First Aerial Battle of WW2
1 September 1939 over Warsaw

http://lonestar.texas.net/~snolep/fighter/index01.htm

On 1 September 1939, at 6:30 A.M., from observation points in Mlawa city, there arrived at the Brigade HQ a message about incoming enemy bomber groups attacking Warsaw. Colonel Pawlikowski ordered the launch of the entire Pursuit Brigade. After take-off, the Polish fighters joined formation over Legionowo. At about 7:00, in the Bugo-Narew area, the Brigade attacked a group of about 80 He-111s of the LG 1 and KG 27 "Boelcke". This German bomber formation was given fighter protection by 20 Bf-109s from the I(Z)/LG 1. In this very intense aerial engagement, which lasted over a 40 minute period, combat took place between 154 aircraft from both sides.

The first Polish pilot to engage the enemy formation was from the section led by Lieutenant (Lt.) Aleksander Gabszewicz, the tactical officer of IV/1 Squadron. After machine-gun fire from both Gabszewicz and Corporal Andrzej Niewiara, one of the damaged He 111s came down in a northerly direction and soon crashed during an emergency landing, hitting one of its wing in a tree.

In the area of Wyszkow, Second Lieutenant (Sec.Lt.) Jerzy Palusinski attacked a formation of twelve Luftwaffe bombers. After shotting down one of the bombers Palusinski was wounded in the hand, his wrist-watch saved him from more serious injuries. Palusinski was forced to make an emergency landing near the village of Kobylka.

There were also other Polish fighter pilots that achieved their first kills. Some of those that scored aerial victories were Captains (Cpt.) Adam Kowalczyk, commander of IV/1 Fighter Squadron, and Juliusz Frey, the Escadrille leader. Second Lieutenant Hieronim Dudwal also gained his first victory, which would amount to four in the September campaign.

In this first aerial combat there were only three P.7 fighters from the 123rd Eskadrille that took part. The reason for so few P.7 fighters to be committed to this first combat was because the commander of IV/1 FS decided to check the ability this old fighter's ability in air combat against the Luftwaffe. Pilots from the Krakow Regiment attacked a group of seven (7) He-111 bombers. Second Lieutenant Jerzy Czerniak, together with Corporal Stanislaw Widlarz, each downed one of the He-111 bombers.

The Polish side did not avoid losses. Boleslaw Olewinski bailed out from his flamming P.11 fighter, both with injuries and burns. Second Lieutenant Stanislaw Szmejl was forced to make an emergency landing with a damaged fuel tank. A number of the Polish planes received combat damage from machine-gun and cannon fire and needed service and repair. On the German side in these combats, Major (Maj.) Walter Grabmann, one of the famous "Legion Condor" from Spain and the commander of I(Z)/LG 1, was wounded.

[ 22. April 2003, 09:43 AM: Message edited by: Kai-Petri ]

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A bit mixed info as the same site has this:



First Allied Victory in WW2

Probably the first Allied victor in aerial combat during World War Two was Lieutenant (Lt.) Wladyslaw Gnys.

In the early morning of 1 September 1939, Gnys was awakened by bomb explosions. German bombers were just making a bombing run over Krakow. After a few minutes, Gnys was in his pilot's helmet and ready for battle. "Wladek! Fly with me!" ordered Cptn. Mieczyslaw Medwecki, the Regiment Commander.

At about 7:00 A.M., while other sources say 5:30 A.M., two P-11c fighters moved onto the runway. Just after take off, and at about 300 meters altitude, the Polish fighters were suddenly attacked by a pair of German Ju 87B dive-bombers from I/StG2 "Immelmann". Unteroffizier ( Uffz., Staff Sergeant) Frank Neubert, piloting a "Stuka" coded "T6+GK", successfully shot at Medwecki and scored probably the first aerial victory of WWII. The "Jedenastka" ("Eleventh" - popular Polish name of the P-11) flown by Capt. Mieczyslaw Medwecki fell away having suffered serious battle damage. The commander of the "City of Krakow" Regiment was killed. Gnys was now also under attack, but a few seconds later he shot at a "Stuka" piloted by Lt. Branderburg. From the German aircraft there appeared some smoke, but the aircraft managed to escape into the clouds and returned to Nieder-Ellguth airfield.

Gnys did not return to his airfield, but instead flew directly to the German border. A few minutes later, Gnys noticed a formation of two Do-17E bombers from KG 77, probably returning from the Krakow bombing. The Polish fighter pilot attacked the bombers with the advantage of altitude. After a few passes, both Do-17E bombers crashed in the country village of Zurada, near the city of Olkusz. One of the German bombers had the call sign "3Z+FR" on its fuselage. All six German crew members were killed, one was later identified as Uffz. Klose. On his return home to base Gnys met a lone He 111, but his guns were out of ammunition.

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I notice that in the net the first victory mostly goes to Wladyslaw Gnys:






It seems the picture is based on the true story:

"A few minutes later, having climbed, he attacked two Do 17s returning from a raid on Cracow, scoring several hits on each of them. After his second dive, he lost visual contact with them and returned to the airfield not knowing that he had just scored the first two victories over Luftwaffe in World War 2. The two German bombers collided after his attack and fell to the ground near the village of Zurada."

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Maybe our Polish friends can help us here?

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