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Squadron Leader Jack Simmonds, airman who assisted in the 'Wooden Horse' escape. 
After crash-landing in the Netherlands he spent four years in captivity and took part in the infamous 'Long March' in 1945.
Squadron Leader Jack Simmonds, who has died aged 99, was 20 years old when he was shot down in his Whitley bomber; he spent the next four years in captivity and assisted in what became known as the "Wooden Horse" escape. The youthful-looking Simmonds, known to his colleagues as "Junior", flew his first bombing raid on May 2 1941 as a co-pilot when he attacked Hamburg. Over the next few weeks he flew a further seven operations and was promoted captain. His first operation with his own crew was to join a force of 80 Whitleys to bomb the railway yards at Schwerte. On the night of July 6/7 he took part in a raid with 45 aircraft to bomb Dortmund. Over the target his aircraft was hit by flak and his observer was wounded, preventing him from baling out. With one of the two engines useless, Simmonds made a crash landing five miles from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The crew were soon captured.
Simmonds found himself at Oflag VIIC at Laufen Castle in Bavaria, but his stay was short and he was soon moved by cattle truck to Oflag VC at Lübeck, a journey that took seven "not very pleasant" days. By the end of 1941 many RAF officers were moved to Oflag VIB at Warburg and it was there that the first mass escape was attempted. By April 1942 four escape tunnels were being worked on and Simmonds was involved in the tunnelling party on one of them. In May, just before the first tunnel was completed, the German guards discovered it. A large party of the PoWs, including Simmonds, were moved in September to a new camp at Oflag XXIB at Schubin in Poland, where he met up with others who had been on 77 Squadron.
Once Stalag Luft III at Sagan – the specially constructed camp run by the Luftwaffe for RAF prisoners and the scene of "the Great Escape" – had been completed, the majority of PoWs at Schubin were transferred to the East Camp. It was from there that Simmonds joined the team that assisted three PoWs to make a successful escape in October 1943 using a "Wooden Horse", and which was immortalised by a film of the same name in 1950. Simmonds remained at Sagan until late January 1945, when the prisoners were given a few hours notice to leave the camp. As the Soviet Army advanced westwards, the long column of prisoners trekked into Germany in appalling weather conditions on what became known as "the Long March". His column arrived at Luckenwalde, south of Berlin, where the Russians liberated them. Eventually the US Army arrived and he was flown home from Brussels. Jack Simmonds was born at Gillingham in Kent on December 8 1920. His father served in the RAF, and young Simmonds had his early education at Victoria College in Alexandria. He later attended Aylesbury Grammar School. He was 19 years old when he joined the RAF to train as a pilot. Simmonds was rushed through pilot training at a time of great shortage. He flew a few sorties with No 51 Squadron before being posted to No 77 Squadron based at Topcliffe in Yorkshire. Within three months he was a prisoner of war. He remained in the RAF, and in November 1945 joined the air headquarters in Cairo. He later became the camp adjutant at Lydda in Palestine before being seconded to the Army to be the adjutant of No 651 (AOP) Squadron flying Austers. He was off duty in the King David Hotel on the day it was blown up by the Irgun terrorist group with heavy loss of life.
After converting to four-engine aircraft, Simmonds flew the Sunderland flying boat and was flight commander of No 201 Squadron at Pembroke Dock. In 1951, to commemorate Battle of Britain Week, he landed his Sunderland on the River Thames near Greenwich and taxied it to Tower Bridge, which was opened for him, and where his aircraft was moored for six days.
He spent two years as the chief ground instructor at the Maritime Operational Training Unit at St Mawgan in Cornwall before a two-year appointment with the Royal Navy at Portland, where he was the RAF member of a joint war-gaming team. He later specialised in signals, and after tours at HQ NEAF in Cyprus and at HQ Coastal Command, he returned to flying at RAF Lindholme before retiring in 1968.
After leaving the RAF, Simmonds went into local government, took two degrees, one with the Open University, and became a prominent member, and president, of his local Rotary Club.
Jack Simmonds married Mary, who had served as a WAAF officer in the war, in 1949; she died in 2012. Their three sons survive him.
Jack Simmonds, born December 8 1920, died April 2 2020
After crash-landing in the Netherlands he spent four years in captivity and took part in the infamous 'Long March' in 1945.
Squadron Leader Jack Simmonds, who has died aged 99, was 20 years old when he was shot down in his Whitley bomber; he spent the next four years in captivity and assisted in what became known as the "Wooden Horse" escape. The youthful-looking Simmonds, known to his colleagues as "Junior", flew his first bombing raid on May 2 1941 as a co-pilot when he attacked Hamburg. Over the next few weeks he flew a further seven operations and was promoted captain. His first operation with his own crew was to join a force of 80 Whitleys to bomb the railway yards at Schwerte. On the night of July 6/7 he took part in a raid with 45 aircraft to bomb Dortmund. Over the target his aircraft was hit by flak and his observer was wounded, preventing him from baling out. With one of the two engines useless, Simmonds made a crash landing five miles from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The crew were soon captured.
