The Polish Air Force in Hucknall and Watnall

 A particularly rare and, in the world of medals, unusual group of items has surfaced relating to the training of the Polish Air Force in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. The medals and a presentation plaque were awarded to Squadron Leader James Brown, R.A.F.V.R., who was awarded the Polish Cross of Merit in Gold by the President of Poland for his work training the Polish aircrews at RAF Hucknall.

After the fall of Poland and then the fall of France, the Polish Air Force re-established itself in Great Britain. By the end of the war, it had grown to a strength of nearly 20,000 personnel, the fourth-largest allied air force in Europe. It had several fighter and several bomber squadrons fighting alongside their RAF comrades. Taking part with great effect in the Battle of Britain, 1940; the 1000-bomber raids on Germany; and D-Day, to name but a few. Its famous 303 Fighter Squadron became one of the most successful fighter squadrons serving with the Allies, being the highest-scoring squadron in the Battle of Britain, the D-Day campaign, and the fight against V1 flying bombs. RAF Hucknall became an important place to the Polish Air Force during the war. 

There were several operational training units dedicated to the training of Polish flight crews across Great Britain. Where the language barrier was not a problem, they also trained at regular RAF training facilities. Retraining for the exiled Poles was needed, as they had to be retrained to fly RAF aircraft, learn RAF radio communications, and learn the RAF way of operating in general. There were also new recruits who needed to learn to become aircrew from scratch. One such key place for this training was RAF Hucknall. 

James William Brown was born in Yorkshire on 10th May 1890. Having previously trained as a student teacher, during the First World War, James was called up for service and became a private in the Army Service Corps as Private M-334672, J.W. Brown, ASC. Having taken a liking to service life, in November 1921, attended an Officer's Training Corps and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the 64th London Brigade Royal Artillery T.A. Force. In 1923, James then enlisted in the RAF. Commissioned into the RAF General Duties Branch, probably as an education officer. He became a pilot officer in December 1924 and transferred to the Reserve Air Force as a Pilot Officer. Promoted to Flying Officer in September 1925. He completed his service with the RAF in December 1927 and relinquished his commission. 

Like so many who had served in WW1, James offered his services again after the outbreak of WW2. Although most ex-servicemen of his age were taken into the Home Guard and auxiliary services, because of James's skill set as a teacher and ex-pilot, he rejoined the RAF in September 1939, commissioned as a Flying Officer, and in February 1940, the Volunteer Reserve in the Administration and Special Duties Branch. At some point, James was posted to RAF Hucknall to help in the retraining of flight crews of the Polish Air Force and would later be promoted to Squadron Leader. He served with the joint Polish and British training staff at RAF Hucknall and was clearly greatly respected by the Poles he worked with and highly valued for the training he gave. 

In 1943, to show their esteem of Squadron Leader Brown, the Poles at Hucknall had made a special plaque to present to him. The plaque is in brass with an image of the Polish national eagle and engraved with "To S Ldr Brown from the Polish Commanding Officer and Polish Education Officers, Hucknall, 3.5.1943". James continued to work with the Poles at Hucknall for the remainder of the war and was clearly still highly valued by them. So much so that the Poles at Hucknall recommended to the Polish government, still exiled in London, that a Polish award should be presented to him for his great services to the Polish Air Force. As such, on June 2nd, 1945, the Polish Air Commodore, B.J. Kwiecinski, wrote to S Ldr Brown informing him that the President of the Polish Republic, Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz, wished to personally award him with the Polish Cross of Merit in Gold. This presentation was to take place at the Polish Embassy at Portland Place, London, on the 11th of June, 1945. The award was announced in the London Gazette, 12th June 1945. The Cross of Merit can be compared with the British MBE. Awarded in three classes, gold is the highest. A civil award given to those who had made an outstanding contribution to the Polish state. The Poles in exile had to have their awards and honours made in the UK for issue. The Cross of Merit in Gold presented to S Ldr Brown was made by Spink of London. As such, the medals of S Ldr Brown include, firstly, his WW1 War and Victory medals. His WW2 Defence and War medals and, displayed last, as it was from a foreign state, his Gold Cross of Merit. It is not known when S. Ldr Brown finally left the RAF for the second time, but a photo of him exists with him and the RAF school staff at RAF Hucknall, dated March 1946. 

