Born: 14 November, 1915 in Orzechowka, Poland.
Died: 26 May, 2008, in Dumfries, aged 92.
SQUADRON Leader Michael Cwynar's death is another reminder of that earlier Polish "invasion" of Scotland in 1939-40.
The first to arrive were three Polish destroyers, sailing into Scottish waters on 1 September, 1939. It was, however, following the capitulation of France in June 1940 that this invasion gathered pace. Some 20,000 men, the remnants of an army reformed there after Poland fell to Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1929 arrived.
At first tasked with defending the Fife coast against any German onslaught they were to form the nucleus of the Polish 1st Armoured Division and the Polish Parachute Brigade which later fought for the liberation of north west Europe 1944-5. Cwynar, a pilot, arrived in Scotland with them.
He was born near what had been the Polish city of Lwow, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now Lviv in the Ukraine, just three years before the end of the First World War, when Poland regained its independence after 123 years of partition between Austria, Prussia and Russia.
Outbreak of war on 1 September, 1939 saw him a non-commissioned officer in a fighter squadron flying what by then was the somewhat obsolescent PZL P11c open cockpit machine. Small and highly manoeuvrable, it nevertheless proved a difficult target and, flown by determined pilots, performed admirably against the Luftwaffe. Cwynar shot down a Ju 87 Stuka on the afternoon of 1 September.
Received wisdom would have it that the Polish air force was destroyed on the ground when Germany invaded on 1 September, 1939. This is no more true than the canard that Polish cavalry charged German tanks. Dispersed to well camouflaged airstrips, the Polish air force managed, despite heavy losses, to fight back against the superior numbers and quality of the German air force until the Soviet invasion from the east on 17 September. What remained of the Polish air force was then evacuated to Romania.
Cwynar escaped internment and reached Syria, then under French mandate, before being sent to France, where Polish forces were being formed again under General Sikorski. After conversion training on French aircraft he was assigned to a French unit. His was Groupe de Classe 111/6, based near Toulon. He flew patrol sorties along the Italian frontier.
When France fell in June 1940 the group was ordered to fly to Algiers. The Poles in his unit determined to make their way to Britain, where the Poles, "Sikorski's tourists", as Goebels sneeringly called them, were once again reforming while their French comrades-in-arms opted for Marechal Petain and Vichy France.
Cwynar was one of several hundred Polish air force personnel to reach these shores. These men were to form the nucleus of four bomber and ten fighter squadrons flying with the RAF. While 143 Polish fighter pilots were to be thrown into the Battle of Britain, he was frustrated to be posted, after a short period of conversion training, to 10 Bomber and Gunnery School, Dumfries.
His task was not, however, without its dangers, as is attested by the deaths of five fellow Polish pilots in accidents while with the school. It was at Dumfries that he met his future wife, Margaret Marchbank.
In 1941 he was at last posted to a front-line squadron as sergeant pilot with No 315 City of Dublin Squadron. In June 1942 he was commissioned as a pilot- officer and between May and October 1943 he was assigned to 58 OTU in Grangemouth as an instructor teaching future fighter pilots. The instructors were all highly experienced fighter pilots themselves.
In November 1943, he returned to 315 Squadron and in June 1944, promoted to flight lieutenant, became its second in command. During his period with the squadron he was to down four Me109s in sorties over France or Norwegian waters. Having destroyed five enemy planes, he became, by definition, an ace.
He had two lucky escapes from death. On 8 June, 1944, over the D-Day beaches, he was hit by flak. He crash-landed his plane in the middle of a minefield but within Allied lines, and only extricated himself with difficulty. Later that year, on 5 September, he was hit by flak over Hanover, the shell simply grazing his neck, bloodying his face and exiting through the rear of the cockpit.
At the end of the war he was promoted to squadron leader and given command of 316 City of Warsaw Squadron.
When in 1946-47 the Polish forces under overall British command were disbanded, he, like most of his comrades, chose a life of exile rather than returning to a Poland under Soviet rule. He also chose not to join the RAF as service life after ten years wearied him.
He settled in Dumfries, opening up an upholstery and coach-trimming business named Emsee after his initials. Margaret, who he had married in October 1942, died in 1965. He was however to find happiness again, marrying Mabel Shankland, who he met through their joint love of music. She, too, was to predecease him. There were to be no children of either marriage.
He loved nature and, building a simple house by the River Nith, planted fruit gardens and with his wife loved watching the flight of the birds.
His other great love was the guitar. During the war, he entertained his squadron playing the instrument. He had even smuggled one out of France in the fuselage of his fighter in June 1940, only to have it stolen in Casablanca whilst en route to Gibraltar and Britain. This he soon replaced in Scotland.
Apart from his DFC, awarded in 1945, he was decorated with the Virtuti Militari V Class and other Polish and French decorations.
MICHAEL OLIZAR
The full article contains 977 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
