AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

• Kracker Archive
• Allied Losses
• Archiwum Polish
• Paradie Canadian
• RCAF
• RAAF
• RNZAF
• USA
• Searchable Lists

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.
Check our Research databases: Database List
.
We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.
308 Squadron Crest
14.05.1943 No. 308 Squadron Spitfire V W3774 ZF-X F/O. Habela

Operation: Training

Date: 14th May 1943 (Friday)

Unit: No. 308 Squadron (Polish - City of Kraków)

Type: Spitfire V

Serial: W3774 (Presentation Spitfire 'Samson' - donated by A. McAlpine and Son

Code: ZF-X

Base: RAF Church Fenton

Location: Stockwell Stud Farm, Kirkby Wharfe

Pilot: F/O. Adam Tadeusz Habela 783464 (P/1642) PAF Age 26. Killed

Pilot: Sgt. Jan Osoba 780747 PAF Age 22. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

During a formation training exercise these two Spitfires collided at 16:45 hrs. over Kirkby Wharfe in Yorkshire. Both pilots were killed when they fell on outbuildings at Stockwell Stud Farm.

Sgt. Obela was flying Spitfire V P8746 ZF-N.

58 Operational Training Unit, Grangemouth, Scotland, Course 21:

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. Jan Paweł Gajewski 793793, Sgt. Janusz Stanisław Marian Bzowski 781616, Sgt. Wacław Fraczek 792124 kia, Sgt. Aleksander Kwasniewski 793827
Back Row: Sgt. Kazimierz Benzinski 792134, Sgt. Wiktor Piotr Karasinski 793871, Sgt. Jaroslav Slepica, Sgt. Franciszek Stanisław Malczewski 780950, Sgt. Josef Blaha AFM 788010 kia, Sgt. Leon Zygarlicki 783220 kia, Wiktor Piotr Karasinski 793871.

Burial details:

F/O. Adam Tadeusz Habela. Northwood Cemetery. Service Section H. Grave 385. Born 18th November 1916 at Krakow, Poland.

Sgt. Jan Osoba. Blackpool Cemetery (Leyton) Section BB Grave 473. Born 11th November 1920 at Brezinka, Poland.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', other sources as quoted below:

KTY 26.11.2019

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
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 Captain 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', Andrew Mielnik: Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Polish graves: https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/, PoW Museum Żagań, 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.
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 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 - 2025 Last Modified: 25 March 2021, 18:58

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