Genealogy /
Polish Aircrew in the UK (Tulinski) [50]
Hi Karl,
I've seen this (on Geocities I think?) What it doesn't explain is that this was their first intruder operation over Germany and the reason for their return was that they had been hit by flak which had damaged the undercarriage of the aircraft and disabled one engine. For managing to get the aircraft back from over occupied territory on one engine they were given commendations. Rocky's is pasted in his logbook.
Although they were on nighttime intruder and bomber support operations one of their favourite pastimes was to open the throttles (they could only run at max boost for about 10 minutes) and return to the UK at very low altitude. Anything that moved would be shot up.
From memory (I haven't seen his logbook for a couple of years) Rocky and your grandfather continued to fly together until about mid 1946.
I'm not sure how much you know about Rocky. He was a pre-war Polish Air force flying instructor and flew the last aircraft out of Warsaw before it surrendered to the Germans, starting his take off from within a hanger. He was captured by the Russians and sent as a prisoner of war to Siberia on railway construction for about 2 years. When Germany invaded Russia he was released and made his way to Scotland where he joined the RAF.
Steve
