Operation: Air firing training

Date: 09th September 1941 (Tuesday)

Unit: No. 302 Squadron (Polish - City of Pozne)

Type: Hurricane IIb

Serial: Z3676

Code: WX-H

Base: RAF Warmwell, Dorset.

Location: Weymouth Bay off Weymouth, Dorset.

Pilot: Sgt. Tadeusz Wlodzimierz Pytlak 783497 PAF Age 22. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

After training, in 1941 he was assigned to the 302nd Fighter Squadron in Warmwell (Dorset). On September 9, 1941, on Hawker Hurricane II B no. E 3676 he made a training flight, shooting at ground targets. During shooting practice at 15:55 the plane caught on a power pole near Chesil beach and crashed to the ground.

Pilot cadet Tadeusz Pytlak was killed and was buried in the church cemetery of the Holy Trinity in Warmwell (Dorset). Commemorated on the plaque of fallen airmen at the Monument to Polish Aviators in Northolt and Warsaw.

Sgt. Tadeusz Wlodzimierz Pytlak. Warmwell (Holy Trinity) Churchyard. Born 8 June 1919 Next of Kin details are not currently available.

Tadeusz Włodzimierz Pytlak was born on June 8, 1919 in the village of Stawiska in the district of Węgrów (Pytlak Tadeusz Włodzimierz was born in the family of Stanisław and Bronisława Pytlak - W. Grudniak).

In 1937 he completed a gliding course in Ustianowa. In 1938, after graduating from high school, he was admitted to the Aviation Cadet School in Dęblin.

In 1939, he was a fully trained fighter pilot. In September 1939, under the command of Lieutenant Witold Urbanowicz he was evacuated to Romania. He crossed the Romanian border on September 17, 1939. In mid-October 1939, he sailed on the Greek ship Aghios Nikolaos from the port of Balcic to Beirut, and then was evacuated by French ship to France. October 29, 1939 arrived in Marseille, from where he was directed to the barracks in Istres-en-Provence and then directed to the Lyon-Bron base.

In February 1940, along with a group of 23 cadets, he was assigned to the Polish squadron of Great Britain. After refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the King of England, the cadets were sent back to France. After the collapse of France, he was evacuated from the port of Bayonne to Liverpool. Subsequently posted to RAF base at Kirkham and later to Blackpool.

Pilot cadet Tadeusz Pytlak was killed and was buried in the church cemetery of the Holy Trinity in Warmwell (Dorset). Commemorated on the plaque of fallen airmen at the Monument to Polish Aviators in Northolt and Warsaw. (courtesy Alun Nunn)

Researched for relatives of the pilot. With thanks to the following for further information supplied Andrzej Michalski for grave photograph, 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', Polish Squadron O.R.B. 'website'. Alun Nunn.