Władysław Gnyś Władysław Gnyś ( b . 24 August 1910 - 28 February 2000 ) was a Polish pilot of the Polish Air Force and probably the first Allied victor in aerial combat in World War II . In 1931 , Wladyslaw Gnys entered military service with the Polish Air Force . In 1933 he began air training in Grudziadz and by 1935 was a flying instructor at the Polish Air Force Academy at Deblin . The defense of Poland , September 1939 . By May 1939 Gnyś had been posted to the 121st Eskadra Mysliwska ( 121st Fighter Escadrille ) in the city of Kraków , equipped with obsolete PZL P . 11 c fighters . On 31 August the Squadron was assigned to operate with the III / 2 Dywizjon ( Group ) and it relocated to a reserve airfield in Balice . In the early morning of 1 September 1939 , Gnyś was woken by a German bombing raid on Kraków . At about 7am ( according to other sources , 5 : 30am ) Gnyś flew a sortie with Cptn . Mieczyslaw Medwecki , the Group Commander . Just after take off and at about 300 meters altitude the Polish fighters were suddenly attacked by a pair of German Ju 87B dive - bombers from I / StG 2 " Immelmann " . " Unteroffizier " Frank Neubert successfully fired at Medwecki and scored probably the first aerial victory of the war . The P - 11 fell away having suffered serious damage , and Medwecki was killed . Gnyś was now also under attack , and he shot at a " Stuka " piloted by Lt . Brandenburg . The German aircraft started to smoke , but the aircraft managed to return to base at Nieder - Ellguth . A few minutes later Gnyś attacked two Do - 17E bombers from KG 77 . After a few passes both Do - 17 bombers crashed in the country village of Zurada , near Olkusz . One of the German bombers was coded " 3Z + FR " on its fuselage and all six crew members were killed , one later identified as a Uffz . Klose . On his return to base Gnyś met a lone He 111 , but he was out of ammunition . There is , however , controversy regarding this victory . According to Marius Emmerling , based on German wartime sources two Do 17Es from 7 . / KG 77 indeed crashed near Żurada , but this was caused by Polish anti - aircraft artillery , which damaged one Do 17 which then collided with the other . The combat in which Medwecki was shot down took place in 5 : 30 - 6 : 00am and , according to Emmerling , Gnyś only fired at the Ju 87 but did not hit it , nor did he meet Do 17s . Other authors however claim that damage to a Do 17 , which caused a collision , might have been caused by Gnyś . Gnyś personally scored another victory in September 1939 , claiming a He - 111 . On the 6th , while other sources give the date as the morning of 9 September , Sergeants Leopold Flanek and Tadeusz Arabski were engaged in an aerial combat . During this engagement Flanek ' s plane was heavily damaged but was able to return to Kraczewice airfield . Tadeusz Arabski was able to share a single kill of a He - 111 bomber . France 1940 . After the fall of Poland Gnyś fled to France and served as a pilot with the French Air Force . Flying the Morane MS 406 - C with GC III . / 1 and stationed at Toul Croix , Gnyś scored three shared victories ; a He - 111 on 12 May and two Do - 17s on 16 May . After the French surrender , Gnys escaped and , via Oran and Casablanca arrived in Liverpool on 14 July 1940 . With the RAF 1940 - 44 . Gnyś later fought with the Royal Air Force , joining No . 302 Squadron as a Pilot Officer on 17 August 1940 and seeing combat in the Battle of Britain and into 1941 . On 21 May 1941 Gnyś ' Hawker Hurricane was badly damaged by fighters although he managed to return to base . Later he served with the No . 316 Polish Fighter Squadron flying Spitfire s and No . 309 Polish Fighter - Reconnaissance Squadron , flying tactical reconnaissance Mustangs . On 22 August 1944 , he was appointed to the command of No . 317 Polish Fighter Squadron . Two days later , Gnys was shot down over Rouen by flak and captured by German forces . Despite his wounds , Gnys escaped from a POW hospital a few days later , found by the French Maquis and returned to the Allied lines safely . He settled in Canada after the war . Awards . Croix de Guerre ( France ) < br >