Urbanowicz, one of Poland’s best-known World War II pilots, commanded the Polish No. 303 Fighter Squadron during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
He later returned to combat in China against Japanese forces.
He died in New York on August 17, 1996, at the age of 88.
Urbanowicz joined No. 303 Squadron in August 1940 after first serving with the Royal Air Force’s No. 145 Squadron.
On September 7, he took command after the squadron’s commander, Zdzisław Krasnodębski, was seriously burned in combat.
No. 303 was a Polish unit operating within the RAF. Urbanowicz led it during some of the fiercest fighting of the 1940 Battle of Britain before handing over command in late October of that year.
He was officially credited with 17 aerial victories during the Battle of Britain, with several further wins during his service with the US Air Force in 1943.
Urbanowicz had already seen combat before World War II. In August 1936, while serving with a Polish fighter squadron near the country’s eastern border, he shot down a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft that had been photographing Polish fortifications.
The incident was kept secret at the time.
"The Soviet aircraft opened fire on us," Urbanowicz later recalled. "We attacked. I fired short bursts. Suddenly the Soviet aircraft began to smoke. After that, the Russians stopped photographing our fortifications on the eastern border," he added.
Born on March 30, 1908, in Olszanka, northeastern Poland, Urbanowicz entered military aviation after training at the Polish Air Force academy in Dęblin.
By the mid-1930s, he was serving as a fighter pilot and later became an instructor.
After World War II broke out in September 1939, he flew missions defending the Dęblin area. He then crossed into Romania with a group of cadets.
Determined to continue fighting, he returned to Polish territory, was captured by Soviet forces and escaped before again making his way to Romania.
He reached Britain in January 1940 and retrained on Hawker Hurricane fighters before joining combat operations during the Battle of Britain.
Later, after serving in staff and diplomatic posts, including at the Polish embassy in Washington, Urbanowicz sought a return to combat.
In late 1943 he went to China, where he flew against Japanese forces alongside the US 14th Air Force.
He returned to Britain in January 1944 and was promoted to wing commander. Later that year he again became air attaché at the Polish embassy in Washington.
Like many members of the Polish Air Force who had fought alongside the Western Allies, Urbanowicz remained abroad after the war.
Poland had come under communist rule, and many wartime servicemen associated with the prewar Polish state were unwilling or unable to return permanently.
Those who did, were often maltreated by the authorities, or simply disappeared.
Urbanowicz settled in the United States and worked in the aviation industry.
During a visit to Poland in 1947, he was repeatedly detained by the communist security police but managed to leave the country.
He wrote several memoirs about his wartime experiences. Some appeared in Poland in censored form during the 1960s, including books dealing with his service in Britain and China.
Polish World War II fighter pilot Witold Urbanowicz (right) is presented with a US Air Medal on January 11, 1944, after distinguishing himself during his voluntary service with the US Air Force in China. Photo: National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
After the collapse of communist rule in Poland in 1989, Urbanowicz visited his homeland several times.
On November 11, 1995, President Lech Wałęsa promoted him to brigadier general.
Among his Polish decorations were the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari, the country's highest military decoration for valor, and four Crosses of Valor.
Urbanowicz is buried at the Our Lady of Częstochowa cemetery in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
(rt/gs)
Source: dzieje.pl