Eight: Sergeant W. Szalacki, Polish Air Force, an Air Gunner who flew operationally in No. 300 Squadron

Poland, Cross of Valour; Poland, Air Force Medal; Poland, Army Medal; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals, mounted as worn, together with Polish Aircrew Badge, light bronze, by J. R. Gaunt, London, with screw-back fitment for wearing, and small-size embroidered Air Gunner’s Brevet, very fine and better (10)
£400-450

Wladyslaw Szalacki was born in Kiev in February 1913. In the summer of 1941 he went to a Labour Camp in Siberia where, on the signing of the Polish-Soviet Pact, he joined the Polish Army in the U.S.S.R. that September. Posted to the 5th Light Artillery Regiment, he was embarked for the Middle East in 1942, but subsequently volunteered for the Polish Air Force (Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum records refer).

Szalacki commenced training as an Air Gunner at No. 4 A.G.S. in December 1943 and, having qualified in February 1944, attended No. 18 O.T.U. before joining No. 300 (Masovian Polish) Squadron, a Lancaster unit operating out of Ingham, Lincolnshire, in February 1945. Between then and the end of hostilities, he completed at least 17 operational sorties against German targets and, as verified by official Polish records, was awarded the Cross of Valour. So, too, further sorties in support of Operations “Manna” and “Exodus”, namely the dropping of food supplies and repatriation of P.O.Ws. And he remained in No. 300 Squadron until the unit was disbanded at the end of 1946.

Sold with the recipient’s original R.A.F. Flying Log Book (Form 1767), covering the period January 1944 to December 1946, several wartime photographs, and a commemorative booklet for the Polish Air Force, 1981.