M.62  First Officer Stefan Czyzewski 

flag poland

  b. 11 Jun 1899, Szarpance, Poland 11 Nov 1940 to 21 Jul 1942 

 

ata stefan czyzewski

ATA

     

 

"Before 1918 I was forced to be Austrian Citizen, but my nationality was every time Polish."

Ed. University of Vienna, Technical School

Sergeant Pilot in the Polish Air Force Sep-1918 to Jul-1921

A Mechanical Engineer; Chief Engineer for Avia in Warsaw from 1927.

prev. exp 1,500 hrs on "about 70 different Polish, German, French, English and Italian types".

Address in 1940: 19 Racecourse Rd, Ayr, Scotland


He applied to the ATA having been rejected by the RAF, and was assessed initially as a 'capable pilot, but inclined to be heavy-handed."

There is a handwritten note on his file: "My wife Janina Czyzewska is living in Warsaw Pulawska Street, 152 m 11. Because you could not reach her until the War is over the only one thing to do in case of my death is to put the insurance money in my Barklay [sic] bank account in Maidenhead. This is maybe not conforming to your regulations, but I can't help.

To spare you troubles, I can only try very hardly to avoid any deadly accident what I am promising."

He had an unfortunate experience when he unknowingly hit and killed a labourer while taking off in a Wellington at Prestwick in December 1941; he subsequently took time off suffering from a 'lack of confidence'.


beaufighter 6

d. 21 Jul 1942 (Died in ATA Service) - Beaufighter X7764 flew into Glengavel Hill, 7 miles south of Strathaven, Lanarkshire, in bad visibility. He was deemed to be to blame for the accident, having persisted too far in bad weather.

"A good and careful pilot. The fine example he set to others made him very popular."


 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):download grey

 

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