The Airmen's Stories - Sgt. H Skowron

Henryk Skowron was born on 26th May 1916 in Krakow, Poland. It is likely that he was serving in the pre-war Polish Air Force but details of this and how he made his way to England are currently unknown.

He was enlisted in the RAFVR on 12th March 1940 at RAF Eastchurch. On 1st June he was at the Polish Wing at 3 School of Technical Training at Blackpool, awaiting a posting.

Above image courtesy of Jaroslaw Gwardys via Joel Diggle.

He was at the RAF Polish Depot from 26th August. He went to No. 1 School of Army Co-operation at Old Sarum for the 7th Polish Pilots Course from 23rd September to 1st October 1940, for testing and grading.

Skowron arrived at 5 OTU Aston Down on 2nd October. After converting to Hurricanes he joined 151 Squadron at Digby on the 19th. He made only one flight with 151, local flying on the 20th. Next day he joined 303 Squadron at Leconfield. He made his first flight with 303 on the 25th, combat practice, and flew his first operational sortie on 30th October, a patrol with 'A' Flight.

Skowron was detached to 56 OTU Sutton Bridge on 8th November 1940 for advanced training. His date of rejoining 303 is not known. He rejoined 151 Squadron, then at Wittering, on 1st February 1941 and then went to 10 B&GS Dumfries on 8th April as a staff pilot.

Skowron was killed on 18th July 1941 whilst target-towing. His Battle, L5775, crashed into the Solway Firth off Blackshaw Bank, cause unknown. His crewman, LAC W Weatherburn, was also killed.

Skowron is buried in St Andrew's Catholic Cemetery, Dumfries and also commemorated on the Polish War Memorial at Northolt.

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