The Poles first arrived at RAF Hucknal for training in July 1940 as the No. 18 (Polish) Operational Training Unit. They were equipped with the Fairey Battle light bomber aircraft and were trained in navigation and gunnery. This period of training resulted in a local tragedy on the 23rd of September, 1940. On a training exercise from RAF Hucknall, Operational Training Unit, L.A.C. Edmund Rozmiarek, flying a Fairey Battle, lost control of his aircraft and crashed into a house on Laughton Avenue on the Ruffs Estate. Edmund had already completed three circuits, but on his fourth, the aircraft stalled and fell, crashing into the occupied house, killing him and, tragically, all five members of the Evans family, the parents and their three children. Edmund was 25 years old. Thankfully, this event would be Hucknall's only incident involving civilian casualties in WW2. On the 14th of November, this unit was reduced to a half-operational training unit. Edmund Rozmiarek was laid to rest at Hucknall Cemetery, where his grave can be seen in a row of 14 Polish military graves of Polish airmen who died in training accidents and other incidents whilst at RAF Hucknall. A small memorial was placed on a wall in West Street, Hucknall, for Edmund Rozmiarek.  

  No. 1 (Polish) Flight Training School was formed at RAF Hucknall as early as November 1940. It taught both elementary flight training and advanced flight training. It used Tiger Moth and Airspeed Oxford aircraft and the Fairey Battle, among others. This unit operated at RAF Hucknall till the 9th of June 1941. 

On the 9th of June, 1941, the No. 1 (Polish) Flight Training School was disbanded at RAF Hucknall. By this time, it had helped to train many pilots and helped integrate them into the allied war effort. On the same day as its disbandment, this unit was reformed as the No. 16 (Polish) Flight Training School at RAF Hucknall and was to be later moved over to RAF Newton to concentrate on advanced pilot training. The No. 25 (Polish) Elementary Flight Training School had been created at RAF Sibson on 1st June 1941. On 16th July 1941, the No. 16 (Polish) Flight Training School moved to RAF Newton, and the No. 25 (Polish) Elementary Flight Training School moved to RAF Hucknall on the same day. The plan was to divide the training of pilots and flight crew into two. Elementary schooling and flight training at RAF Hucknall. After having learnt the basics at RAF Hucknall, they would then be transferred for more advanced training at the No. 16 (Polish) Flying Training School, now at RAF Newton.

Polish trainee flight crews arrived at RAF Hucknall in mid-1941 to join those who had remained over from the No. 1 (Polish) Flight Training School. RAF Hucknall already had in place a substantial RAF infrastructure. For the establishment of the new elementary schooling, work had to be done to convert the base over for bilingual use, most of the trainees having little or no English. Transforming the base over for Polish use was overseen by staff from 21 Group, RAF, to see and confirm everything was being done to RAF standards. A Polish training camp was built at RAF Hucknall, including accommodation facilities and classrooms. At some point after the base had been brought up to spec for the training to commence, Squadron Leader James Brown, R.A.F.V.R., would have been posted to RAF Hucknall to assist in the training as one of the teachers for the flying school. The elementary training soon got underway using familiar training aircraft such as the Fairey Battle and Tiger Moth. As the numbers of trainees grew, relief landing grounds had to be created nearby at Firbeck and Papplewick Moor. In September 1943, the flight school at RAF Hucknall was expanded into full Class A status, having trainee numbers from 90 up to 134 pupils. Elementary flight training of Polish flight crew continued at RAF Hucknall until the end of the war.  Flight training often involved flying in circuits around the local region. To navigate, observe local landmarks and features. To aid this, a large white circle was painted on top of the tower at Mary's Church in Greasley as a landmark feature. It can still be seen there today, although a little faded.   The trainees in their 20s became well known in the local community. They were known to attend the local dances and pubs in Hucknall and nearby Watnall and compete for the affections of the many WAAFs at both RAF Hucknall and Watnall. Polish WAAFs also served at RAF Hucknall. 

