Polish Air Force Operations Record Books 1940-1947

1943-03-01

Kirton Lindsey

Non operational Flying. Air Training local, weather fine and good visibility.

1943-03-02

Weather fine and clear. One Section at readiness at 13.00 hours. Released at 18.45 hours.
Local Flying. F/Lt Dec took over command of A. Flight vice F/Lt Baranski posted.

1943-03-03

Weather visibility poor early in morning clearing later in day. Local and air training flying.

1943-03-04

Foggy and windy – cold, cloudy visibility most unsatisfactory. One section at readiness from 13.00 hours. Released at 19.15 hours. Local training and air firing exercises carried out.

1943-03-05

Weather fair – cold. Visibility good. One section at readiness 07.20 hours. One at 15 minutes.
One section took off at 07.45 hours on patrol. Air firing exercises with drogue.

1943-03-06

Weather fine and clear. Visibility good. S/Ldr. Lapka did a weather test at 09.55 hours.
W/Cdr Gabszewicz. Wing Comm. Flying, did some local Flying. Released at 19.20 hours.
General Sikorski visited the Station and Squadrons.

1943-03-07

Weather hazy in early morning, clearing and becoming fine later. 4 aircraft on formation flying at 11.45 hrs. At 13.00 hrs Red Section were at readiness. Yellow section at 15 mins.
More formation flying in the afternoon until 17.30. Squadron released at 19.15 hours.

1943-03-08

Weather Misty. No flying by Squadron.

1943-03-09

Early morning mist. Visibility cleared by 09.05 hours. In the afternoon the weather was bright and sunny.

1943-03-10

In the morning weather was good. Visibility 2 miles cloud 3/10 at 2000ft. Wind 10 – 15 m.p.h. In afternoon weather deteriorated. Fighter attacks practice took place. Non op flying times 10.15 minutes. There were 15 non op sorties.

1943-03-11

Weather fine and bright, good visibility. Local and formation flying carried out. 20 non-op sorties. Flying times 15.15 Hours.

1943-03-12

Weather squally. Wind 30 m.p.h. Visibility good, cloud at 9/10 at 2000ft. 15 aircraft on Camera Gun practice. 2 a/c on Sector Recce. 2 a/c Interceptions. There were 19 non-op Sorties. Flying times 17h. 10mins.

1943-03-13

Slight mist early later improving. Vis 4000 yds. 8/10 clouds. Wind S-SW 2 m.P.H. Weather improved at 11.00 hours. Visibility 10 miles. Afternoon at readiness from 13.00 hours. Formation Flying. Flying times 5 hours 30 mins. There were 7 sorties.

1943-03-14

Kirton Lindsey.

Weather fine with good visibility. Wind S,W to N.E. Readiness from 06.52. Practice scrambles. Released from readiness at 13.00 hours. In the afternoon practice landings at Hibaldstow. Released at 19.30 hrs. There were 13 sorties. Non op flying times 6.5 hours.

1943-03-15

Weather at 08.00 hours ground mist, but cleared by noon. Photo attacks being main work done, also a little formation flying. There were 6 sorties non op Flying times 6 hrs. 30 mins.

1943-03-16

Weather at 09.00 hrs fine, good visibility, cloud approx. 10/10 wind 6-8 m.p.h. Squadron operating from Church Fenton. At 13.00 hrs Red Section at readiness. Two sections at 30 minutes. At 13.50 B Flight landed from Digby. At 16.45 W/Cdr Gabszewicz returned from Northolt. Squadron released at 17.35 hrs. Flying times 3hrs 30 mins. non op 7 sorties.

1943-03-17

Operated again from Kirton. At 08.00 hrs one section at readiness and 2 at 30 mins. Weather 08.00 hrs – ground mist vis. 40 yards, slight drizzle, weather gradually cleared by 13.00 hrs, the sun had broken through. At 14.00 hours fog warning from Ops. During afternoon formation flying, photo attacks and air to air firing practiced. During night 6 pilots remained at readiness. Flying Times 8hrs. 20mins. 20 sorties. Non-op.

1943-03-18

Weather at 08.00 hours slight mist over base, local flying done by both flights, formation, sector reccs and A/C tests. At 13.00 one section at readiness one at 15 mins and one at 30 mins.
Weather improved slightly during afternoon visibility 500 to 700 yards, wind approx
8 – 10 miles.
Flying training included attacking ground targets. At 19.40 Squadron released.

1943-03-19

At 06.52 hrs one section at readiness and 2 at 30 mins. At 08.00 weather slightly hazy and mist over base cloud 8/10 to 10/10, vis 500 yards. No flying in morning. In afternoon squadron released for training at 13.30 hrs and formation flying was done. Sector recco, Aircraft tests and photo attacks, high altitude flying by two aircraft. At 19.40 hrs Squadron was released.

1943-03-20

At 08.00 hours weather generally windy. Cloud base 1500 ft to 2000 ft fog in E. Anglia.
Cloud S.E. at 800 ft Visibility 1800 to 2000 yards Wind N. 10 m.p.h. 1 A/C on weather test.
At 13.00 hrs Red Section readiness, Yellow 30 mins. white 30 mins. 2 aircraft did cross country flying. Flying times 6 hrs 15 mins. 6 sorties. Non-op.

