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Jozef Franciszek NOWAK One of somewhat by-products of the World War I was
the birth and swift development of a new kind of weapon - air force.
In the Soviet-Polish War of 1920 participated the first Polish (or actually
Polish-American, since the pilots were mostly Americans) air force unit
- the Kosciuszko Squadron. In Poland, the development of aviation, military
and civilian, advanced rapidly. Polish Air Lines LOT were established
as the second civilian, passenger airline in the world. In Polish aviation
laboratories designs of new types of aircrafts were being created, with
the best constructions sent subsequently to production; a comprehensive
training system for aviation personnel, military and civilian, had been
developed and instituted; enthusiasm towards the sport of gliding was
widespread and record flights achieved.
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Jozef Franciszek Nowak was born on September 1, 1918 in Nowy Sacz. His adventure with aviation began in 1936, when he was still a grade seven student in the Jan Dlugosz Classical Grammar School. One day, the School's principal announced that the Ministry of Military Affairs was accepting applications from candidates for military service in the Air Force, and asked those interested to raise their hand. Everyone volunteered, even a dozen or so of prospect priests! Parental consent was required. Despite his mother's tears, the father decided, that the time had come, when his son had to determine his own fate - and signed the consent. The beginnings were not easy - he lost a year due to an oversight by a medical examination officer; had to write theoretical examinations even more difficult than those for a secondary school diploma; and finally was required to complete the infantry officers school. From a thousand candidates, 208 had qualified for the aviation training. The first task for the pilot candidates, who came to Deblin in January 1939, was to take part in a funeral of two colleagues from the higher class, who just crashed during practice. After a few months of ground training they started practical training of pilotage and aerial combat. With the inevitable approach of war the training had been hastened considerably. Just as Officer Cadet Jozef Nowak was about to start his bomber training, the war broke out. In the early September, together with others he was dispatched to Rumania to receive the shipment of new British airplanes for the Polish Air Force. However, shortly after September 20, after dramatic struggle against the enemy, the progress of events resulted in his crossing of the Polish-Hungarian border. He was interned in a camp located in Nagykata. Due to high demand for flying personnel, only after short internment period he was sent to France, although that too came with its own hurdles. This because, just fancy, he was accused of being a fugitive English, working as a spy for the Germans and attempting to return to England. The misunderstanding had been luckily cleared up and Officer Cadet Jozef Nowak still "managed" to take part in the French Campaign of 1940. The French military establishment did not have much trust in the Poles - "what kind of soldiers are you, that in 1939 you defended yourselves for only a few weeks". The French Campaign made a very negative impression on Nowak: poor morale, disorganization, obsolete, much worse than Polish, materiel. While struggling against the enemy in the vicinity of Lyon, almost by a miracle he escaped death during a bombing raid. The evacuation from a defeated France was on a collier and that was why, when disembarking in the English port of Liverpool, the coal-dust covered soldiers looked more like coal miners than an army. The training centre for Polish pilots was located in Blackpool in Central England. From there, after the completion of the Elementary Flying Training School (E.F.T.S.) and Service Flying Training School (S.F.T.S.), the pilots were directed to the Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.), where the final teaming of the crews was done. On June 25, 1942, from one of those O.T.U. (No. 18) located in Bramcote, P/O Jozef Nowak flew his first operational mission - the bombing of Bremen. He received an assignment to the 300 Bomber Squadron of the Land of Mazovia. After a few operational missions as a co-pilot, he became a bomber crew commander. Until the April of 1943, he had flown 31 missions (plus one not counted - mission aborted due to icing), after which he was reassigned to the O.T.U. as an instructor, where for the next two years he trained bomber crews. During that time he had also flown three dinghy search - rescue missions, whose objective was to find the airmen, shot down over the English Channel. Several of the operational missions were especially memorable. One of the first operational missions. P/O Nowak (still as a co-pilot) was steering his Wellington to the target. In the bomb compartments the load of over four thousand pounds of bombs. The airplane was plucked out from the darkness of the night by the German anti-aircraft artillery searchlights, and seized in their "cone" became the target for tens of anti-aircraft guns. Getting out of the "cone" was a