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.
Check our Research databases: Database List

.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

71 squadron crest
17.05.1941 No. 71 Squadron Hurricane II Z3186 F/O. Kolendorski

Operation: Interception

Date: 17th May 1941 (Saturday)

Unit: 71 Squadron RAF (Eagle Sqdn.)

Type: Hurricane IIb

Serial: Z3186

Coded: XR-?

Location: English Channel off Clacton.

Pilot: F/O. Stanley Michel Kolendorski 84875 RAFVR Age 26. Killed.

REASON FOR LOSS: 

After being scrambled early in the morning to intercept Ju88’s and He111’s coming cross the channel. 

At 20.000 ft they came across the escorting Me109’s over the Thames Estuary. Mike Kolendorski turned his aircraft sharply to intercept, but a second pair opened fire on him. Warnings were given on the R/T but they were too late. It would seem that he was killed in the cockpit as no attempt seemed to have been made to bale out. The others saw his aircraft crash at 18:10 hrs.

P/O. Kolendorski's body was washed ashore in the Netherlands on the 13th August 1941.

F/O. Stanley Michel Kolendorski. Rockanje (Zeeweg) General Cemetery, Holland. Plot 2. Joint grave 33. Son of Adam and Katy Kolendorski from Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. (Katy was from Warsaw, Poland) He had been living in California with his wife Charlotte May prior to enlisting in Canada to join the RAF. His wife then filed for divorce because of this. Born February 24th 1915.

Note: (Grave shared with Fl/Sgt. Gerald Thomas Reyburn R/126898 RCAF)

With thanks to Joe Punderson from the RAF Commands Forum for much of this information.

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 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.
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 - 2024
Last Modified: 27 June 2019, 12:18

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