Hi Andrzej
I have a whole bunch of stuff to his brother who was KIA in 1942. I bought some items a few years back and some more recently.
Nick
Hello Everyone,
No doubt over the past few years groups belonging to some of the most famous Polish Fighter Pilots of World War 2, have been purchased by a relative newcomer to Polish Collecting. The new Custodian of the following Pilots groups, has started their collection with some fine groups.
The 1st group belonged to :
Wing Commander (Pplk) pil. P76730 Stefan Witorzeńć D.F.C.
The 2nd group belonged to :
Flight Lieutenant (por.) pil. P2096 / 793443 Kazimierz Roman Wünsche D.F.M.
The 3rd group belonged to :
Flight Lieutenant (Kpt.) pil. P1654 / 780836 Józef Jeka D.F.M.
The 4th group belonged to :
Flight Lieutenant (Por.) pil. P1912 / 780485 Michal Maciejowski D.F.C. D.F.M.
The new Custodian of all the above groups is none other than :
Lord Michael Ashcroft KCMG PC
A new Polish collector to welcome, you never know, Lord Ashcroft might like to join the Forum.
Best wishes
Andrzej
Last edited by andrzejku98; 07-17-2016 at 07:44 PM.
Hello Everyone,
A couple more Faces of Recipients of British Awards during WW2
Podpulkownik Leopold Gorka O.B.E. (far right of photo)
6th September 1942, United Nations Club at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C. from left to right, Belgian Officer NK, Major M V Mishovich, Yugoslavian Assistant Military Attache, Colonel Oldrich Spaniel Czechoslovakian Military Attache, Major Stefan Dobrowolski O.B.E. Poland Assistant Military Attache, Captain Alfred Leondopoulos Greek Naval Attache.
Click on either to enlarge in a new page.
Best wishes
Andrzej
Hi Andrzej
In regards to your post on Lord Ashcroft's collection, Kazimierz Roman Wunsche was never awarded a DFC, the mistake was made years and years ago because there were 2 Polish airmen with the similar name and both were F/Lt's and ever since most publications write that he was awarded a DFC, he was awarded a DFM, however there was another Polish airmen named Kazimierz Karol Wunsche, he was awarded a DFC in 1945. The 2 often get mixed up because it is a fairly uncommon name.
The previous owner of the Kazimierz Roman Wunsche medal group was a friend of mine, Chris John, and we both researched this, when he bought the Wunsche group from the family there was no DFC, and in post-war photographs of Wunsche he never wore a ribbon for the DFC, only the DFM.
I am including a image of Wunsche's awards, top left hand corner. Small image however yo can see no DFC, just a DFM.
The actual group is superb everything from photos, to medals, 303 and 315 Sqd badges, paperwork. I was offered it many times as Chris always tried to help me buy a Polish Battle of Britain group for myself I just never could afford it with school and all, and it always was one of the better 303 Squadron groups that hit the market because it was so complete.
In regards to the Stefan Witorzenc group, I know there was a medal group floating around the UK with Witorzenc's Log Book however the Virtuti Militari was unnumbered and this was wrong as Witorzenc got his VM early on in the war and this was a numbered cross, and there was no other paperwork with the group just some photos, I was offered it also however passed as I had a gut feeling the medals were added to the Log Book to create a group, and in the early 2000's it was 8,000 pounds too much for just a Log Book to a Polish Ace.
Hope you are well.
Nicholas
While we are on the subject of Polish Battle of Britain medal groups, Bentley Priory Museum has a display at the moment with many Polish groups, these belong to a long time collector who has loaned them and I know this person does visit the forum sometimes
On display to name just a few are Lokuciewski, Martel, Krol, Sawicz, Budzinski, Szaposznikow and many many more including the famous Polish/American Ace Gabby Gabreski.
If someone from the forum does decide to visit Bentley Priory please take some close ups of the groups. There are many groups there to some of the leading air aces and many are to foreign pilots, Czechoslovaks, New Zealanders, Canadians etc etc Some superb decorations on display.
I am actually going to copy the style of displaying the medals for a DSC group I recently bought for my collection to a Motor Torpedo Boat commander.
Here are some photos:
Nicholas
Hello Nick,
Many thanks for your post and pointing out my mistake which I have rectified.
It is surprising that both Arkady Fiedler's book on 303 Sqdn list Wunsche has having received both the D.F.C. and the D.F.M. also Kenneth G Wynn author of the Men of the Battle of Britain also lists Wunsche as having received both awards in all 4 of his Major works on the Pilots that took part in the Battle of Britain over the past 30 years.
The Official Records just state Kazimierz and neither the D.F.C. or D.F.M. recipients are listed with a second Christian Name.
Please accept my apologies for this oversight.
Back in the 1990's I was also offered the Witorzenic V.M. D.F.C. group with the V.M. officially Numbered, but at that time was not interested.
The above photograph is of Flight Lieutenant P0651 Kazimierz Karol Wunsche, Born on the 5th May 1912 in Rzeszow, served has an Observer in 300 Squadron and 1586 Flight. After the war he became a British Citizen and died in Nottingham on the 1st October 1990.
He had been awarded both the Silver Cross Virtuti Militari Numbered 9550 and British Distinguished Flying Cross.
Best wishes
Andrzej
Hi Andrzej
I cannot comment on Fiedler however I know Kenneth Wynn has some mistakes in his book "Men of the Battle of Britain'' however publications like that will always have the odd mistake, we are talking about complete research on thousands of men.
In the case like Wunsche's awards the mistake was made many years ago and many books in Poland list him as DFC DFM, a very good source on Poles in the RAF is this website, I highly recommend it, the owner of the website travels to the Sikorski Inst and uses their personel cards for research, he even adds small details such as VM number and exact date of kills:
Kazimierz Wünsche
What did the Witorzenc group have in it when you got offered it? I remember the VM was not numbered it was a Spink type I believe, it was the main reason I did not buy it, I treat a numbered VM the same way as a 'named' medal, and if a VM is not numbered but should be for me it is a 'broken' group however the Log Book was genuine and had his Battle of Britain flights.
Waclaw Krol's group was for sale around the same time and that had his medals, numbered VM, VM diploma, Log Book's, stunning stuff.
Here is a image of Krol's awards
Nicholas
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