Polish Fighter Aces of World War 2

Polish Fighter Aces of World War 2

The list you see here has been compiled based on a variety of sources. It is not complete (the total number of Polish aces in WW2 was over forty), but contains all the pilots with eight or more victories. As different sources give different scores for some pilots, I don't claim this list to be absolutely correct - it's just a useful reference for those who are interested in the subject.

Name	Number of Kills	Comments
Stanislaw Skalski	21	Scored 4.5 victories (best result) in the Polish Campaign.
Witold Urbanowicz	20	17 victories in the Battle of Britain, 3 with the Flying Tigers in China (1943-44). His several other kills in China were classified as destroyed on the ground, as the fights took place over Japanese airfields.
Boleslaw Gladych	18	Ten of his victories were scored while flying Thunderbolts with the American 56 Fighter Group.
Eugeniusz Horbaczewski	16.5	Killed on 18 Aug 1944 in the epic fight of his 315 Squadron with Focke-Wulfs of II/JG26, and probably also of III/JG2, over Beauvais. 315 Squadron claimed 16 victories with the loss of just his P-51. II/JG 26 losses based on post-war research were 7 pilots killed, 1 wounded, 9 aircraft destroyed. III/JG2 losses are unknown, but total losses for JG2 on that day - 11 or 12 aircraft - suggest it was also hit hard.
Jan Zumbach	12.5	Eight victories in the Battle of Britain.
Marian Pisarek	12	Shot down and killed on 29 April 1942 during bomber escort mission while commanding 1st Polish Fighter Wing. Some sources suggest that was due to a rookie pilot's lack of discipline (he tried to override Pisarek's orders, which led to confusion under German attack). 317 Sqn's C/O was also killed in this flight.
Aleksander Gabszewicz	9.5	Co-authored the first kill, over a He 111, for the Pursuit Brigade on 1st September 1939.
Michal Maciejowski	9.5	Seven of his victories were over Bf 109s. On 9 Sept 1943 baled out over France after collision, captured by Germans.
Henryk Szczesny	9.5	Shot down on 4 April 1943 over France, spent the rest of the war as a German POW.
Aleksander Chudek	9	Shot down on 23 June 1943, crashed in the sea.
Miroslaw Feric	9	The chronicler of the 303 Sqn., scored eight victories during the Battle of Britain. Killed on 14 Feb 1942 when flight-testing a factory-fresh Spitfire Vb.
Waclaw Krol	9	After the war wrote several valuable books on the history of the Polish Air Force in WW2.
Jan Falkowski	9	In September 1939, while flying a PWS-26 biplane aerobatics trainer, was jumped by several Bf 109s. Using the plane's maneuverability he was able to evade the attacks, till one of the Germans crashed into the ground and the others, put off, left him alone. Shot down over Holland on 9 March, 1945, managed to escape from German POW transport.
Antoni Glowacki	8.5	Scored all of his victories during the Battle of Britain. On 24 August 1940 he shot down 5 German planes, becoming the only Polish Ace in a Day of the 2nd World War.
Stanislaw Brzeski	8.5	Shot down a German observation balloon on 3 Sep 1939. Shot down by German flak on 21 May 1944, spent the rest of the war as a German POW.
Eugeniusz Szaposznikow	8.5	Scored all of his victories during the Battle of Britain. All but one of them were over Bf 109s.
Witold Lokuciewski	8	Shot down over France on 13 March 1942, captured by Germans.
Zdzislaw Henneberg	8	All victories scored during the Battle of Britain. On 12 April 1941, returning from a mission, he ditched his plane 12 miles from the English coast. A desperate search by his colleagues from 302 and 303 Squadrons failed - he drowned in the Channel.
Henryk Pietrzak	7.5	On 31 December 1942 he scored the 500th victory for Polish fighter pilots in WW2. All his victims were German fighter planes (3 Bf 109s and 4.5 FW 190s).