MOST DECORATED WW2 POLISH PILOT DIES AGED 94
A Jewish pilot who fled Poland in 1939 before signing up to fly for the RAF in the Second World War has died aged 94.
Willy Kaczan enlisted after escaping to Britain, having been captured by Russian forces who invaded his country in 1939.
He settled in Britain after the war, studying in London and working in Scotland before planting his roots in Newcastle.
He lived in Killingworth until his death on September 25.
His daughter, Vanda Badminton, said her father rarely spoke about his war time exploits.
This was probably because he had some truly awful experiences, but he was also a modest man. The Jewish pilot simply felt he was doing his duty by fighting for his native and adopted countries.
She said: “He did not share an awful lot with his family, he kept his family life very separate from his history.
“He wasn’t somebody who made a big song and dance about what he did, but looking through his history, he was phenomenal.”
Mr Kaczan signed up for Poland’s air force in 1938, but fled after the Soviets invaded in 1939. He was at a training camp in Romania when soldiers brutally murdered his relatives in Poland.
He previously said: “When I went home the house was empty.
“I went upstairs to where my parents had been sleeping and it was as if someone had painted the walls red with a brush.
“In the next bedroom, my sister and her daughter’s blood was all over the place.
“They had apparently been hacked to death.”
He himself survived being put in front of Russian firing squads three times before he made it to Britain.
He joined the RAF and flew Hurricanes, Spitfires and Mosquito's, targeting German U-boats by flying just 50ft above the sea to avoid radar detection.
As he told the Chronicle on the 69th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2009: “The whole thing was quite terrifying – but once you’re in the air it’s not so scary.”
His crew once hid in a haystack after being shot down in France, before escaping to Gibraltar via Spain and Portugal. Mr Kaczan won a host of medals from both the Polish and British authorities, including the Cross of Valour with two bars - which is one the highest military awards in Poland. The British Government gave him an Atlantic Star, Africa Star, a defence and victory medal for his service in the war.
His story - like so many of the few who we owe so much to - is amazing, but the Pole, who later worked as a heating engineer in peacetime Britain, said: “I’ve got medals for being in the right place at the right time.”
Mr Kaczan was a member of the “Caterpillar Club”, which servicemen and women can only join if they have survived an air crash, and he worked for his heating engineering firm, R U Cold, until he was in his 80s.
He met the love of his life, Margaret, in a London nightclub, before bumping into her again when he was in the North East. The pair married in 1965 and Margaret died 22 years ago.
In his late years, Mr Kaczan was honoured to be joined by his air cadet grandson, Corey Badminton, on a march to commemorate the Battle of Britain’s 69th anniversary.
He also gave talks to children at Newcastle’s Discovery Museum and was thrilled with their interest in history.
Mr Kaczan’s funeral is at West Road Crematorium on Wednesday, October 5th from 2pm.
It will be led by a Rabbi, and is being attended by the RAF Society and the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. All are welcome.
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To one of the heroic "Few".
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