Stanisław Skalski
Polish fighter ace during WW2 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stanisław Skalski, DSO, DFC & Two Bars (27 November 1915 – 12 November 2004) was a Polish aviator and fighter ace who served with the Polish Air Force and British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Skalski was the top Polish fighter ace of the war and chronologically the first Allied fighter ace of the war,[1] credited, according to the Bajan's list, with 18 11/12 victories and two probable. Some sources, including Skalski himself, give a number of 22 11/12 victories.
Stanisław Skalski | |
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Born | (1915-11-27)27 November 1915 Kodyma, Russian Empire |
Died | 12 November 2004(2004-11-12) (aged 88) Warsaw, Poland |
Allegiance | Poland United Kingdom |
Service/ | Polish Air Force Royal Air Force |
Years of service | 1938–1945 1956–1972 |
Rank | Generał brygady |
Service number | 76710 |
Commands held | No. 133 Polish Fighter Wing No. 131 Polish Fighter Wing No. 601 (County of London) Squadron Polish Fighting Team No. 317 (Polish) Squadron RAF |
Battles/wars | Polish Defensive War Second World War |
Awards | Golden Cross of the Virtuti Militari Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta Cross of Valour (4) Order of the Cross of Grunwald Distinguished Service Order (United Kingdom) Distinguished Flying Cross & Two Bars (United Kingdom) |
He returned to Poland after the war but was imprisoned by the communist authorities under the pretext that he was a spy for Great Britain. While in arrest he was tortured and then, in a show trial, sentenced to death on 7 April 1950. Skalski refused to ask for clemency but after his mother's intervention with the president of communist Poland, Boleslaw Bierut, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He remained in prison until 1956 when a court overturned the previous verdict. After the "Polish October" and subsequent liberalization and end of Stalinist terror, he was rehabilitated and rejoined the Polish armed forces. In 1972 he was moved to inactive service and in 1988, on the cusp of fall of communism in Poland he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.