It is not known how many Polish Air Force personnel served at nearby RAF Watnall, which became the new headquarters for 12 Group, having been moved there in late 1940 from RAF Hucknall. One person who is recorded as having served there is Sergeant Roman Lewandowski. He had served as a radar mechanic with the Polish 305 bomber squadron during the North-West Europe campaign, 1944-45. Lewandowski was transferred to RAF Watnall, presumably due to his skills with radar equipment. When Lewandowski received his British campaign medals for his wartime service, they were posted to him at the Sergeants' Mess at RAF Watnall. 

On the 17th of January 1945, the Poles at RAF Hucknall learnt that Warsaw had finally been liberated from the Germans by Polish troops. They celebrated through the night and well into the next day, not realising at that time that Warsaw and Poland were in the process of swapping over from one totalitarian dictatorship to another in the form of Soviet Communism. The No. 25 (Polish) Elementary Flight Training School was disbanded on the 1st of November 1945. RAF Hucknall, however, was to continue to be of service to the Polish Forces. 

On 5th July 1945, the British government officially recognised the Soviet-led puppet government now in place in Warsaw. The free, independent Poland the exiled Polish forces had fought to return to was not to be. After the war, there were over 250,000 members of the Polish armed forces in the West. While they may have dreamed of returning to Poland, this was not very practical and quite dangerous. At the time, there was armed resistance in Poland fighting the new Soviet-backed takeover of Poland. From 1945 to 1947, around 150,000 Polish soldiers had died fighting the Soviets. The last thing the new Communist authorities wanted was large numbers of now highly trained Polish personnel returning to Poland now under a different occupation. Many Poles did return around 105,000, many only to be greeted with extreme suspicion and persecution. Often accused of spying for the West and other trumped-up charges, finding themselves in prison or worse. Many disappeared. Those that remained, the majority of them, were from Eastern Poland, now annexed by Russia, and would never be able to return to their homes. Their families displaced, often without trace, many thousands were left with no other choice but to accept the generous offer to join British society, a kind of reward for the wartime service alongside the British forces – around 125,000 of them. The Polish government in exile did remain in London, although now stripped of official recognition, as a symbol of resistance to the new communist takeover. After the fall of Soviet communism, in December 1990, the last Polish president in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski, ceremonially passed the exiled government's authority over to Lech Walesa at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. By that time, most of the wartime Poles in the UK had passed on or had families here in the UK. 

To integrate these Poles into British society, the British government established the Polish Resettlement Corps. The Polish Forces, still on active service, were mostly already in military accommodation such as RAF Hucknall. RAF Hucknall became a regional headquarters for the Polish Resettlement Corps, as there were already large numbers of Poles stationed there. As personnel moved out of RAF Watnall, with many British RAF and WAAF personnel returning home after their wartime service was over, the empty accommodation blocks were now available for the Polish Resettlement Corps. As such, the regional headquarters of the Polish Resettlement Corps were moved from RAF Hucknall to RAF Watnall in May 1947. The Polish Air Force remained there as part of the Polish Resettlement Corps until its disbandment in 1949. Locals today can still remember the parties and gatherings the Poles had at the building that came to be known as "the cabin" at the back of the Royal Oak pub on Main Road, Watnall. The Poles were sent out to employment in industries where there were now labour shortages, notably the farming and coal mining industries. As such, many of the ex-wartime Poles settled in the local region. that they had become familiar with during the war years.  

In the images, 

1, The group of items

2 and 3, The plaque prsented in May 1943

4, 5,  and 6, James's medal with the Spink made Gold C.O.V.

7, An image at Hucknall, March 1946, James on the far-right.

8, The invitation letter sent to James.

9, The 14 Polish graves in Hucknall cemetary.

10 and 11, The grave and memorial for Edmund Rozmiarek.