Nentwich 793933, P/O. Czesław Jan Mroczyk 784807, P/O. Bronisław Jerzy Skibinski P-0289, Sgt. Tadeusz Lubicz-Lisowski 781410 (KIA).

Centre Row: Sgt. Wacław Korwel 783144, Sgt. Stanisław Domanski 782357 (KIA), Sgt. Gajewski, Sgt. Janusz Stanisław Marian Bzowski 781616, Sgt. Wacław Fraczek 792124, Sgt. Aleksander Kwasniewski 793827.

Rear Row: Sgt. Kazimierz Benzinski 792134, Sgt. Wiktor Piotr Karasinski 793871, Sgt. Jaroslav Slepica, Sgt. Franciszek Stanisław Malczewski 780950, Sgt. Josef Blaha 788010 (KIA), Sgt. Leon Zygarlicki 783220 (KIA), Wiktor Piotr Karasinski 793871.

Burial details:

W/O. Wacław Frączek. Leuchars Cemetery. Born on the 02nd January 1920 at Lelowice, Proszowice, Poland. No further details.

Grave photo courtesy 'The Family Genealogist'. For further details our thanks to the following sources shown below.

KTY 08.02.2019

Acknowledgements: Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2021 Last Modified: 08 February 2019, 19:49

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor