[bobbysocks]

Jan Dzwonek - Within an Ace of Death

The 161st Fighter Escadrille (consisting of III/6 Squadron), commanded by Cpt. Wladyslaw Szczesniewski, was assigned after the mobilization order to the "Lodz" Army. On 1 September 1939, despite being vectored many times against enemy planes, the pilots of the unit were unable to contact or engage the Luftwaffe. The next day, Squadron leader Mjr. Stanislaw Morawski assigned four pilots (Sec.Lt. Szubert, Sec.Lt. Dzwonek, cadet Kremarski, Sgt. Pretkiewicz) to fly a sunrise mission to ambush the enemy. During darkness, the four-plane formation was moved to a secondary airfield in Wola Wezykowa near Zdunska Wola. Dzwonek, together with Kremarski, downed a Henschel 126 on a reconnaissance mission. About 16:00 hours the same pair took off again to intercept Heinkel 111's. But the Polish pilots were surprised by Bf 109's - - Cadet Kremarski, was hit in the head and killed, his plane crashing in the forest near Sedziejowice, and Sec.Lt. Dzwonek was wounded in his left arm and leg. Dzwonek describes what happened next:

In a bleak mood I returned to the field airfield of our squadron. The plane had a lot of bullet holes. The cockpit instrument panel was almost all destroyed by Bf 109 shells. The only instrument untouched was the compass, and it showed me right way. Over Lask, our AA, defending a rail station, 'welcomed' me with gunfire. Luckily, they missed.

Suddenly, I noticed an unusual show. A few Bf 110's battled with our aircraft. The Germans had a great advantage. I had to decide whether to help my colleagues or safely land on the airfield. Without hesitating, I pulled full throttle. I moved my injured leg to avoid disturbing my steering. My left hand, sticky with blood, I laid on my thigh. I wedged my healthy leg into the rudder pedals for sure steering. Then, I flew away from the dogfighting planes to climb. Under me was Lodz city. Soon I reached a 500 meter altitude advantage over the swarm of clashing aircraft; I then trimmed the aircraft to a "nose-heavy" position to keep the P.11 better stabilized when diving.

I chose as a target the nearest Bf 110 and dropped my machine towards him. From the nearest distance I opened fire, the stream of bullets hitting the fuselage. High speed didn't permit me to open fire again. Black crosses passed nearby as I pulled up to avoid crashing with the Bf 110. I was again higher and turned to a second attack. After the second pass, the German slipped from my gunsight in a sharp turn. I wasn't able to follow him, because in diving the speed could reach 700 km/h. I flew down near the German and to drop him from my backside, I pulled the stick sharply. The inertial energy squeezed me into the seat. At the same time I blacked- out. Completing the pull-out, I was flying directly into the center of the dogfight. In my gunsight I caught one Bf 110, but the pass was too short. He banked right and escaped. I tired to follow him by banking inside his turn, but then I discovered another German sliding onto my tail. In some kind of unusual half turn I slipped under his gunfire, yet still received a few hits in my left wingtip. Again I encountered another Bf 110, and after a short pass, had to dodge again...

All the time I tried to join to my battling colleagues, without success. I attacked the next fighter. After a good targeting pass, the Bf 110 disengaged. He was damaged. Following the attack I noticed other Bf 11O's. One of them escorted the damaged plane and they left combat. I turned back to main arena and noticed a Bf 110 under fire by two P.11's. I shot a short burst at him. After our pair of 'Pezetel' fighters followed another Bf 110, I caught him in my crosshairs. German pilot discovered me and left our pair, who just burned first one Bf 110.

With the engine of my plane still at full throttle, I climbed up over the battling machines to begin my next attack. A German in a left turn tried to dip under my stream of bullets. Then we flew head to head, the Bf 110 growing to fill my gunsight. I pressed the trigger, sending a long burst into the Bf 110 and immediately pulled the stick back to avoid a crash. My fire was well targeted and effective, but my P.11 was being attacked from behind by another Bf 110 and in seconds my machine was on fire. Flames reached the cockpit and burned my face. I had to bail out.

I began to fry in the cockpit. My struggle with the seat belt and shoulder harness was so long, that I was almost resigned to my fate. Covering my face and eyes against the fire with my left hand, I opened the belts and with a great heave, bailed out the port side. We had had instructions to only open our parachute near the ground (after incidents of airmen being strafed in their chutes on 1st September, Polish HQ ordered pilots to open their parachute as low as possible). I looked at my hands - - they were white, simply fried, and I thought that 2000 meters lower they might be totally useless. I pulled the handle, and the pain was like holding molten metal. A moment later I felt the jerk - - the parachute was open.

