SPITFIRE ACE DIES (1 Viewer)

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Captain
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Nov 9, 2005
Cracow
BATTLE of Britain hero Ltn Mirek Shelton (Miroslaw Szelestowski- 303 PAF), one of just 90 surviving Spitfire aces who fought off the Luftwaffe, has died at 88.

December 19, 2006
 

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In Richard Collier's Eagle Day - BoB he covers 303 Squadron - Polish aviators, among many other RAF and Luftwaffe units, throughout the battle. RAF had the Poles tasked w/ learning English, afraid that their poor English would interfere w/ combat ops. They were stuck in training flights, until a training flight bumped into a raid, and Poles peeled off the formation and attacked. From that day on they were fully operational.
 
In spring of 1940 my mother was evacuated to Blackpool. She was 6 years old. She and 2 of her sisters were billeted at a home with several Polish pilots who had made it to England via Dunkirk. They were there at Blackpool to form the 303 squadron. My mom has fond memories of these pilots, they were very kind and spent time with the girls because undoubtedly they felt sorry for them. She also remembers that they were homesick for Poland. They taught her the Polish national anthem, which she can sing word perfect (in Polish) to this day!
I do not know if this pilot is one of the ones that had been billeted with my mother but thank you for posting this. I will send his name and photo to her.
 

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