matter of life and death for the bomber's crew. Bombers, by nature, are not cut out for aerobatics (especially with a heavy load of bombs), speed is also not their forte. However, thanks to a neck breaking maneuver, the pilot was able to "lose" the searchlights and the "interest" of the German artillery. In this way P/O Nowak passed, so to say, the practical examination of the art of warfare and soon after became a bomber crew commander. September 6, 1942. Target - Duisburg. F/O Nowak's Wellington did not reach the target, as it was hit by enemy fire and had its left engine down. The pilot decided to turn back to their home air base on the still working right engine (Wellington is a two engine bomber aircraft). The bomb load, which in a situation like this becomes a very dangerous ballast, was dropped on the enemie's military airfield discovered by chance. Awaiting them over England was a thick fog which made it difficult to spot the ground beacon identifying their home air base and helping the flight crews returning from their missions to make a safe landing. With all crew members searching nervously for the beacon, the front gunner reported finally seeing the beacons of their home air base, and few moments later something, that in the fog looked like the landing beacons marking the runway. However, all attempts to get in radio contact with the air base ended unsuccessfully, which put the pilot on his guard. As the bomber approached landing and came down do around 800 feet, the pilot, in a corner of his eye spotted some tower slipping under the airplane, somethig which had no place near his air base. At the last possible moment he pulled the damaged airplane in the air, and not long after that he found his airfield, this time the real one. Due to the error, made by the air gunner in the identification of the beacon, the bomber almost "landed" on a railway station in Lincoln. The tower belonged to the town's cathedral, and the supposed runway beacons were the ligths of the railway track running parallelly to a river which, in turn, reflected the lights. March 5, 1943. Target - Essen, the hub of German war industry. The briefing-officer made it clear and the crews knew it already, that this was the area fiercely defended from air attacks and thus, the most saturated with anti-aircraft artillery. The crew of P/O Nowak's Wellington, marked BH-S, received an additional task - after the drop of their own bomb load, they were to circle the air raid zone for twenty minutes and direct the on coming waves of bombers to their target. That mission and those twenty minutes P/O Nowak remembered as, he hopes, the hardest moments of his life - a barrage of anti-aircraft artillery fire blowing up all around; the waves of on coming bombers - many of them almost instantly annihilated by explosion of their own lethal charge hit by the enemy fire before being discharged... Pandemonium! P/O Nowak's machine seemed to be immune from the enemy fire - one long second followed by another for twenty eternal minutes - and miraculously survived. Out of five crews, sent by the 300 Bomber Squadron on that mission, only one came back. When, after returning to the home base, P/O Nowak was reporting of the course of the air raid, it was listened to by Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, who on that day was visiting the Squadron. After the report the general put the Squadron Commander personally to present the Bomber Crew Nr. 146 to receive the War Order of VIRTUTI MILITARI. Members of the Bomber Crew Nr. 146 at that time were: P/O Jozef F. Nowak (pilot, VM 8310), F/O Jozef Danielewicz (navigator, VM 8349), P/O Edward Pyzalski (front air gunner, VM 8305), Sgt. Czeslaw Tadzik (radio-operator, VM 8344) and Sgt. Roman "Dziadzio" Raniszewski (rear air gunner, VM 8341). Flight crews had to watch out not only for the enemy fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, but also the weather. When nice, although it was good for the navigation and completing the mission, it also helped the enemy. When bad, it made it difficult to complete the mission, and could cause damage, or even destroy the aircraft. During one of his missions F/Lt Nowak's aircraft found itself in an area of vehement statics, or simply, a thunderstorm. A thunderbolt destroyed bomber's radio antenna; between the electrified machine-gun barrels an electric arc was formed and the tail gunner could not even touch the trigger of his machine-guns without the danger of being electrocuted. After the official end of the war, stripped of his dreams
of service in the Polish Air Force, F/Lt Jozef Franciszek Nowak still
flew for some time in the British cargo air transport. Discouraged,
however, by unfriendly, or even hostile attitude of many British towards
their one time allies, he and his wife decided to emigrate to Canada. • Among military decorations, besides the Silver Cross
of the War Order of VIRTUTI MILITARI (nr. 8310), some of the more important
he was awarded, are: the Cross of Valour (trice awarded), French
Croix de Guerre and the British Air Crew Europe Star. MIEDZY NAMI - April, 1996 Jozef Franciszek Nowak passed away on May 24, 2003 in Hamilton, Ontario Translation: Agnieszka K. Marszalek
Last modified November 19, 2010 2:14 PM |
