Tadeusz Jankowski

Born:

21 January 1919, Starozreby, PL

Death:

20 September 1944, 3 km s of Jutphaas

Number:

780386

Rank:

Sergeant

Department:

Polish Air Force, 315 Polish Fighter Squadron

Cemetery:

Pools Militair ereveld Ettensebaan te Breda

Section/row/number:

Plot E, Row 4, Grave 7

Earlier grave:

Rooms Katholiek begraafplaats, Jutphaas

Disaster strikes

The portal de digitale stad Nieuwegein (digital city of Nieuwegein) contains a report of the events surrounding Tadeusz Jankowski’s crash:

On September 20, 1944, he returned from a mission to the Market Garden battlefield. Near Jutphaas his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire from the ground. The pilot could no longer keep his plane in the air and with a long glide the Mustang dived into the swampy ground in the area near the Bongenaer (in the area now known as Plettenburg-De Wiers). During that flight, 8-year-old Jopie Hoveling, who was with his father on the farmland around 3 p.m., was fatally hit in the head by a wing of the crashing aircraft. Pilot Tadeusz Jankowski, who was also unable to leave his aircraft, the Mustang III with registration number FB367, died in the crashing aircraft.

A few days later the funeral of both victims took place from the H. Nicholas Church in Jutphaas. Jopie Hoveling and Tadeusz Jankowski were buried next to each other in the cemetery next to the church. The remains of the Polish pilot were transferred to the Polish War Cemetery in Breda in the 1960s; grave number E-4-7.

Source Slachtoffers van Market Garden in Nieuwegein – as off 27 01 2024

The photo below shows Jankowski among other pilots from the 315 Squadron a month and a half before his death.