Bajan's list

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Bajan (left) with Marshal Jozef Pilsudski (centre) and Gustaw Pokrzywka (right) after Challenge in 1934 Bajan-Pilsudski-Pokrzywka.jpg
Bajan (left) with Marshal Józef Piłsudski (centre) and Gustaw Pokrzywka (right) after Challenge in 1934

Bajan list is a list of Polish fighter aces of World War II. It was released in 1946 and is named after the officer who supervised the project, colonel Jerzy Bajan.

Contents

History

The list of Polish Air Force and Polish Air Forces in Great Britain fighter pilots air victories was compiled for the Polish Air Force Historical Commission by colonel Jerzy Bajan of the Fighter Claim Commission, and a liaison officer at the RAF Fighter Command headquarters. [1] [2] The publication, released in 1946, was titled Polish Fighter Pilots Achievements during the Second World War. [3] Not all documents (particularly for the first years) could be recovered at that time, so some of the data was based on interviews; after reviewing earlier documents and statistics Bajan's methodology attempted to reduce the number of false reports. [1]

List

126 German aircraft or "Adolfs" were claimed as shot down by No. 303 Squadron pilots during the Battle of Britain. This is the score of "Adolfs" chalked onto a Hurricane. Dywizjon 303 4.jpg
126 German aircraft or "Adolfs" were claimed as shot down by No. 303 Squadron pilots during the Battle of Britain. This is the score of "Adolfs" chalked onto a Hurricane.

According to the final list Polish pilots accounted for 105 aircraft destroyed during the Polish September Campaign (most of these occurred during the first six days of the war). [1] The number of kills during the Battle of Britain is estimated at 2698, many of them by the No. 303 Fighter Squadron. [2]

The list includes 447 entries, with one Czech pilot, Josef František (who joined Polish Air Force as a volunteer [4] ), and five entries for the rare cases where victories attributed to the units, rather than individuals. [3] The leading Polish ace, according to the list, is general Stanisław Skalski, with almost 19 confirmed kills. [3] 42 Polish pilots scored 5 or more victories during the war. [3]

The top 50 pilots from the Bajan list are (revised following updated scores during the Battle of Britain): [3]

LpRankNameConfirmed killsProbable killsDamaged
1gen Stanisław Skalski 18 11/1224 1/3
2gen Witold Urbanowicz 141-
3ppor Josef František 19 1/21-
4kpt Eugeniusz Horbaczewski 16 1/211
5kpt Bolesław Gładych 1721/2
6ppłk Jan Zumbach 8 11/2451
7ppłk Marian Pisarek 3 1/212
8płk Aleksander Gabszewicz 9 1/21 1/33
9por Michał Maciejowski 9 1/211
10por Mirosław Ferić 6 11/2411
11mjr Henryk Szczęsny 9 1/312
12chor Aleksander Chudek 911
13ppłk Jan Falkowski 911
14por Stanisław Brzeski 8 1/221
15ppłk Wacław Król 8 1/211/3
16mjr Zdzisław Henneberg 3 1/211
17mjr Antoni Głowacki 8 1/334
18por Eugeniusz Szaposznikow 3-1
19por Adolf Pietrasiak 8 1/10-2/5
20mjr Witold Łokuciewski 53 1/2-
21chor Henryk Pietrzak 7 1/211
22mjr Józef Jeka 7 1/2-3
23mjr Bolesław Drobiński 71 1/3-
24ppor Marian Bełc 7--
25sierż Stanisław Karubin 4--
26mjr Karol Pniak 6 3/422 5/6
27mjr Wacław Łapkowski 5 1/3-1
28ppłk Stefan Janus 6-1
29por Ludwik Witold Paszkiewicz 2 1/8--
30ppłk Kazimierz Rutkowski 5 1/221
31por Czesław Główczyński 5 1/221
32por Michał Cwynar 5 1/21-
33płk Stefan Witorzeńć 5 1/2-2
34ppłk Mieczysław Mümler 5 1/2-1 1/2
35ppor Bolesław Własnowolski 5 1/2--
36por Mieczysław Adamek 5 9/201-
37por Franciszek Surma 53 1/31
38kpt Stanisław Blok 513
39por Kazimierz Sporny 511
40por Grzegorz Sołogub 51-
41st.sierż Jakub Bargiełowski 5-3
42mjr Jerzy Popławski 5-2
43por. Jan Kremski  [ pl ]4 14/151/31/15
44 Eugeniusz Nowakiewicz  [ pl ]4 5/611
45 Władysław Potocki  [ pl ]4 3/41
46 Tadeusz Nowak (pilot)  [ pl ]4 1/211
47por. Kazimierz Wünsche  [ pl ]4 1/21-
48 Mirosław Ignacy Wojciechowski  [ pl ]3 5/8
49 Julian Kowalski  [ pl ]1/843
50 Tadeusz Koc  [ pl ]4 1/33-

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Air League of the British Empire (1 January 1989). Air pictorial: journal of the Air League. Air League of the British Empire. p. 348. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, "Udział Polaków w Bitwie o Anglię", Biuletyn IPN nr 8–9 (129–133) 2011. [ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lista Bajana". Polishairforce.pl. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  4. Czechoslovak Life. ORBIS Pub. Hause. 1970. p. 103.