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Operation: Le Havre
Date: 06/07th May 1941 (Tuesday/Wednesday)
Unit: No. 304 Squadron (Polish)
Type: Wellington IC
Serial: R1443
Code: NZ-?
Base: RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire
Location: North Sea off Texel
Pilot: P/O. Antoni Sym P-0014 PAF Age 30. Missing - believed killed
Pilot 2: Sgt. Władysław Józef Żołnowski 792950 PAF Age 35. Killed
Obs: P/O. Feliks Sobieralski P-0029 PAF Age 27. Killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Leon Hampel 782237 PAF Age 23. Killed
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Sgt. Stanisław Białek 780723 PAF Age 21. Missing - believed killed
Air/Gnr: P/O. Stanisław Feliks Duchnicki P-0022 PAF Age 29. Missing - believed killed
REASON FOR LOSS:
Taking off at 22:01 hrs from RAF Syerston in Nottinghamshire together with 16 other Wellingtons.
The target chosen was the German installations at Le Havre.
Understood to have been hit by anti-aircraft fire from German Ships off Texel with the aircraft coming down in the North Sea. The bodies of three of the crew were eventually washed up both in Holland and England some time later.
Burial details:
P/O. Antoni Sym. Remembered on the Polish War Memorial at Northolt, England, also on the Memorial to Fallen Airman in Warsaw, Poland. Born on the 14th February 1911, from Lwów, Poland (now Ukraine).
Sgt. Władysław Józef Żołnowski. Newark-Upon Trent Cemetery. Section N. Grave 304. Born on the 08th October 1906, from Włocławek, Poland.
P/O. Feliks Sobieralski. Noordwijk General Cemetery. Plot 3. Grave 3. Born on the 24th January 1914, from Toruń, Poland.
Sgt. Leon Hampel. Eastbourne Cemetery (Langley) Section B. Grave 147. Born on the 01st February 1918, from Wieruszów, Poland.
Sgt. Stanisław Białek. Remembered on the Polish War Memorial at Northolt, England, also on the Memorial to Fallen Airman in Warsaw, Poland. Born on the 25th March 1920, from Brody, Poland.
P/O. Stanisław Feliks Duchnicki. Remembered on the Polish War Memorial at Northolt, England, also on the Memorial to Fallen Airman in Warsaw, Poland. Born on the 10th August 1912, from Kęty, Oświęcim, Poland
For further details our thanks to the sources shown below. With thanks to Antoni Sym, nephew of pilot who contacted us in September 2017. Also to Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii’.
KTY 27.06.2016 KTY - Pilot photo added 27.09.2017
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember
them. - Laurence
Binyon
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Last Modified: 14 March 2021, 14:16