Mieczysław Glass © listakrzystka.pl Born:
16 November 1919, Warszawa
Death:
22 June 1943, Crash 65 km W of Ijmuiden
Section/row/number:
Plot J. Coll. grave 5.
Field grave location:
Aangespoeld 5-7-1943
In the night of June 21 to 22, 1943, Wellington Mark X with registration number HE327 was on its way to Krefeld. On board of the bomber of 300 squadron 300, recognizable by the letters BH with identification letter ‘S’, are five crew members:
Around three o’clock at night, according to the loss register , disaster strikes when their plane is shot down over the North Sea by Hauptmann R. Sigmund of 10./NJG 1. The plane and its crew disappear into the waves. Glass’s body washes up on the Dutch coast on July 5. He finds his final resting place in the cemetery of Castricum.
The photo below (© IWM CH 10456 ) shows five comparable Wellingtons Mk X. The photo was taken on June 17, just days before the fateful flight. The identity letter you can see on the second bomber is ‘E’. Possibly one of the others is ‘S’.
The group photo below was also taken the same day. It is possible that the crew members were also photographed a few days before their last flight.
THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (CH 10455) Group photograph of airmen of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron at RAF Hemswell. Wing Commander Mieczyslaw Kucharski, the CO of the Squadron, is standing in the middle of the first row (on the right of the left pillar). Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205235196
The squadron flew the twin-engine Wellington from autumn 1940 until mid-1944, when it switched to the four-engine Lancaster bomber as shown in the photo collection below (from the IWM). In June of that year they lost two of their planes over the Netherlands in one night.
THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN THE AIR OFFENSIVE AGAINST GERMANY, 1942-1945 (CH 7350) Vickers Wellington Mark IV (Z1407, BH-Z), named ‘Zoska’, of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron on the ground at RAF Ingham, having lost most of its rear fuselage fabric through battle damage sustained on 4/5 September 1942 when raiding Bremen, Germany. In spite of a damaged wireless set, a badly working rudder, damaged flaps and no navigational instruments, the pilot, Pilot Officer Stanislaw Machej, w… Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205210254 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 106355) Final adjustments are being made to the cargo of mines before they are loaded into a waiting Vickers Wellington bomber of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron (BH-E, HF598) at RAF Faldingworth. The message on the mine reads ‘From Polish Airmen’ both in Polish and English. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205230375 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 106356) Giant mine is suitably inscribed before it’s loaded into a waiting Vickers Wellington bomber (BH-E, HF598) of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron. The message on the mine reads: ‘Od polskich lotników – From Polish Airmen’ both in Polish and English. RAF Faldingworth, 25 May 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205230381 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 75016) Ground crew servicing an Avro Lancaster of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron at RAF Faldingworth, 25 April 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205191550 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (CH 10459) Portrait of Wing Commander Mieczyslaw Kucharski, the CO of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron, at RAF Hemswell, 17 June 1943. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205235198 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (CH 10458) Drawing of a dwarf decorating a fuselage of a Vickers Wellington Mark X bomber plane of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron at RAF Hemswell. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205235197 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (CH 10457) Ground crews of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron working on their Vickers Wellington Mark Xs at Hemswell, Lincolnshire, as another aircraft of the Squadron makes a low pass over the flight line, 17 June 1943.
Note different positions of the Polish Air Force chessboards on the aircraft in front, embelished with a dwarf image, and BH-E behind, and the low vision code letters, improving the night camou… Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205382050 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN THE BOMBING OF GERMANY CAMPAIGN, 1942-1945 (HU 128225) The Lancaster is LL804, BH-F, ‘Lady in the Champagne Glass’, commanded by Wing Commander Teofil Pozyczka, the CO of the squadron. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205400338 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 111733) Groundcrew of a Polish Air Force bomber squadron, very likely of No. 300 Squadron, scribbling their best wishes to the enemy on a bomb at RAF Hemswell, 15 August 1941. The inscription in Polish reads: ‘Warszawiacy Berlinowi – From Varsovians for Berlin’. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205232795 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 111734) Groundcrew of a Polish Air Force bomber squadron, very likely of No. 300 Squadron, scribbling their best wishes to the enemy on a bomb at RAF Hemswell, 15 August 1941. The inscription reads: ‘The best wishes from Polish boys’. Note military censor’s marks in the left corner of the image pointing potential targets for the enemy. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205232796 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 128888) Ground mechanics of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron enjoying a short break in the open air after making their Avro Lancaster bombers ready for a next sortie. Note the Lancaster BH-E, PA160 in the background.
Photograph very likely taken at RAF Faldingworth, summer 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205376843 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 128268) Flying Officer Jerzy Rózanski (foreground) and his crew of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron standing in line at RAF Faldingworth, early June 1944. The crew perished during the bombing sortie over Gelsenkirchen shortly after this picture was taken, on 12/13 June 1944,
Note a Lancaster bomber flying over the airfield and another one parked in the background (ED327, BH-R – lost in August 1944). Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205402356 THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN BRITAIN, 1940-1947 (HU 111730) Airmen of No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron cherish their squadron pet mascot, a little dog, while standing by their Avro Lancaster bomber plane, serial number NN748, December 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205232792
Would you like to visit the grave? When you enter the graveyard to the left of the front of the church you have to walk around the church to find the somewhat hidden wargraves:
