Polish Wellington

[AD2780]

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

[antoni]

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.

[AD2780]

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

[antoni]

This one, I think? Polskie Si³y Powietrzne w II wojnie œwiatowej

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.

[grandson gorka]

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 ) .

[vikingBerserker]

Thanks for sharing, welcome aboard!

[AD2780]

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

Thanks,
Adam