Last Polish BoB pilot passes

From the Telegraph obituary:

Wing Commander Tadeusz Sawicz, who has died aged 97, was the last surviving Polish Battle of Britain fighter pilot.

When the Germans invaded his homeland, Sawicz was serving in Poland with the 114 Fighter Flight of No 1 Air Wing. On September 1 1939, despite flying an antiquated biplane fighter, he damaged a Messerschmitt Bf 109. On September 5 he was appointed a deputy commander of his squadron, and over the next few days was credited with destroying two enemy bombers and damaging two more.

Tadeusz Sawicz

On September 14 Sawicz flew from an airfield in south-east Poland to Warsaw, by then encircled by the Germans, carrying orders for the defence HQ from the C-in-C Polish Armed Forces. He landed under heavy fire and, after completing his task and repairing his damaged aircraft, he took off the next morning, again under fire.

With the Germans in control of most of Poland, Sawicz led his flight to Romania on September 17. He managed to reach France in early October , and joined a French squadron, Groupe de Chasse III/10, flying in action until the fall of France; he then flew to Algiers with other Polish pilots. He arrived in England on July 7 1940.

After a hasty conversion to the Hurricane, Sawicz joined the second Polish fighter squadron in the RAF, No 303, and flew patrols during the latter stages of the Battle of Britain from Leconfield in Yorkshire.

Tadeusz Sawicz was born in Warsaw on February 13 1914. Having first joined the Army, he went to the Air Force Cadet Officers’ School in Deblin, where he trained as a pilot.

After the Battle of Britain, Sawicz remained with No 303 Squadron, flying defensive patrols, before joining No 316 Squadron at Pembrey in south Wales in 1941. On April 9 he shot down a Heinkel III bomber near St Anne’s Head, the squadron’s first confirmed success.

In July, Sawicz was awarded a Krzyz Walecznych (Cross of Valour), the first of four he would receive, and appointed flight commander. In September 1942 he took command of No 315 Squadron, leading his unit on fighter escort missions and damaging a Focke Wulf 190 over Rouen. His squadron often provided a fighter escort for bombers of the USAAF 8th Air Force, and he was awarded a DFC (United States).

He was made deputy commander of No 1 (Polish) Fighter Wing at Northolt in April 1943 and for his leadership and gallantry was awarded one of Poland’s highest decorations, the Virtuti Militari (5th Class). In October 1943 he was decorated with a British DFC.

In March 1944, Sawicz was attached to the US 9th Air Force before joining the 56th Fighter Group led by his friend the American fighter ace “Gabby” Gabreski. Flying the P-47 Thunderbolt, he escorted USAAF bomber formations and was later awarded the US Air Medal.
Later that year Sawicz was appointed wing leader of 131 (Polish) Fighter Wing, part of the Second Tactical Air Force and equipped with three Spitfire squadrons. Flying from advanced landing grounds in France, Belgium and Holland, the wing was tasked in the fighter-bomber role to fly sweeps over the Continent.

Soon after taking command, Sawicz was seriously injured when his Spitfire was hit by a following aircraft while he was still on the runway. But he returned to command the wing, and on January 1 1945 led his squadrons in a successful attack on 40 German aircraft parked on an airfield .
He flew intensive operations throughout the spring of 1945 as the squadron moved forward with the advancing Allied armies. In June he received a third bar to the Cross of Valour. The Dutch government awarded him its equivalent of the DFC, the Vlieger Cruis.
After the war he commanded No 133 Wing and was released from the Polish Air Force in January 1947.

Sawicz remained in Britain for some years before emigrating to Canada in November 1957, where he worked in the airline industry.

In 2006, by order of Poland’s President, Lech Kaczynski, he was appointed brigadier-general.
Tadeusz Sawicz is survived by his third wife, Jadwiga

google-site-verification: google61d93933dd9fa5e3.html