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Polish Wellington

Aircraft Markings and Camouflage Discuss Polish Wellington in the Technical forums; Looking for info/pics on the following Wellington of 304 Squadron: 3 Aug. Vickers Wellington no. HZ638 (NZ-2P) Shot down by ...

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    Polish Wellington

    Looking for info/pics on the following Wellington of 304 Squadron:

    3 Aug. Vickers Wellington no. HZ638 (NZ-2P) Shot down by a fighter during a sea patrol over the Bay of Biscay. Lost were: F/Lt Widanka, P/O Kielan, Sgt Pastwa, Sgt Dangel, Sgt Gorka and Sgt Czarnecki.

    Sgt Jerzy Dangel was my 3rd cousin and was the tail gunner/radio operator.



    I've read 304 Squadron Book by Mariusz Konarski which only has 1 reference, basically the same info as above.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks, AD2780

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    NZ were the squadron codes used by 304 Squadron when they were in Bomber Command. In December 1942 all operational commands, with the exception of Fighter and Bomber Commands, were ordered to stop using squadron codes for reasons of security. Coastal command aircraft displayed only the individual letter of the aircraft. Where there were more than one squadron operating from the same airfield this caused problems as more than one aircraft could have the same individual letter. Coastal Command adopted the practice of allocating a different number, 1, 2 or 3, to each squadron which was painted in front of the aircraft's individual letter. From 8th July 1943 304 Squadron were allocated the number 2.

    Why do you think HZ638 was coded 2P? I cannot find any individual letter listed anywhere for this Wellington.

    The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum have a collection of photographs of 304 Squadron Coastal Command Wellingtons but I have not seen a photogaph published of HZ638. The only photograph of a 304 Wellington coded 2P that I know of is HF181.

    HZ638 was lost 13th August 1943.

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    Thanks for your interest,

    The info I have comes from websites on the internet. A few sites refer to HZ638 as 2P. Thats all I have to go off. The information below comes from a Polish web site. - and yes, HZ638 was lost on the 13th August not the 3rd which I typed incorrectly.

    304 Squadron losses for 1943

    July 3
    Wellington XIII
    HZ575 2O
    Patrol over the Bay of Biscay.
    Shot down by fighter and around the French coastline.
    F / O (pil.) Marian Smith - KIA
    Sgt (pil.) Roman štreka - KIA
    F / O (nav.) George Błachowski - KIA
    Sgt (rtg. / page.) Jerzy Fedak - KIA
    Sgt (rtg. / page.) Stefan Saw - KIA
    Sgt (Mr.) Henry Shulgin - KIA

    July 26
    Wellington XIII
    HZ640 2W
    Patrol over the Bay of Biscay.
    Probably shot down by fighter. F / Lt (pil.) Stanislaw Roliński - KIA
    Sgt (pil.) Romuald Zagórowski - KIA
    F / Lt (nav.) Wladyslaw Jagiello - KIA
    Sgt (rtg.) Aadam Zawiliński - KIA
    Sergeant (Mr) Stanislaw Ehrlich - KIA
    F / O (Mr.) Joseph Kulick - KIA

    July 29
    Wellington X
    HE576 2K
    Patrol over the Bay of Biscay.
    Crash after take-off fighter to fly.
    F / Lt (pil.) Zygmunt Janicki - KIA
    Sgt (pil.) Lech Rodziewicz - KIA
    F / Lt (nav.) Tadeusz Kolodziejski
    Sgt (rtg.) Francis Matlák
    Sergeant (Mr) Francis zenTera
    Sergeant (Mr) Kazimierz Jozwiak

    August 13
    Wellington XIII
    HZ638 2P
    Patrol over the Bay of Biscay.
    Probably shot down by fighter.
    P / O (pil.) Silvanus Kielan - KIA
    Sgt (pil.) Witold Pastwa - KIA
    F / Lt (nav.) Stefan Widanka - KIA
    Sgt (rtg.) George Dangel - KIA
    Sergeant (Mr), Francis Hill - KIA
    Sergeant (Mr) Kazimierz Czarnecki - KIA

    August 22
    Wellington XIII
    HZ576 2R
    Patrol over the Bay of Biscay.
    Probably shot down by fighter. F / O (pil.) Boleslaw Porebski - KIA
    Sgt (pil.) Constantine Gawlik - KIA
    F / O (nav.) Boleslaw Matuszewski - KIA
    F / Sgt (rtg.) Victor Walkiewicz - KIA
    F / Sgt (Mr.) Jan Wojniłowicz - KIA
    Sergeant (Mr) Stephen Szczepaniak - KIA

    20./21.12.
    Wellington XIV
    HF208 2S
    Patrol over the Bay of Biscay.
    On returning to Ireland crashed in bad
    visibility.
    F / Sgt (pil.) Clement Adamowicz - KIA
    Sgt (pil.) Stanislaw Cherniavsky - KIA
    Sgt (nav.) Naftali Kuflik - KIA
    Sgt (rtg.) Paul Kowalewicz - KIA
    Sergeant (Mr) Kazimierz Lugowski - KIA
    Sergeant (Mr) Vincent Pietrzak - KIA

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    Banned antoni's Avatar
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    This one, I think? Polskie Siły Powietrzne w II wojnie światowej

    No argument with 2P, new information is discovered all the time.

    NZ-2P came from the 'Polish Squadrons Rememebered' website I see. That's nonsense, NZ was dropped at the end of 1942, single letters or 2+letter from then on until October 1944 when they were given new code QD.

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    I am grandson of Franciszek Gorka (Francis Hill), who was shot down on HZ638. This plane was shot down probably by german fighter over the Bay of Biscay (location 14W/0777).German pilot was Dieter Meister (Aces of the Luftwaffe - Dieter Meister ) .

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    Thanks for sharing, welcome aboard!

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    Hi Grandson Gorka. I would love to hear from you. Please check your emails and private messages.

    Thanks,
    Adam

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