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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.
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317 Squadron Crest
01.07.1949 237 OTU Spitfire PR.XIX PS925 WO. Fraczek.

Operation: Training

Date: 1st July 1949 (Friday)

Unit: 237 Operational Conversion Unit (OTU)

Type: Spitfire PR.XIX

Serial: PS925

Code: -

Base: RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland

Location: At field RAF Leuchars

Pilot: WO. 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 Operational Training Unit (OTU), Grangemouth, Scotland, then served with 317 (P) Squadron.

Taken on or about 6th May 1942. Front row: Sgt. Werner Ryszard Kirchner 783095, Plt Off. Adam Tadeusz Habela 783464 (KIA), Pt Off. Zdzisław Uchwat 783580, Pkt Off. Zygmunt Jan Nentwich 793933, Plt Off. Czesław Jan Mroczyk 784807, Plt Off. 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:

WO. Wacław Frączek. Leuchars Cemetery. Born on the 2nd January 1920 at Lelowice, Proszowice, Poland. WO Frączek left a widow, Krystyna Sierewicz and a one year old daughter Yvonne. Wacław Frączek and his wife escaped from Poland to France and then onto England. Krystyna remarried to a Frederick R.T. Wyatt in 1956.

Grave photo courtesy 'The Family Genealogist'. Thanks to Angela Adams, whose mother was Yvonne, for the NoK details for WO. Frączek (Nov 2021). For further details our thanks to the following sources shown below.

RS 10.11.2021 - NoK details updated

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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', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. 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.
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