Date: 23/24th July 1944
Unit: No. 300 Squadron (Polish)
Type: Lancaster III
Serial: LM488
Coded: BH-D
Location: Schlesen
Pilot: Fl/Sgt. Antoni Ostrowski 794545 P.A.F. Age; 27. Killed (Czarna Wieś, Poland.)
Nav; P/O. Eugeniusz Horwacki P-2410 P.A.F. Age; 25. Killed (Gdańskiej, Poland)
Fl/Eng: W/O. Józef Tomiek 780750 P.A.F. Age; 27, Killed (Kalisz, Poland)
Air/Bmr: Fl/Lt. Mieczysław Ostrowski P-2119 P.A.F. Age; 27, Killed (Poland)
W/Op: Sgt. Bogdan Grudziński 794849 P.A.F. Age; 26, Killed (Poland)
AirGnr: Fl/Sgt. Jan Stefan Tadeusz Zatloukal 783237 P.A.F. Age; 24, Killed (Bielsku, Poland)
Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. Stanislaw Rymaszewski 704796 P.A.F. Age; 21; Killed (Boleslawa, Poland)
REASON FOR LOSS:
Part of a raid consisting of 519 Lancasters, 100 Halifaxes and 10 Mosquitoes to attack the German city of Kiel. It is understood that LM488 was hit by flak and tried to force land when the bomb load exploded. It is claimed that a huge amount of damage was done on this raid with all parts of Kiel hit including an important U- Boat yard and naval facilities were also hit. 315 people on the ground were killed and a further 439 injured. The damage to the other parts of the city meant that the people had no water for 3 days, no trains or buses for 8 days and no gas for cooking for 3 weeks.
Left to right: Eugeniusz Horwacki, Józef Tomiek, Bogdan Grudziński. Stanislaw Rymaszewski
Lancaster LM488 BH-D seen here on an earlier flight
Burial Details:
The crew were all buried locally but since they have all been reinterred in Hamburg Cemetery.
The Aircrew Remembrance Society would like to thank Robert Gretzyngier, Woitek Matusiak, Wadldemar Wojcik and Josef Zielinski for the use of some of these photographs. We highly recommend their publications regarding WW2 Polish Air Force and are happy to provide other researchers information where they can be purchased. See "here"
Further Research by Kelvin T. Youngs (Aircrew Remembrance Society March 2009)
