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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.
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304 Squadron Crest
06/07.05.1941 No. 304 Squadron (P) Wellington IC R1443 P/O. Antoni Sym

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

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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.
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