Witold Urbanowicz, standing in front of a "Hurricane" Mk. I P3120, code "RF-A" of 303rd Squadron. This photo was shot during the "Battle of Britain", September/October 1940, at Northolt airbase. In the text: a snap of a section of PZL P-11a from 111th "Kosciuszko" Squadron (note the asymetric painting of national insygnia on upper wing surfaces); portrait of Urbanowicz in front of a "Spitfire", a scene from the Far East: a Chinese sentry watching American P-40 "Kittyhawks". At the end is a colour profile of Urbanowicz's aircraft from when he flew against the Japanese and a symbol of the "Flying Tigers".
Witold Urbanowicz was born on 30 March 1908 in the
country-village of Olszanka, near the city of Augustow. In 1930, he started his
training in Military Aviation School in Deblin, graduating on 15 August 1932
from school (6th promotion). As 2/Lt. Observer he was posted to the night bomber
squadron of the 1st Air Regiment in Warsaw. In 1933 Urbanowicz finished his
ground pilot training, then continued to hone his skills on the High Pilotage
Course in Grudziadz. After that he flew as a fighter pilot in the 113rd and
111th Squadrons. By the end of 1936 Witold was transferred to instructor work at
the Deblin Training Center. Several up and coming Polish aces got their first
flight experience under Urbanowicz's guidance.
In September 1939, Urbanowicz headed a group of air cadets to Romania with the task of ferrying new MS-406 and "Hurricane" fighters to Poland (Polish harbours were blocked by Kriegsmarine). Unfortunately, the German "Blitzkrieg" of Poland came during the delivery of these aircraft. Despite great risks, Urbanowicz returned to Poland and was captured by the Germans. But, during the night he escaped, and after three days was back with his unit in Romania. By the end of 1939 (or early January, 1940), Urbanowicz joined the first group of Polish pilots in the RAF. In the opening days of the "Battle of Britain", from 4 August 1940, he saw action in the British 145th Squadron, and scored 2 victories. On August 21st, he was transferred to the 303rd Kosciuszko Squadron, and took charge of Flight "A".
On 6 September 1940 Urbanowicz shot down a Bf 109E (W.Nr.1380) piloted by Hauptmann Joachim Schlichting, commander of III./JG 27. According to German records, Schlichting's 109 experienced supercharger failure and its guns jammed when he was was attacked by five "Spitfires" who shot him down. Schlichting bailed out over the Thames, was seriously injured and taken prisoner. Schlichting was awarded the Knight's Cross in absentium on 14 December 1940 - not because of his high score, but for his exemplary and disciplined fulfillment of escort duties by selflessly renouncing any personal victories. In 1939 Schlichting served as Staffelkapitän 2.(J)/LG 2, and on 1 February 1940 was appointed Gruppenkommandeur III./JG27. Having achieved 5 victories in the Spanish Civil War, Schlichting had shot down another 3 enemy aircraft before being captured by the British.
In combat on 7 September 1940, Squadron Leader Maj. Zdzislaw
Krasnodebski was injured and Urbanowicz was promoted to unit commander.
Urbanowicz became the youngest Squadron Leader in the RAF, and during his
service in that role remained at the rank of Polish Lieutenant. His nomination
also created a lot of discontent in the Polish Air Force HQ.
On the afternoon of 15 September 1940, during 303rd Squadron's second combat of the day, Urbanowicz downed 2 Do 217s. The Polish unit's tally for the day was 16 destroyed German planes. On 18 September 1940, Sqn. Ldr. Urbanowicz was awarded the Silver Cross Virtuti Militari (the highest Polish award) by the C-in-C of the Polish Forces - Gen. Sikorski. On 27 September Squadron 303 fought in two hard combats, taking off for the second mission with only six fighters. On this day Urbanowicz enlarged his killboard by 4 victories.
