Obituary: Wing Commander Tadeusz Sawicz - Polish Battle of Britain ace responsible for training fighter pilots in Grangemouth

TADEUSZ Sawicz was the last survivor of the 145 Polish pilots who had fought, either in Polish squadrons or in RAF squadrons, in the Battle of Britain. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Commander in Chief of Fighter Command during the battle, said: “Had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry I hesitate to say that the outcome of the battle would have been the same.”

Sawicz had been born in a Warsaw under Russian rule. It would be another four years before Poland regained independence after more than a century of partition between Russia, Prussia and Austria. In 1936 he was commissioned as a fighter pilot into the fledgling Polish air force.

When Germany invaded Poland on 1 September, 1939 the Polish air force was outnumbered by the Luftwaffe.

Moreover, its fighter pilots flew in an obsolescent plane with an open cockpit and fixed undercarriage, but the Polish airmen resisted stubbornly. Sawicz himself shot down two Dornier 17 bombers. When Poland’s fate was sealed by the Soviet Union’s invasion from the east, on 17 September, 1939, surviving air and ground crew were evacuated to Rumania.

The Polish air force reformed in France. Sawicz underwent conversion training, on a modern though indifferent French fighter.

He then flew sorties in May and June 1940, in the country’s defence. When France capitulated he flew to North Africa from where he made it to Britain by sea. He yet again underwent conversion training, this time on a superb plane, the Hurricane.

In October 1940 he was assigned to No 303 (Kosciuszko) Squadron for the final stage of the Battle of Britain. This squadron was to prove to be the top scorer in the battle.

There followed a posting to No 316 (City of Warsaw) Squadron and while with it he shot down a Heinkel 111 bomber on 9 April, 1941. In June, 1942 he was “rested” and posted as an instructor with 58 Operational Training Unit at RAF Grangemouth.

Here pilots were put through their final paces before being sent to operational squadrons. Amongst other skills, trainees were taught dog fighting, aerobatics and low-level flying. They came from Britain, Canada, Rhodesia and New Zealand and from the occupied countries of Europe. The instructors were all, like Sawicz, already well experienced in air combat, several being Battle of Britain veterans.

Training was dangerous, as is attested by the Grangemouth Memorial, inscribed with the names of 78 pilots, 12 of whom were Polish, killed while serving with 58 OTU or with other RAF Grangemouth-based units. While some of the fatalities were due to mechanical failures, others were the result of mid-air collisions or crashes due to adverse weather conditions.

The monument was unveiled, beside what was the entrance to RAF Grangemouth, in September 2008. Its construction was the initiative of the Scots cadets of 1333 (Grangemouth) Squadron Air Training Corps. They felt that the sacrifice on Scottish soil of so many young men, little older than themselves, should not be forgotten.

There followed a number of duty moves for Sawicz. One was a stint in 1944 with the American Air Force’s 61st Fighter Squadron. Flying Thunderbolts, he flew sorties on the approach to D-Day. This exchange posting was as the result of a friendship made when the top American ace Colonel “Gabby” Gabreski had flown with Polish squadrons earlier in 1943. Gabreski had been born in the USA of Polish parents.

Back with the Polish Air Force Sawicz was put in command of No 138 Wing RAF, which comprised three Polish fighter squadrons, until the end of the war. The wing was in frequent action during the liberation of north-west Europe.

In the end the 14 Polish Air Force squadrons and the Polish Army and Naval units, in total some 200,000 strong, which had fought under overall British command disbanded.

Most chose to remain in exile rather than return to a now Soviet-dominated Poland. Sawicz, who ended the war as a wing commander, emigrated to Canada in 1957.

He died in Toronto and is survived by his wife Jadwiga and by a stepdaughter from this marriage. He had during the war been decorated with the DFC and the American DFC, as well as with Polish, Dutch and French honours. MICHAEL OLIZAR