I was hanging in the chute at about 2000 meters altitude when I noticed tracers passing near to me. They missed, but this pirate of the Third Reich not give up and attacked me again. This second time the wave of bullets also spared me. Shells passed to the left and right of my body. The German didn't get a third chance to kill me because my friend Jan Malinowski from 162nd Escadrille (flew on P.7a !) successfully attacked the German. On the first attack he set the right engine of the Bf 110 on fire, and on the second pass killed the pilot. The aircraft fell, crashing in pieces.

During my landing I damaged my backbone. I was transported to the hospital in Pabianice, where I heard someone say I had no chance to see next sunrise. I did go into a coma for 20 hours. When I awakened, the doctor told me, that in the same hospital was a Bf 110 pilot - - the one I downed."

The adversaries of eight PZL fighters of Polish Squadron III/6 were a formation of 23 Messerschmitt Bf 110's of I./ZG76. German pilots that day reported 2 victories (Leutnant Helmuth Lent and Oberleutnant Nagel), at the loss of three aircraft. Polish pilots claimed 2 kills: one shared by Sec.Lt. Koc and Sec.Lt. Glowczynski (the Bf 110 fell on a field in the village of Sladkowice, near Pabianice). The second victory was by Corp. Jan Malinowski of 162. Eskadrille. The third victory should probably be added to score of brave Sec.Lt. Dzwonek. Because he wasn't able to report his Bf 110 kill, his official victory score was only 1/2 of a Hs 126.

Besides the death of Sec.Lt. Edward Kremarski in further combat and the shooting down of Dzwonek, Squadron losses included one P.11c, piloted by Wieslaw Choms. He crashed while landing after combat. With Polish victories matching the number of Polish aircraft lost in this battle, you can appreciate the great effort of the Polish pilots, outnumbered 3-1 by enemy aircraft of far more modern design as was the Bf 110 C-1.

As he recovered form his burns, Jan Dzwonek changed hospitals several times to avoid German arrest. In December of 1939 he changed his name to Jan Jasinski (he used this name also in post-war period). After the war he flew as a glider pilot in the Polish Aeroclub. Jan Dzwonek-Jasinski died in Warsaw on 13 May 1982.

Eugeniusz "Dziubek" Horbaczewski and his Last Battle.

Eugeniusz Horbaczewski was born in 1917 in Kiev, but spent his childhood in Poland. His family moved to Brzesc over the Bug river. Since his early years Horbaczewski was fascinated by aviation. First, he built flying models, but as he matured, he started glider courses, quickly earning his class A and B ratings. On 14 August, 1935 he received his Bezmiechowa glider C rating. Next, he went to Officer Flying School in Deblin, where under the instructor Witold Urbanowicz he was awarded the rank of Pilot, Second Leutnant.

In September of 1939 Horbaczewski did not take part in any aerial battles against the Luftwaffe. On September 17th, with a large group of Polish aviators, he crossed the Romanian border and via Yugoslavia, Greece and France, arrived in Britain. After completing fighter training in British aircraft he was assigned to fly "Spitfires" with the Polish 303rd Squadron. To his squadron mates, Horbaczewski was also known as "Dziubek".

Horbaczewski first met with enemy planes on 6 October 1941, when the 303 Squadron escorted bombers over France. He came up empty on his first attack on three Bf 109s. Noticing a formation of eight Bf 109s, "Dziubek" decided not to attack, but soon saw a lone Messerschmitt which he jumped and put several bursts into. The German began burning, but the victim's wingmen forced Horbaczewski to disengage into the clouds. He landed on fuel fumes at West Malling, the first British airfield he spotted. The German aircraft was claimed as a probable.

During a ground strike on 13 December 1941 "Dziubek's" "Spitfire" was lightly damaged by flak. On 13 March 1942 the tail of his plane was riddled by much more threatening bullet holes. This day, during "Operation Circus" 303 Squadron's "Spitfires" covered "Bostons" attacking targets near Hazebrouck. From the sun suddenly appeared a gaggle of Bf 109s. In the ensuing combat, 303th Squadrons pilots claimed 2 enemy fighters destroyed by Cpt. Kolaczkowski, Cpt. Drobinski, and 1 probable by Lt. Lipinski. But the victories came at the loss of "Dziubek's" Flight "A" leader - the veteran pilot Lokuciewski parachuted down but broke his leg and was captured.

Horbaczewski's first confirmed victory was 4 April 1942, over France in the area of St. Omer. Squadron 303 was escorting a formation of twelve British "Boston's", when "Dziubek" noticed a Focke Wulf 190 opening fire at another "Spitfire", probably piloted by Lt. Daszewski. He attacked at full speed, and from 25 meters distance opened fire. The Fw 190 followed the smoke column of its victim "Spitfire", but too late to prevent the death of Lt. Daszewski, a veteran of "Battle of Britan".

