Touche over Tillières

Text: Franek Grabowski

Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz

Cat. No. 82109

Stanisław Skalski was one of few pilots who successfully engaged Luftwaffe on the first day of World War II. Within the first four days of the conflict he was credited with four individual and one shared victories, thus becoming the first fighter ace of the war. When W/C Skalski was appointed Wing Commander Flying of No 133 (Polish) Wing in April 1944 he was already a seasoned veteran, and one of the leading Polish fighter aces. His new Wing consisted of British No 129 Mysore Squadron and Polish Nos 306 Toruń and 315 Dęblin Sqns.

 The Wing took part in Normandy Invasion from the very first day. Just on the second day, the Wing set a record by destroying 16 German aircraft. In the following days, more victories were earned, but Skalski’s score remained unchanged. A misfortune of a war, no enemy aircraft were encountered during the missions he took part in. It was only on 24 June that fortune smiled to him at last, during a mission to bomb the railway station at Tillières-sur-Avre, when finally he saw German aircraft. On return Skalski reported:

 I was leading Wing with 12 a/c as bombers & 8 a/c as escort to bomb railway station at Tilliers. During the bombing I called escort to stay at 10000 feet over the target area. After bombing I pulled out on a left hand circuit & climbed above clouds to 6000 feet. On about a half circuit 2 a/c were reported on the deck. I gave orders to identify by section of 4 aircraft following them behind. Then the leader called that they have climbed above clouds. I pulled out & chased 1 a/c on left-hand circuit, then I recognised it as a Mustang. Being at about 6000 feet in the sun I called 30-40 a/c climbing above clouds to NW & another formation of about 20 a/c below clouds following them approx 6 miles behind and below. I called escort to stay above. Then we turned to the right attacking first formation. I gave the order not to fire until we recognised them as foes. Before we took off I was informed that in this area 4 Squadrons of Typhoons would be operating. Being dead astern, I recognised them as ME 109Fs & FW 190s flying in no formation at all. I called pilots to attack, taking first 2 ME 109Fs flying in very close formation & slightly behind about 400 yards. I tried to close to 100 yards, we were not seen by E/A. When I was about 200–150 yards, 2 E/A in making a quick half roll collided by touching each others wings. One immediately caught fire. Both were seen spinning to the ground where they crashed. This was witnessed by F/O Swistun, who was my No. 2, and F/Lt Sporny. Following this incident, I made a sharp turn to the right, endeavouring to catch the larger formation mentioned above. We closed to approx. 400 yards when the E/A made a sharp climbing turn to port. I gave two short bursts, but owing to the angle being about 90 degrees I did not see any strikes. We did not follow as a further enemy formation of approx. 20 a/c were chasing us, at a range of some 1000 yards. At this time we were flying just above 5/10 clouds, & I instructed Wing to go into clouds for coverage, fly on a vector 336 degrees. After about two minutes flying we again went above clouds having lost the enemy. We made circuit and sighted five Mustangs flying singly & in pairs. I called them to join formation and made for base. I claim 2 ME 109Fs as destroyed.

 In the ensuing dog fight Polish airmen of Nos 306 and 315 Squadrons added further 3-0-3 Bf 109F and 1-0-2 Fw 190s for one 315 Sqn Mustang lost with its pilot, P/O Jan Adamiak. The German formation encountered consisted a mixed bag of Fw 190s of I/JG 2 and Bf 109s of II/JG 2 and III/JG 3. Only a single Bf 109G-6 of II/JG 2 was reported missing that day, obviously not making a good match for Polish victories. Nonetheless each of the three aforementioned units reported heavy losses on the following days in the general area of combat, so possibly in the chaos some of them were reported on a wrong date or not reported at all. Unfortunately, for the time being it is not possible to verify actual score of No 133 Wing.

 This was the last fight of Skalski. Within few weeks No 133 Wing was withdrawn from offensive operations to counter V1 Doodlebugs. Skalski, due to reorganisation of 2 TAF bid farewell to his Wing, which, with 36 destroyed enemy aircraft, was officially recognised as the most successful unit of the 2 TAF during June 1944. Despite attempts, Skalski never flew operationally again. Nonetheless these victories over Normandy secured his position as the highest scoring Polish fighter pilot, with 18 individual and 2 shared destroyed, 2 probables, and 4 individual and 1 shared damaged.