Jan Falkowski

Jan Falkowski

DSO DFC**
Jan Falkowski; DSO DFC**
Born	26 June 1912; Pohulanka, Russian Empire
Died	27 July 2001 (aged 89); Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Allegiance	Poland; France; Armée de l'Air; Distinguished Flying Cross (UK)

Jan Paweł Falkowski

fighter ace of the Polish Air Force in World War II

with 9 confirmed kills.

Biography

Falkowski was born in Pohulanka near

podporucznik) in October 1936. Then he began his career in Toruń.^[2] In 1938 he was sent to Dęblin as instructor. During the Invasion of Poland, on 3 September 1939, he flew a PWS-26, three German planes attacked him. Falkowski reduced the flight almost to the ground and using aircraft maneuverability caused that one German fighter crashed into the ground, and the other interrupted the attack and turned back, most likely due to the small amount of fuel.^[3]

After the

No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron

. On 30 January 1945 he was named commander of the

POW.^[7]

On 9 May 1945 he came back to England.

After the demobilization in 1947, he settled in Canada and had a farm 20 miles away from Toronto. In the 1960s he wrote an autobiographic book, Z wiatrem w twarz (With the wind in my face), edited in Poland in 1990.^[8]

Jan Falkowski died on 27 July 2001 in Peterborough, Canada.^[4]

Awards

Virtuti Militari, Silver Cross
Cross of Valour (Poland), four times
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)

References

^ Krzystek 2012, p. 174.
^ Pawlak 2009, p. 153.
^ "PWS-26" (in Polish). Wielka Encyklopedia Uzbrojenia M.S.Wojsk. 1918 - 1939. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
^ ^a ^b Pawlak 2009, p. 154.
^ Belcarz 2012, p. 8.
^ Sikora 2014, p. 225.
^ Zieliński 1994, p. 27.
^ Zieliński 2005, p. 45.