On October 21,1940 Zdzislaw Henneberg took command of the famous 303rd. With the end of his tour of combat duty, Urbanowicz was assigned to the HQ of the 11th Fighter Group. During the period 15 April 1941 - 1 June 1941 Urbanowicz led the 1st Polish Fighter Wing. Then, Gen. Sikorski sent him to the USA, where he was appointed assistant of the Air Attache in the Polish Embassy. In September 1943, he left the diplomatic service and took an American offer to enter a new tour of combat service on the Chinese-Japanese Front, with the 14th US Air Force under command of Gen. Claire Lee Chennault. On 23 October 1943 Urbanowicz joined the 75th Fighter Squadron, stationed at Kunming. This unit flew P-40 "Kittyhawk" fighters, with shark mouths painted on the large engine coolers - and retained some pilots and crews from the original AVG "Flying Tigers". Urbanowicz scored 2 officially confirmed kills against Mitsubishi A6M Zero "Zekes". However, in some actions he in fact brought down a few more Japanese planes. Here is his own description of one of combat during a long reconnaissance mission, flying wingman to Maj. "Tex" Hill:
"We arrived over Hong Kong. Over the center of the city we were attacked by two "Zeros". I made a turn and got one of the planes into my gun sight. But the Japanese pilot proved to be a master in combat. He not only got out of my gun sight, but even tried to get on my tail. From this position any fighter is defenseless. Except for the pilot's talents, in that case the maneuverability of the machine is decisive. ...
The
Japanese pilot managed to place himself in a good position to fire a couple of
times. I slipped out. But when I, at last, caught the silhouette of his plane
from behind in my gun sight, he panicked and started making an acrobation, to
shake me off his tail, to get rid of the danger of awaiting death.
Tex disappeared somewhere with his 'Yellows', I was left alone. One from us has to die: the Japanese or me. I prefer it to be him. To me, these few minutes felt like hours. We fought just above the Hong Kong roofs, a crowd of street walking people stood and watched our combat with great interest. Rickshaws stopped, passengers had a duty-free show. But we both fought to save our lives. ...
I had to shoot him down. I pulled the stick and kept steering with my leg, to keep the horizon visible over my engine panel (I was in a sharp turn). The Japanese pilot had flown too fast and was unable to turn as sharply as me. He ought to have prevented that, but he realized this too late. And now he came directly into my gun sight. At a distance of 50 meters behind him, I pressed the firing button.
My guns remained silent. I saw darkness in my eyes and felt hot all over my body, just like if I had fallen into boiling water. 'Oh, bloody hell, the guns jammed!' I exclaimed loudly. I pressed firing button again - and again there was nothing. I turned absolutely furious. I followed the Japanese, but I couldn't shoot him down. There was no exit. But the Japanese acted very nervous, feeling that this was the last moment of his life.
Suddenly he made a fast barrel and in this moment opened his left gear. The instruments had to show this to him. He thought his plane was hit. Then, at full throttle he went down towards the rice fields. I kept following him with jammed guns. I had him exactly in the center of my gun sight. Only one shell, damn, only one!
The Japanese pilots lost his last nerves. He didn't know, that my guns are jammed. He only knew one thing, that death was hanging over him. Now he followed the instinct of all ground-bound animals: he escaped downwards, lowered his landing gear and attempted to land. He must have been crazy. At high speed he slammed into the ground, the plane crashed and exploded in fire.
I'm free, the joy I feel is unlimited."
On 15 December 1943 Urbanowicz finished his Chinese tour and returned to Great Britain. After a short period of HQ work, he was again posted to diplomatic duty in the USA. Following the demobilization in 1946 he returned to Poland and shortly afterwards was arrested by the communist security service. Luckily he was freed, and immediately decided to leave Poland. This probably saved him from execution or being imprisoned until 1956. Urbanowicz emigrated to the USA, where he died on 17 August 1996.
Witold Urbanowicz holds the distinction of second position on the list of Polish aces of WWII. His official score is 17 - 1 - 0.
1998.06.03, © WW II Ace Stories.