1943-03-21

At 08.00 visibility 100 yards cloud 8/10 at 800 ft, very little wind ground mist, mild.
By 13.00 hrs weather cleared and the Sqdn was released for training. Lots of formation flying practice. Non op flying. 17.55 hours. 27 sorties.

1943-03-22

At 08.00 hrs weather Fair, slight low cloud about 8/10 at 1000 yds, wind approx 15 m.p.h.
Formation flying and photo attacks done. 1 a/c aerobatics. At 13.00 Blue section at readiness and 2 sections at 30 mins. Air to air firing by 10 a/c in sections of two. 2 a/c on camera Gun practice.
Released from readiness at 19.45. Non op times 20h. 35 mins. 24 Sorties.

1943-03-23

Kirton Lindsey.

At 08.00 hrs, weather fair visibility 300 to 800 yds. wind NW to SE at 15 M.P.H. Cloud 5/10.
Bu 10.00 hours the weather had improved considerably. Formation flying, aerobatics, Camera Gun and air to air firing was done in the course of the days training. Non op sorties 26. Flying times 24 hrs. 10 min.

1943-03-24

At 08.00 hours weather fair, visibility about 1000 yds wind NW.SE at 15 m.p.h. cloud 7/10 at 1000 ft. 2 a/c airborne at 09.25 on Air/sea Rescue. L18, J40. Later 4 more a/c were airborne on Air/Sea rescue, but were recalled to base after 10 mins, because weather was closing down. Nothing seen. At 13.00 one section at readiness and one at 15 mins and one at 30 mins. G.C.I. practice, air to air firing and a/c tests done by both flights. At 16.01 hrs Yellow section were ordered to scramble to Mablethorpe at 15.000ft and were airborne at 16.05 hrs recalled and landed at 16.15 hrs. A/C turned out to be friendly. At 19.49 Sqdn was released. Operational sorties 4. Op flying times 3 hrs. 30 mins. Non op. sorties 17. Times 14 hrs 5 mins.

1943-03-25

At 06.08 hrs one section at readiness 2 sections at 30 mins. At 09.00 convoy in sector. Pilot position 050 for 8 ½ mins. Weather Slight rain, vis. 500 yds, cloud 10/10 at 800 ft wind 14 m.p.h. weather remains unsuitably for flying all day.

1943-03-26

06.20 Squadron released for training. 08.00 Weather rain and bad vis. No flying was done during day.
F/Sgt. Kulczyk. Posted to 25 P.E.F.T.S.

1943-03-27

06.35 Blue section at 30 mins Green section at 30 mins. At 08.00 Weather mild, slight, wind approx 15 m.p.h. Cloud 8/10 at 1000ft. Vis approx 2 miles. Squadron practised air to air firing, cross country flights, local flying and a/c test. At 19.50 Sqdn was released for the day.
No op flying. Non operational flying times 18.20 hrs Non op sorties. 15.

1943-03-28

At 08.30 Squadron at readiness. At 08.45 Sqdn 14 a/c airborne operations to Coltishall. Weather good visibility about 3 miles, wind approx 15 m.p.h. Cloud 10/10 at 2000 ft. Sqdn left Coltishall on a Ramrod as rear support to 24 Ventura Bombers to Rotterdam at 12.15 hrs. Landed at Coltishall at 13.45 hrs. Nothing seen. 16.00 hrs Sqdn landed at Kirton. 16.40 hrs Red Section at readiness. air to air firing and local flying.
Operational Sorties 13. Flying times. 18hrs. 25 mins.
Non op Sorties 34. Flying time 20h. 35 mins.

1943-03-29

At 06.00 weather fine cloud 8/10 at 2000 ft visibility 5 miles, wind approx 5 m.p.h. The Sqdn xxxxxxxx xxxx The Squadron of 12 aircraft took off on an operation to Coltishall at 06.40.
2 more a/c took off on same operation at 06.55 and one again at 07.40 making 15 a/c in all. The Squadron left Coltishall at 09.15 hrs as rear support to 34 Ventura Bombers on a Ramrod to Rotterdam, landed at Coltishall at 10.50 hrs. Nothing seen. Squadron again airborne at 14.10 on another RAMROD as rear support to 24 Ventura bombers to Rotterdam. Nothing seen, landed at Coltishall at 15.35. Sqdn left Coltishall at 16.45 for Kirton. 13 a/C landed at Kirton at 17.20 1 a/c landed at 18.40. 1 a/c crashed on landing near southwold. Pilot unhurt. Ops Flying times 44 hrs. Ops Sorties 29. Non op flying 13 hrs. Non op sorties 30.

1943-03-30

Kirton Lindsey

08.00. Weather fine – cloud 9/10 at 2000 ft visibility 8 miles. Wind W – SW approx 15mph. In the morning air to air firing practised. In afternoon Formation and local Flying.
Flying Times. Non-operational 15hrs 15 mis. Non op sorties 19.

1943-03-31

At 05.53 one section at readiness 2 sections at 30 mins. Weather 08.00 hrs, Fairly low cloud. 8/10 at 3,000ft. Visibility 3 to 5 miles. Strong wind approx 40 to 50 mph. Sqdn did formation flying, photo attacks and 3 a/c did a/c tests. At 13.00 Squadron released for training. In afternoon one flight did formation flying and photo attacks. Squadron released at 20.05 hrs.
Non-op flying times 25h. 50 mins. 26 Sorties.

Łapka S/L [Autograph]
Squadron Leader. Commanding.
302 Polish Squadron.