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.

317 squadron badge
14.07.1943 No. 317 Squadron Spitfire Vb EP560 F/O. Mroczyk

Operation: Ramrod 133

Date: 14th July 1943 (Wednesday)

Unit: No. 317 Squadron (Polish)

Type: Spitfire Vb

Serial: EP560

Base: RAF Perranporth, Devon

Location: Over France, returned to Ibsley

Pilot: F/O. Czesław Jan Mroczyk P-1727 - 784807 PAF Age 23. Survived - injured

REASON FOR LOSS:

Took off at 07.55 hrs from RAF Ibsley, Wiltshire to take part in guarding a formation of Fortresses. Approximately 40 miles inside France they were attacked by Fw190s and one made a head on attack to EP560. He banked quickly first to the right and then to the left, still the Luftwaffe pilot managed to hit him, slightly wounding him in the arm.


Fl/Sgt. Karasinsky came from behind and attacked the Fw190: firing a burst he saw black smoke emerge from the engine, then flames. Turning away he joined F/O. Mrocyk in a dive and escorted him back to Ibsey. Both aircraft returning to RAF Perranporth later that day.

During the morning of Wednesday 8th November 1944 on an armed recce he was strafing in Spitfire MK963, when he came under fire and was hit. The pilot managed to bale out, evade capture and return to his unit later.

F/O. Mroczyk - pictured left, was a former instructor at 58 OTU at Grangemouth, Scotland.

Notes: both aircraft were built at the Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory. EP560 had the Merlin 456 engine fitted whilst the LF.IX MK963 had the Merlin 66.


Burial Details:

None, F/O. Czesław Jan Mroczyk survived the war, passed away on the 01st October 1999 - buried at Poznań, Poland.

Researched for relatives of the pilot. With thanks to the following for further information supplied by the 1333 (Grangemouth Spitfire) Squadron and the Grangemouth Spitfire Memorial Trust who provided me with so much information and assistance during my visit. Other sources as shown.

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: 21 August 2018, 21:59

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