Stanisław Skarżyński
- Birth Date:
- 01.05.1899
- Death date:
- 26.06.1942
- Extra names:
- Stanisław Skarżyński
- Categories:
- Colonel, Pilot, WWII participant
- Nationality:
- pole
- Cemetery:
- Set cemetery
Stanisław Jakub Skarżyński (1 May 1899 − 26 June 1942) was a Lt. Colonel in the Polish Air Force and aviator famous for his transatlantic solo flight in 1933.
Early military career
He was born in Warta. In 1916−17 he was a member of the Polish Military Organisation (POW). In November 1918 he volunteered for the newly created Polish Army, and commanded units disarming German soldiers in Warta. He then fought in the Polish-Soviet War with the infantry, being promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in 1919. He was wounded but returned to the front. During the battle of Radzymin he was severely wounded in one leg on 16 August 1920. The infected wound needed long rehabilitation, and Skarżyński always limped thereafter. Unable to continue serving in the infantry, he managed to transfer to the military aviation arm.
He completed pilot training in Bydgoszcz in 1925, and served in the 1st Aviation Regiment in Warsaw. In 1927 he became a Flying Captain (kapitan pilot). Between February 1 and 5 May 1931 together with Lt. Andrzej Markiewicz, he flew around Africa in the Polish-designed aircraft PZL Ł-2 (registration SP-AFA), a total distance of 25,770 km.
Transatlantic flight
On May 7/May 8, 1933 Skarzynski flew solo in a small single-seater Polish tourist airplane RWD-5bis (SP-AJU) across the southern Atlantic, from Saint-Louis, Senegal to Maceio in Brazil. The flight took 20 hours 30 minutes (17 hours 15 minutes above the ocean). He crossed 3,582 km, establishing a distance World Record in a FAI tourist plane category II (weight below 450 kg / 1000 lb). The plane had no radio nor safety equipment, due to weight restrictions. The RWD-5bis remains the smallest plane to ever to have flown across the Atlantic. Plans of his flight were kept secret. It became a part of Warsaw - Rio de Janeiro flight, between 27 April and 10 May 17,885 km long. He then flew on to Buenos Aires and returned to Europe by ship.
Later service and World War II
In 1934 he was promoted to Major and commanded a bomber squadron, and from 1938 he was deputy C/O of the 4th Aviation Regiment in Toruń, with a rank of Lt.Col. (podpułkownik pilot). In April 1939 he became President of the Polish Aero Club. In August 1939 he was sent to Romania as the deputy Air Attaché.
After the outbreak of World War II he helped in transferring Polish pilots, fleeing from Poland, through Romania to France where the Polish Air Force was recreated. In 1940 Skarżyński after the fall of France he helped ship 17,000 Polish airmen Britain where he became Commanding Officer of Polish Flying Schools at RAF Hucknall and then RAF Newton.
He requested a combat posting, and was assigned as C.O. of RAF Lindholme and No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron. On 26 June 1942 returning from a mission over Bremen, his Wellington had to ditch in the North Sea due to engine damage. Skarżyński ditched the heavy damaged aircraft in the stormy sea and all the crew were saved. Skarżyński, leaving the Wellington last, was washed out to sea and was the only crew member lost. He was later buried with full military honours on the Dutch island of Terschelling.
Honours
He was awarded the Virtuti Militari 5th class (for the Polish-Soviet war), Cross of Independence, Order of Polonia Restituta 4th class, Krzyż Walecznych (four times), Golden and Silver Cross of Merit, the French Legion d'Honneur and the Brazilian Order of the Southern Cross. The FAI awarded him the Louis Blériot medal (1936) of which he was one of the first recipients.
He was made a full Colonel posthumously(pułkownik pilot) and the President of Poland awarded him the Order of Polonia Restituta 2nd class posthumously . There are numerous streets and schools named after him. He is the Patron of the Aeroclub of Włocławek and of the 13th Transport Squadron in Kraków. On 10 August 2009 the Minister of National Defense signed the Decree to appoint him to be Patron of 8 Air Base in Kraków - Balice, which now is named after him.
It should be noted that there was another Polish pilot named Stanisław Skarżyński. He was shot down and killed during the Polish-Soviet war on 15 July 1920.
Source: wikipedia.org
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14.02.1919 | The Polish-Soviet war started
The Polish–Soviet War (February 1919 – March 1921) was an armed conflict that pitted Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine against the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic over the control of an area equivalent to today's Ukraine and parts of modern-day Belarus. Ultimately the Soviets, following on from their Westward Offensive of 1918–19, hoped to fully occupy Poland. Although united under communist leadership, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine were theoretically two separate independent entities since the Soviet republics did not unite into the Soviet Union until 1922.
15.08.1920 | Battle of Warsaw
The Battle of Warsaw refers to the decisive Polish victory in 1920 at the apogee of the Polish–Soviet War. Poland, on the verge of total defeat, repulsed and defeated the invading Red Army. It was, and still is, celebrated as a great victory for the Polish people over Russia and communism. As Soviet forces invaded Poland in summer 1920, the Polish army retreated westward in disorder. The Polish forces seemed on the verge of disintegration and observers predicted a decisive Soviet victory. The battle of Warsaw was fought from August 12–25, 1920 as Red Army forces commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky approached the Polish capital of Warsaw and the nearby Modlin Fortress. On August 16, Polish forces commanded by Józef Piłsudski counterattacked from the south, disrupting the enemy's offensive, forcing the Russian forces into a disorganized withdrawal eastward and behind the Neman River. Estimated Russian losses were 10,000 killed, 500 missing, 30,000 wounded, and 66,000 taken prisoner, compared with Polish losses of some 4,500 killed, 10,000 missing, and 22,000 wounded. The defeat crippled the Red Army; Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, called it "an enormous defeat" for his forces.[3] In the following months, several more Polish follow-up victories saved Poland's independence and led to a peace treaty with Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine later that year, securing the Polish state's eastern frontiers until 1939.
08.05.1933 | Stanisław Skarżyński zakończył przelot przez Atlantyk polskim samolotem RWD-5bis
W marcu 1933 oblatano specjalny jednomiejscowy wariant rekordowy RWD-5, oznaczony RWD-5bis i noszący znaki SP-AJU. W miejscu tylnej kabiny, w której zlikwidowano okna, zainstalowany był dodatkowy zbiornik paliwa o pojemności 300 l, a w skrzydłach dwa dalsze zbiorniki po 113 l, zwiększając ogólną pojemność zbiorników do 752 l.