We are campaigning to raise funding that would allow us to finalise the Polish Air Force Memorial project & support the replacement of Warrant Officer Stanislaw Grondowski's crash memorial on Plantation Road in Lisburn.

Our hope is that the Polish Air Force memorial can be unveiled on 17th November 2018.

To celebrate the 100 years of Polish Independence and the Royal Air Force and the Polish Air Force Centenaries, For Your Freedom & Ours reached out to a number of organisations and partners with an idea of unveiling the Polish Air Force Memorial.

The monument is dedicated to the memory of the Polish airmen who lost their lives in the Battle of Britain and other theatres of the Second World War. It is also in remembrance of the No 303 and No 315 Polish Fighter Squadrons that were stationed at the RAF Ballyhalbert and all the members of the Polish Forces buried in Northern Ireland.

The Ards and North Down Borough Council have agreed to support the proposal of erecting a memorial to the Polish Airmen in Newtownards Cenotaph at Court Square, by helping to submit a planning application and covering the planning fee.

So far, we have been successful in securing 75% of the budget, which has kindly been provided by the NI War Memorial. However, to finalise the project we need to raise £2700.

This funding will be used to support the costs of the stonemasonry for the Polish Air Force memorial and the replacement of Warrant Officer Stanislaw Grondowski's crash memorial on Plantation Road in Lisburn.

The small memorial on Plantation Road in Lisburn has been there for over 30 years and needs to be replaced.

A Brief History of the Polish Air Force in the Second World War

At the beginning of the Invasion of Poland, by 1 September 1939, all the Polish combat aircraft had been deployed to the field; contrary to a common belief based on German propaganda, they avoided destruction in bombed air bases. The German bombers managed to destroy mostly trainer planes on the airfields. Polish fighters shot down over 170 German planes. Most of the Polish airforce was destroyed in the campaign, and the rest of the aircraft were captured or withdrawn to Romania. Subsequently, the Romanians employed the remaining aircraft for their own use. A great number of pilots and air crews managed to escape to France.

The Polish Air Force in France had 86 aircraft with one and a half of the squadrons fully operational, and the remaining two and a half in various stages of training. Altogether, the Polish pilots flew 714 sorties during the Battle of France. Tthey shot down 51.9 enemy planes (summing fraction kills - 57 kills including 16 shared victories), in addition to 3 unconfirmed kills and 6 3/5 damaged. According to other source they shot down 53 aircraft, including 19 kills shared with the French. These 53 victories makes 7.93% of 693 allied air victories in the French campaign. At the same time they lost 44 planes (in combat, accidents and on the ground) and lost 8 fighter pilots in combat, 1 missing, and 4 in accidents.

On 5 August 1940, Poland and Great ‪Britain signed a military agreement creating an independent Polish Armed Forces including the Polish Air Force in the UK. For the next five years of ‪‎the Second World War, the Government-in-Exile commanded the Polish war effort from London, and the British Isles served as the main base for the Polish military operations on all fronts.

‬‬‬‬‬‬Experienced and battle-hardened Polish airmen fought in the Battle of Britain, including No. 303 (Polish) Fighter Squadron which was later stationed at Ballyhalbert RAF base. It alone had an extraordinary impact on the Battle and became the highest scoring Squadron of any that took part in the Battle with 126 confirmed victories.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Two of the Polish squadrons, No. 315 ‘Deblinski’ and No. 303 ‘Warsaw-Kosciusco” Squadrons, were stationed at RAF Ballyhalbert airfield, in the fighter defence role, from July until November 1943 and from November 1943 until the end of April 1944, respectively, tasked with patrolling the coastline searching for German U-Boats. In addition, Polish airmen served in conventional RAF squadrons that were based in Northern Ireland.

Fifteen Polish Airmen stationed in Northern Ireland were killed during active service. Three are buried in the cemetery at Movilla, three at Mount St Joseph Churchyard at Ballycranbeg, seven at the MIlltown Cemetary in Belfast, one at the Jewish Cementary at Carnmoney and one at the Glenay Cemetary. Two Polish pilots from that era, who remained in Northern Ireland, have since been interred in Kircubbin and Whitechurch Cemeteries.

No 315 "Dęblinski" Polish Fighter Squadron from its time in Ballyhalbert.