On 30 November 1940, a Hurricane fighter of No 245 Squadron based at Royal Air Force Aldergrove crashed into a peat bog near Cushendall from high altitude. Its Polish pilot, Sergeant Pretkiewicz, was killed on impact and was subsequently buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Glenavy, Co Antrim. Because the RAF salvage party which went to the crash site in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy failed to recover the engine from the bottom of the deep impact crater, the Court of Inquiry could only speculate about the cause. It was only after the engine was excavated from the bog with the permission of the Ministry of Defence, dismantled and examined by the Ulster Aviation Society in 1984 that the primary cause of the tragedy was determined beyond doubt. Failure of oil supply to the main bearings had caused them to seize and force a con rod through the crankcase resulting in engine breakdown. Being remarkably rust free – a tribute to the preservative qualities of peat – the engine was subsequently cleaned and rebuilt to the condition seen here at UAS
Sergeant Franciszek Pretkiewicz joined the Polish Air Force in 1933 and was eventually trained as a fighter pilot. During the first week of the German blitzkrieg on Poland in September 1939 he shot down a Heinkel He 45 and was credited with a half share of a Heinkel 111 bomber. On 19 September he was evacuated to Romania and then to France where he was again in action. He arrived in England on 27 July 1940 and was initially posted to the RAF's 307 (Polish) Squadron, a night fighter unit, then to 303 (Polish) Squadron and, on 8 November 1940, to No 245 Squadron at Aldergrove. His decorations included the Krzyz Walecznych with Bar. He was one of seven pilots of Polish nationality in No 245 Squadron around that time.
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Topic: Sgt PRETKIEWICZ Franciszek 784733 ww2 pilot (Read 2438 times)