THE UNIVERSITY of the Polish Air Force in England. Little known source for the beginnings of the Polish Air Force during WWII; duplicator print, pp. 64, original cover glued over secondary binding, laced, 6 graphics thematically related to Polish aviation preserved, 3 graphics and portrait of General Sikorski missing.
After the defeat of France, under an agreement between the government in exile and the J.K.M. government, a Polish Aviation Center was established at the RAF base in Eastchurch in December 1939. Polish Aviation Center. On behalf of the British, it was commanded by Capt. A.P. Davidson, and on the Polish side by Col. Air Col. Boleslaw Feliks Stachoń (1897-1941), an aviator in active service in the Second Republic. He trained in Bydgoszcz, commanded the 4th Air Col. in Torun, and fought in September 1939. From 7.XII.1939 to 1.VII.1940 he was chief of Polish airmen in Eastchurch. Later at RAF stations in Bramcote and Swindbery. At his own request he transferred to the 301st Bomb Squadron. He died during a flight after the bombing of Bremen. His initiative led to the publication of the Polish Air Force One-Day in England. He included an introductory article in it. The other authors were Polish airmen stationed in Eastchurch, all signing their initials. Among them is the chaplain of the airmen, Rev. Dr. Lt. Col. Leon Count Broel-Plater. There are memoirs of the September campaign, of the airmen's foray in September 1939 from Lviv to Bucharest, of their first days outside their homeland, and of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve 1939 in Great Britain.