Simmonds found himself at Oflag VIIC at Laufen Castle in Bavaria, but his stay was short and he was soon moved by cattle truck to Oflag VC at Lübeck, a journey that took seven "not very pleasant" days. By the end of 1941 many RAF officers were moved to Oflag VIB at Warburg and it was there that the first mass escape was attempted. By April 1942 four escape tunnels were being worked on and Simmonds was involved in the tunnelling party on one of them. In May, just before the first tunnel was completed, the German guards discovered it. A large party of the PoWs, including Simmonds, were moved in September to a new camp at Oflag XXIB at Schubin in Poland, where he met up with others who had been on 77 Squadron.
Once Stalag Luft III at Sagan – the specially constructed camp run by the Luftwaffe for RAF prisoners and the scene of "the Great Escape" – had been completed, the majority of PoWs at Schubin were transferred to the East Camp. It was from there that Simmonds joined the team that assisted three PoWs to make a successful escape in October 1943 using a "Wooden Horse", and which was immortalised by a film of the same name in 1950. Simmonds remained at Sagan until late January 1945, when the prisoners were given a few hours notice to leave the camp. As the Soviet Army advanced westwards, the long column of prisoners trekked into Germany in appalling weather conditions on what became known as "the Long March". His column arrived at Luckenwalde, south of Berlin, where the Russians liberated them. Eventually the US Army arrived and he was flown home from Brussels. Jack Simmonds was born at Gillingham in Kent on December 8 1920. His father served in the RAF, and young Simmonds had his early education at Victoria College in Alexandria. He later attended Aylesbury Grammar School. He was 19 years old when he joined the RAF to train as a pilot. Simmonds was rushed through pilot training at a time of great shortage. He flew a few sorties with No 51 Squadron before being posted to No 77 Squadron based at Topcliffe in Yorkshire. Within three months he was a prisoner of war. He remained in the RAF, and in November 1945 joined the air headquarters in Cairo. He later became the camp adjutant at Lydda in Palestine before being seconded to the Army to be the adjutant of No 651 (AOP) Squadron flying Austers. He was off duty in the King David Hotel on the day it was blown up by the Irgun terrorist group with heavy loss of life.
After converting to four-engine aircraft, Simmonds flew the Sunderland flying boat and was flight commander of No 201 Squadron at Pembroke Dock. In 1951, to commemorate Battle of Britain Week, he landed his Sunderland on the River Thames near Greenwich and taxied it to Tower Bridge, which was opened for him, and where his aircraft was moored for six days.
He spent two years as the chief ground instructor at the Maritime Operational Training Unit at St Mawgan in Cornwall before a two-year appointment with the Royal Navy at Portland, where he was the RAF member of a joint war-gaming team. He later specialised in signals, and after tours at HQ NEAF in Cyprus and at HQ Coastal Command, he returned to flying at RAF Lindholme before retiring in 1968.
After leaving the RAF, Simmonds went into local government, took two degrees, one with the Open University, and became a prominent member, and president, of his local Rotary Club.
Jack Simmonds married Mary, who had served as a WAAF officer in the war, in 1949; she died in 2012. Their three sons survive him.
Jack Simmonds, born December 8 1920, died April 2 2020
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Colonel Mieczyslaw Stachiewicz
Colonel Mieczyslaw Stachiewicz, who has died aged 102, escaped from his native Poland following the German invasion, and after reaching England joined a Polish bomber squadron.
Stachiewicz was serving as a cadet with the 4th Air Regiment when the Germans launched their attack on Poland. Within days he joined a force to head east, and after the Soviet invasion two weeks later he crossed into Romania, where he was interned.
He escaped in January 1940 and finally reached France. Within weeks he had to escape again, this time to England.
He had completed his basic flying training in Poland and by April 1942 he had trained as a bomber pilot and joined No 301 (Pomeranian) Squadron equipped with the Wellington. He flew his first operation on May 5, when he attacked Stuttgart. At the end of the month he flew on the first "Thousand Bomber" raid when Cologne was the target.
Over the next few months he flew more than 20 operations and attacked industrial cities during the Battle of the Ruhr. These included the Krupps works at Essen and the ports of Emden, Wilhelmshaven and Bremen. He flew a number of sorties to drop mines in coastal waters in the Frisian Islands, off Brest and at St Nazaire; he also attacked Turin, a 10-hour round flight.
On the night of May 22/23 a squadron colleague and his crew failed to return having ditched in the North Sea. Two Wellingtons, one flown by Stachiewicz, took off to search. He and his crew located a dinghy 90 miles from Cromer and guided a rescue launch to the spot. In the event, it was the crew of a Wellington from another squadron; his Polish colleagues were lost.
On July 8, as he approached the target at Wilhelmshaven, one of the two engines failed and he headed back for England. The radio had been damaged and he was unable to gain contact with ground control. He made a crash landing on one of the numerous dummy airfields designed to confuse any enemy bombers.
After 33 operations he was rested in November 1942. He was awarded Poland's highest award for gallantry, the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari, and he was awarded the Cross of Valour three times.