On 16 April 1942, 303 Squadron again covered "Bostons" as they attacked Le Havre in "Operation Ramrod No. 20". Horbaczewski spotted a lone German fighter preparing to jump Polish Wing Commander Mjr. Tadeusz Rolski. From 100 meters Horbaczewski fired a burst, unfortunately missing. His second burst was devastating - the Bf 109 was nearly cut in two by the shells - and the German pilot bailed out.

On 19 August 1942 saw the invasion of Dieppe. When the Polish Squadron encountered a group of fifteen Fw-190s loaded with bombs, Horbaczewski and his wingman Sgt. Stasik attacked the last pair of Germans. Dziubek's first burst started one Focke Wulf smoking, the second burst totally destroyed the fighter. It was a good day for pilots of Squadron 303 - - they downed eight German planes and claimed another five as probables. That brought Horbaczewski victories to 3-1-0.

At the end of 1942 Horbaczewski joined a group of selected Polish pilots in North Africa under the command Stanislaw Skalski . After spectacular successes, they received the nickname of "Skalski's Circus". On 28 March 1943 Horbaczewski downed a Ju 88 near Sfax 1. On April 2nd his victim was a Bf 109.

6 April 1943 proved to be a very dramatic day. Spotting a formation of five Bf 109s, Dziubek left his flight and attacked alone. In first run he scored one "Messer" when its pilot bailed out. But 'Kameraden' soon hit the lone "Spitfire" ("ZX-1" EN 459). Horbaczewski dived with his flaming plane but as he was getting ready to jump, the fire suddenly stopped. He was able to coax the damaged plane to glider land at the nearest Allied airfield - Gabes. The next day he got a Jeep ride back to his home base, but his aircraft was written off. On 22 April 1943, in a major air battle over the Bay of Tunis, Horbaczewski shot down two Bf 109s. He had become the most successful pilot in the Polish Fighting Team, with five confirmed kills.

After the North African campaign, Horbaczewski took command of the RAF 43rd Squadron, 324th Fighter Wing. They flew the "Spitfire" Mk Vc, with squadron codes of "FT". In combat over Sicily and southern Italy, Horbaczewski added three victories to his scoreboard, two of which were Bf 109s he downed within 40 seconds!

On 16 February 1944 Horbaczewski took command of Polish 315 Fighter Squadron "City of Deblin," with squadron codes "PK". In March of1944, the Squadron was re-equipped, from "Spitfire" Mk Vs to "Mustang" Mk IIIs. On June 22, 1944 "Dziubek" had a performance of remarkable courage. During a ground attack on German units near Cherbourg, the aircraft piloted by Lt. Tadeusz Tamowicz was damaged and forced to land. Horbaczewski skillfully landed nearby on an airstrip just built by Americans. He found Tamowicz, who had injuries to both legs, and brought him back to "Dziubek's" P-51. Horbaczewski flew the two of them across the Channel to the home base of Coolham.

In the summer of 1944 the 315 Fighter Squadron took part in special missions to hunt V-1 flying bombs, Horbaczewski knocking down four of the squadron's total of 53 V-1s. On 30 June 1944 the 315th squadron escorted "Beaufighters" on a long mission to Norway. In combat, about 50 km off Norway's coast, "Dziubek" scored a single Bf 109 kill. He shared another one when his guns jammed. Squadron victories for that battle were: six Bf 109s, one Fw 190, and one Bf 110, without any losses

On 18 August 1944, at 7:20 a.m., a dozen "Mustangs" under Horbaczewski's lead took off from Branzett airbase, on fighter sweep "Rodeo 385". The mission target was in the area of Cormeilles-Romilly. When the Squadron was 13 km on north-east of Beauvais, Polish pilots noticed a group of sixty Fw 190 fighters of II./JG 26 taking off and landing.

The Polish pilots had the advantage of altitude and surprise. In 10 minutes of heated battle, the 315th claimed 16 kills, 1 probable, and 3 damaged, while the II./JG 26 pilots claimed 6 (of which 3 were officially confirmed). Amazingly, none of the Polish "Mustangs" were hit by a single German bullet, except for the P-51 flown by the Squadron Leader.

"Dziubek" destroyed three German fighters, but in the process, was shot down himself. His wingman, Lt. Bozydar Nowosielski, witnessed "Dziubek's" victories, but none of 315's pilots saw the moment "Dziubek" was shot down. When Lt. Eugeniusz Horbaczewski's "Mustang" crashed near the village of Vellennes, the pilot's final kill board read: 16 1/2 - 1 - 1.

Below are tables data about claimed victories and real losses by pilots for both sides in the battle over Beauvais on 18 August 1944. Note: it's higly possible that in that area flew and got losses also few FW 190's of JG 2, and becouse the log book of JG 2 is missed till present day, we cannot be certain of real number Luftwaffe's destroyed fighters. Interestingly, a P-38 "Lightning" appears as a confirmed kill for a Luftwaffe pilot.