Bolesław Gładych Bolesław Michal Gładych ( 17 May 1918 – 12 July 2011 ) was a Polish fighter pilot , a flying ace of World War II . He was born in Warsaw . Polish Air Force . As a boy , Gladych was expelled from various schools , before choosing a military career . He graduated " summa cum laude " from the Polish Air Force Academy . He was commissioned on 1 September 1939 , too late to see active service in the Polish campaign . He led a group of newly commissioned pilots to evacuate the PZL P . 7 fighters of the Polish Pilot ' s School to neutral Romania . Escaping from the Romanian internment camp Turnu Severin ( reputedly killing a guard in the process ) he reached France , where he joined the recently formed Polish manned " Finnish " Squadron , intended to participate in the Finnish - Soviet war . The squadron became an " Armee de l ' Air " Polish volunteer unit - " Groupe de Chasse I / 145 " . The unit was equipped with the experimental Caudron C . 714 " Cyclone " fighter . Later , Gladych recalled an air combat with a Bf 109E on 10 June 1940 . After a long dogfight , the Pole ' s fighter was severely damaged . The pilot of the Messerschmitt - with the number " 13 " on its side - simply waggled his wings and disengaged . This , according to Gladych , was the first of several encounters with " Luftwaffe " ace " Hauptmann " Georg - Peter Eder . ( Although according to " Luftwaffe " records Eder flew his first sorties with JG 51 in September 1940 . ) Reputedly , ' Mike ' claimed several air victories with the French Air Force , although this cannot be confirmed from surviving records . Royal Air Force . Gladych did reach the UK in 1940 , attending 57 OTU before transferring to the famous No . 303 Polish Fighter Squadron in October 1940 , although again records suggest a later arrival in 1941 . He claimed 3 Bf 109 ' s shot down and a probable in 2 sorties on 23 June 1941 , although after the second sortie he then crashed his damaged Spitfire at RAF Manston , and hit a telegraph pole , receiving a fractured skull , facial cuts , and a fractured collarbone . Gladych returned to operations in October 1941 and was transferred to 302 Squadron " City of Poznan ' in July 1942 , joining it after recuperative leave in December 1942 . By May he was a flight commander and had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant . Gladych detailed in a magazine article years later ( Real magazine , New York , April – May 1960 ) another encounter with " Hauptmann " Georg - Peter Eder . After crippling Gladych ' s Spitfire in the spring of 1943 , yet again Eder flew alongside his victim and waggled his wings , before flying away . The two aces possibly met in combat once more in 1944 , when again Eder shot up Gladych ' s P - 47 aircraft over Vechta , but the Pole cleverly tricked Eder by flying through the German " flak " barrage to escape . ( Apparently in 1950 Eder and Gladych met by chance at a pilots reunion in Frankfurt and managed to confirm they had been adversaries in each case . ) Another story relating to Gladych is that in the autumn of 1943 Gladych mistakenly almost shot down the aircraft carrying Prime Minister Winston Churchill . RAF Fighter Command grounded Gladych as a punishment . United States Army Air Forces . After ending his second RAF tour in January 1944 , Gladych , along with fellow Pole Flt Lt . Witold Lanowski , arranged a wholly unofficial secondment to the 56th Fighter Group of the U . S . Army Air Forces in early 1944 . Recruited by Major Francis Gabreski of the 56th , who as a captain had previously been attached to the RAF Polish Fighter Wing in 1942 , Gladych helped organized battle training for American replacement pilots , and was assigned to Gabreski ' s 61st Fighter Squadron . On 21 February 1944 Mike downed 2 Bf - 109s in a single sortie . When the Polish authorities became aware of the arrangement in June 1944 they attempted to discipline the pair with threats of expulsion from the Polish Air Force . Both continued to fly with the Americans , however , and were consequently expelled . Therefore Gladych ' s combat claims with the USAAF are not recognised by the Polish Air Force . Gladych was not formally accepted into the USAAF either ( his kill credits were officially recognized , however ) , and continued to fly unofficially until October 1944 , when the Polish Air Force finally relented and sanctioned his secondment . Gladych was carried in American records by his RAF rank of squadron leader but was known in the unit by his equivalent American rank of major . He became the leading figure among six Polish pilots flying with the 61st Fighter Squadron , all but one of whom survived the war . Gladych had claimed a further 10 air kills and 5 ground kills by the end of September 1944 . Gladych reported that on 8 March 1944 while escorting bombers to Berlin , he engaged three Fw 190s . Low on fuel , he attempted to disengage after shooting down one of the FW - 190s , but the other two fighters boxed him in and tried to force him to land . As he approached a German airfield configured for landing , Gladych suddenly opened fire on the airfield with his remaining ammunition . German flak gunners responded , but missed Gladych and shot down the two following Fw 190s . When he crossed the English coast his P - 47 ran out of fuel , forcing Gladych to bail out . It was then claimed he flew further ( unofficial ? ) operations with an unnamed P - 51 group , claiming a Me - 262 jet downed , but this is not confirmed by USAAF records and his ten credited kills were all made with the 61st FS . It is also claimed he intentionally understated the total of his air victories lest he be promoted and transferred off combat duties . He was awarded the Virtuti Militari , Cross of Valour with three bars by the Polish Air Force , the DFC by the RAF , and the Silver Star and two clusters , the Air Medal and three clusters by the USAAF . He also claimed to have been awarded the " Croix de Guerre " for the sortie on 8 March 1944 when he strafed an airfield after shooting down an FW - 190 . He nicknamed the numerous P - 47 ' s assigned to him " Pengie " , after the nickname of his then girlfriend , a Canadian WAAF , continuing the series up to " Pengie V " as he received newer aircraft . The name included a cartoon image of a penguin on the left side of the engine cowling . His wartime ' score ' totals 17 claimed destroyed , 2 probables , 1 shared damaged , and 5 ground kills . His ten kills with the 56th FG are officially recognized by the U . S . Air Force , as are the 4 kills by Lanowski . ( " USAF Historical Study No . 85 : USAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft , World War II " , Air Force Historical Research Agency ) Post - war biography . After the war ended Gladych got into more trouble , and was allegedly involved in black market smuggling across Europe , and in the early 1950s was recruited by the CIA to join a newly composed Project ARTICHOKE operating from Washington DC . He also located his brother ( a Polish resistance fighter ) in a German POW camp in Austria , which had been liberated by the Russians in 1945 . Anticipating the fact that most of the Polish resistance falling into the hands of the Soviets were likely to be deported to Siberia , Gladych used his USAAF status to visit the camp and managed to smuggle his brother out to the West . After the war " Mike " Gladych emigrated to Seattle , Washington , obtaining a Ph . D . degree and becoming a United States citizen . Until his death , he lived in the area where he practiced psychotherapy . He was a long - term practitioner of Raja Yoga and integrated yoga into his therapeutic approach . His visiting card for his psychotherapy practise read " Yoga Therapy . " His wife , Elizabeth , " Pengie " died in 2008 .