Mieczyslaw Jozef Stachiewicz was born on May 21 1917 in Warsaw. His father was the son of General Julian Stachiewicz, an officer of the Polish Legions and a close associate of Jozef Pilsudski.
After graduating from elementary school in 1931 Stachiewicz attended the High School Stefan Batory in Warsaw. From January 1938 he was a student of the Aviation Reserve Cadet School in Deblin, where he completed his basic training as a pilot. In parallel, he started studying at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology.
By the time war broke out he had completed his first year of study. On August 22 1939 he was called up for summer exercises at the 4th Air Regiment in Torun and assigned to a training squadron, and soon after he was mobilised.
When he completed his tour of operation with No 301 Squadron, Stachiewicz was given leave to study at the Polish School of Architecture at the University of Liverpool. He graduated in 1946 and he decided to remain in Britain.
On November 30 1949 he adopted British citizenship. Living in London, for 35 years he worked as an architect for many companies and for local government.
In retirement he worked for Polish organisations in Britain and was active in the Union of Lviv Cadets and the Polish Aviators Association. He was the longest-serving member of the Jozef Pilsudski Institute in London, becoming its vice-president in 1983 and a year later its president, serving until his death.
He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Polish Cultural Foundation. He was awarded the Officer's Cross and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his post-war social work.
In July 2017, during a ceremony at the Polish Embassy, Stachiewicz was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, the highest state decoration in Poland.
Mieczyslaw Stachiewicz married Irena Goldstein; they had a son and two daughters.
Mieczyslaw Stachiewicz, born May 21 1917, died April 30 2020. He died of Coronavirus.
source: The Telegraph
Colonel Mieczyslaw Stachiewicz, who has died aged 102, escaped from his native Poland following the German invasion, and after reaching England joined a Polish bomber squadron.
Stachiewicz was serving as a cadet with the 4th Air Regiment when the Germans launched their attack on Poland. Within days he joined a force to head east, and after the Soviet invasion two weeks later he crossed into Romania, where he was interned.
He escaped in January 1940 and finally reached France. Within weeks he had to escape again, this time to England.
He had completed his basic flying training in Poland and by April 1942 he had trained as a bomber pilot and joined No 301 (Pomeranian) Squadron equipped with the Wellington. He flew his first operation on May 5, when he attacked Stuttgart. At the end of the month he flew on the first "Thousand Bomber" raid when Cologne was the target.
Over the next few months he flew more than 20 operations and attacked industrial cities during the Battle of the Ruhr. These included the Krupps works at Essen and the ports of Emden, Wilhelmshaven and Bremen. He flew a number of sorties to drop mines in coastal waters in the Frisian Islands, off Brest and at St Nazaire; he also attacked Turin, a 10-hour round flight.
On the night of May 22/23 a squadron colleague and his crew failed to return having ditched in the North Sea. Two Wellingtons, one flown by Stachiewicz, took off to search. He and his crew located a dinghy 90 miles from Cromer and guided a rescue launch to the spot. In the event, it was the crew of a Wellington from another squadron; his Polish colleagues were lost.
On July 8, as he approached the target at Wilhelmshaven, one of the two engines failed and he headed back for England. The radio had been damaged and he was unable to gain contact with ground control. He made a crash landing on one of the numerous dummy airfields designed to confuse any enemy bombers.
After 33 operations he was rested in November 1942. He was awarded Poland's highest award for gallantry, the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari, and he was awarded the Cross of Valour three times.
Mieczyslaw Jozef Stachiewicz was born on May 21 1917 in Warsaw. His father was the son of General Julian Stachiewicz, an officer of the Polish Legions and a close associate of Jozef Pilsudski.
After graduating from elementary school in 1931 Stachiewicz attended the High School Stefan Batory in Warsaw. From January 1938 he was a student of the Aviation Reserve Cadet School in Deblin, where he completed his basic training as a pilot. In parallel, he started studying at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology.
By the time war broke out he had completed his first year of study. On August 22 1939 he was called up for summer exercises at the 4th Air Regiment in Torun and assigned to a training squadron, and soon after he was mobilised.
When he completed his tour of operation with No 301 Squadron, Stachiewicz was given leave to study at the Polish School of Architecture at the University of Liverpool. He graduated in 1946 and he decided to remain in Britain.
On November 30 1949 he adopted British citizenship. Living in London, for 35 years he worked as an architect for many companies and for local government.
In retirement he worked for Polish organisations in Britain and was active in the Union of Lviv Cadets and the Polish Aviators Association. He was the longest-serving member of the Jozef Pilsudski Institute in London, becoming its vice-president in 1983 and a year later its president, serving until his death.
He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Polish Cultural Foundation. He was awarded the Officer's Cross and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his post-war social work.
In July 2017, during a ceremony at the Polish Embassy, Stachiewicz was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, the highest state decoration in Poland.
Mieczyslaw Stachiewicz married Irena Goldstein; they had a son and two daughters.
Mieczyslaw Stachiewicz, born May 21 1917, died April 30 2020. He died of Coronavirus.
source: The Telegraph
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Snautzer01
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- Mar 26, 2007
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What war couldn't do, a virus did. R. I. P.
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