Who was Witold Urbanowicz?

A Polish fighter ace (1908 to 1996) who commanded No. 303 Squadron in the Battle of Britain.

How many victories did Urbanowicz have?

He was officially credited with 17 confirmed victories in the Second World War, plus one probable.

Did Urbanowicz command No. 303 Squadron?

Yes, from early September 1940, during the hardest weeks of the Battle of Britain.

Why was he called Cobra?

It was his nickname as an instructor at the Polish air force school at Dęblin in the 1930s.

Did Urbanowicz fight against Japan?

Yes, in 1943 he flew combat missions with the US Fourteenth Air Force in China.

Witold Urbanowicz: the ace who led No. 303 Squadron

Witold Urbanowicz fought at opposite ends of the world: in the skies above London and against the Japanese over China. In the Battle of Britain he led the most famous Polish unit of the war, No. 303 Squadron.

Cobra

Born in 1908, Urbanowicz trained at the Polish air force school at Dęblin and became a fighter pilot. In 1936 he reportedly shot down a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft¹ that had crossed into Polish airspace, earning an official reprimand and, it is said, quiet congratulations. As an instructor at Dęblin he was nicknamed Cobra.¹

Escape to Britain

After the September Campaign of 1939 Urbanowicz escaped through Romania and France to Britain, like thousands of Polish airmen determined to keep fighting².

A group of airmen in flying jackets and life vests walking across grass from a Hurricane fighter — Pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron walk back from a Hawker Hurricane, October 1940. Official RAF photograph by Stanley Devon. Public domain

No. 303 Squadron

In the Battle of Britain he flew first with a British squadron and then joined No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, which he commanded from early September 1940³ during the most intense weeks of the battle. Under his leadership the squadron became one of the highest-scoring units of Fighter Command⁴. Officially credited with 17 confirmed victories in the war³, he is counted among the most successful Polish fighter pilots.

Four Polish RAF officers in caps and uniforms standing in a row wearing their new medals — The first four Polish recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross from No. 303 Squadron at Leconfield, 15 December 1940: from left, Witold Urbanowicz, Jan Zumbach, Mirosław Ferić and Zdzisław Henneberg. Public domain

Over China

Later Urbanowicz served as assistant air attaché in Washington and, in 1943, flew combat missions against the Japanese with the US Fourteenth Air Force¹ in China, adding to his tally.

Mechanics working on the engine of a P-40 fighter under a wooden shelter — American ground crew overhaul a Curtiss P-40 of the 23rd Fighter Group on an airfield in China, 1942. The P-40 was the fighter of the American groups in China when Urbanowicz flew there. Public domain

Exile and return

After the war Urbanowicz did not stay in communist Poland, where security officers detained him repeatedly during a postwar visit³, and settled in the United States, where he wrote memoirs of his flying career⁵. He died in New York in 1996⁶, and he is remembered as one of the great figures of the Polish air force.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Battle of Britain London Monument, “S/Ldr. W Urbanowicz” ↩ a b c
Adam Zamoyski, The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in the Second World War (John Murray, 1995). ↩
Wikipedia, “Witold Urbanowicz” ↩ a b c
Lynne Olson, Stanley Cloud, A Question of Honor: The Kościuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003). ↩
Polskie Radio (English Section), “Thirty years since death of Polish WWII fighter ace, Battle of Britain hero” ↩
dzieje.pl (Muzeum Historii Polski / PAP), “Witold Urbanowicz” ↩
Wikipedia, “Witold Urbanowicz”