Operation: Ramrod 541

Date: 08th September 1943 (Wednesday)

Unit: No. 302 Squadron (P)

Type: Spitfire V

Serial: AA928

Code: WX-U

Base: RAF Northolt

Location: Zillebeke, near Ypres, Belgium

Pilot: W/O. Bronislaw Malinowski 782059 PAF Age 21. Evaded

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off from RAF Northolt at 08:15 with 11 others to assist escorting 72 B-26 Marauder bombers to Lille.

On return the Squadron was bounced by 7 Me109s and two of the unit were shot down.

The other:

Spitfire V AA909 Flown by 25 year old, F/O. Czesław Śnieć 783627 PAF.

Both pilots evaded capture, with F/O. Śnieć returning via Spain and Gibraltar on the 17th January 1944.

W/O. Malinowski suffered injuries which were treated in secret at a hospital in Ypres. Evaded via France, Spain and Gibraltar on the 23rd December 1943. Sadly four of the helpers from the 'Comète' line assisting W/O. Malinowski were later captured and sent to concentration camps they were never to return.

Arthur Verougstraete died in Mauthausen on the 21st October 1944.

Michel Buyse died in Dora Nordhausen on the 14th February 1945.

Adolf Coryn died in Buchenwald on the 11th March 1945.

Jules Opsomer no place or date of death known.

On the 08th May 1976 64 year old, Bronislaw Malinowski returned to the village of Madonna to unveil a plaque dedicated to these brave Belgian patriots, they will always be remembered.

Further details of his evasion can be read on the Le Réseau Comète website here.

Burial details:

F/O. Bronislaw Malinowski DFC - born on the 12th February 1912 at Lwów, Poland (now Ukraine). During the war he made 113 combat flights with 3 confirmed claims and 1 probable. After war end he joined the Royal Pakistani Air Force - afterwards remained in exile in England. Died 01st May 1982 age 70 in London, England. After cremation his ashes were brought to the cemetery at Ksawerów, Poland.

Fl/Lt. Czesław Śnieć DFC - born on the 31st January 1919 at Kutno in Poland. Died on the 13th April 1972 after illness contracted in Nigeria, age just 53. He now rests in Szczecin Cemetery, Poland.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to sources as quoted below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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