• Awards: Commonwealth to PL

Date of birth:

January 1917 (Grybow/Kraków, Poland)

Date of death:

March 10th, 1983

Service number:

P-1841/ 505157

Nationality:

Polish (1918-1939, IInd Republic)

When World War Two broke out Witold Winkler was reserve Signals Officer in the Polish Army. While trying to escape via Rumania he was interned. He managed to escape though and sailed to England where he entered the RAF and began flying on Ansons as a navigator.
In January 1943 he transferred to Wellingtons and had his first missions in May with raids on Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Essen. In June he was involved with mining at Lorient with further bombing raids on Cologne and Dusseldorf. Up until November 1943 he was involved in consistant raids throughout Germany, November 1943 was devoted to "Gardening". After a transfer to to 18 O.T.U. Winkler was send to Italy and began with 1586 Polish flight at Brindisi, Italy, flying on Halifax. He was involved in a number of long hour operations in Italy with regular sorties of between 7 and 10 hours, his last sortie was on February 16th, 1945.
Honourably discharged in January 1947, he served in the Polish Resettlement Corps until January 1949, and rejoined the Royal Air Force in early 1953, gaining appointment as a Navigator. He was advanced to his old rank of Flight Lieutenant in July 1956 and left the Raf on retirement on January 25th, 1968.

Promotions:
? Pilot Officer
March 1943: Flying Officer (war sub)
September 1944: Flight Lieutenant (war sub)

July 1st, 1956: Flight Lieutenant
January 25th. 1968: retirement

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Unit:

No. 300 (Masovian) Squadron, Royal Air Force

Awarded on:

March 20th, 1944

Recommendation:
"This Navigator has been detailed for 30 operational sorties and has never failed to complete his mission successfully. These sorties include Hanover (2), Hamburg (3), Cologne (2), Dusseldorf (2), Wuppertal (2), Essen and other Ruhr targets.

On two occasions his aircraft has been engaged in combat with enemy fighters, but displaying outstanding navigational skill and determination he has always bombed his objective and brought his aircraft safely back to base.

His cool courage in action has been an inspiration to his crew and I consider that his fine record and outstanding ability warrant the award of the D.F.C."

Award Approved 20 March 1944.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

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Second World War (1939-1945)

• Photo 1: RAF Photo
• - Second Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 40956 published on the 21 December 1956
  - Second Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 44513 published on the 26 January 1968
  - Dix Noonan Webb
  - Bonhams