page_title: Franciszek Kornicki
section_title: German invasion
hierarchical_section_title: Franciszek Kornicki / German invasion
caption_attribution_description: Lietuvių: šaltinis: http://www.snipview.com/q/Franciszek_Kornicki
context_page_description: Franciszek Kornicki was a Polish fighter pilot who served in the Polish Air Force in Poland, France and Britain during the Second World War and later served in the Royal Air Force. He died just a few weeks short of his 101st birthday and was the last surviving Polish fighter squadron commander from the Second World War.
context_section_description: When the German armies invaded Poland on 1 September, he was a member of 162 squadron flying outdated PZL P.7 aircraft without radios and found the German fighters superior in all respects. The Polish Air Force was heavily outnumbered and losses were heavy, so the fighter squadrons were constantly being pulled back and regrouped. On 17 September pilots were informed at a briefing that the Soviet Army had crossed the border and was moving westwards through Poland and that, to continue the fight, they were to fly to Romania and make their way to France. Those who were without aeroplanes, including Kornicki, who found that his had been taken while he had been at the briefing, were to make their way to Romania overland. With several fellow pilots he crossed into Romania later that same night. By road and rail they travelled to the port of Balchik, which was then part of Romania, avoiding internment and being provided with false papers by the Polish embassy, and they then sailed with many other airmen on the SS Patris to Marseille. It was several months before flying training on the Morane 406 French fighter aircraft was provided, and shortly after Kornicki finished his training news of the French capitulation came through. Together with several thousand other Poles he made his way to Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the Basque country and was evacuated aboard the Arandora Star to Liverpool, where his first task was to start learning English.
caption: Franciszek Kornicki (Source: family archive)
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