Bajan list is a list of Polish fighter aces of World War II. It was released in 1946 and is named after the officer who supervised the project, colonel Jerzy Bajan.
History edit
The list of Polish Air Force and Polish Air Forces in Great Britain fighter pilots air victories was compiled for the Polish Air Force Historical Commission by colonel Jerzy Bajan of the Fighter Claim Commission, and a liaison officer at the RAF Fighter Command headquarters.[1][2] The publication, released in 1946, was titled Polish Fighter Pilots Achievements during the Second World War.[3] Not all documents (particularly for the first years) could be recovered at that time, so some of the data was based on interviews; after reviewing earlier documents and statistics Bajan's methodology attempted to reduce the number of false reports.[1]
List edit
According to the final list Polish pilots accounted for 105 aircraft destroyed during the Polish September Campaign (most of these occurred during the first six days of the war).[1] The number of kills during the Battle of Britain is estimated at 2698, many of them by the No. 303 Fighter Squadron.[2]
The list includes 447 entries, with one Czech pilot, Josef František (who joined Polish Air Force as a volunteer[4]), and five entries for the rare cases where victories attributed to the units, rather than individuals.[3] The leading Polish ace, according to the list, is general Stanisław Skalski, with almost 19 confirmed kills.[3] 42 Polish pilots scored 5 or more victories during the war.[3]
The top 50 pilots from the Bajan list are:[3]
| Lp | Rank | Name | Confirmed kills | Probable kills | Damaged |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | gen | Stanisław Skalski | 18 11/12 | 2 | 4 1/3 |
| 2 | gen | Witold Urbanowicz | 17 | 1 | - |
| 3 | ppor | Josef František | 17 | 1 | - |
| 4 | kpt | Eugeniusz Horbaczewski | 16 1/2 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | kpt | Bolesław Gładych | 14 | 2 | 1/2 |
| 6 | ppłk | Jan Zumbach | 12 1/3 | 5 | 1 |
| 7 | ppłk | Marian Pisarek | 12 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | płk | Aleksander Gabszewicz | 9 1/2 | 1 1/3 | 3 |
| 9 | por | Michał Maciejowski | 9 1/2 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | por | Mirosław Ferić | 9 1/3 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | mjr | Henryk Szczęsny | 9 1/3 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | chor | Aleksander Chudek | 9 | 1 | 1 |
| 13 | ppłk | Jan Falkowski | 9 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | por | Stanisław Brzeski | 8 1/2 | 2 | 1 |
| 15 | ppłk | Wacław Król | 8 1/2 | 1 | 1/3 |
| 16 | mjr | Zdzisław Henneberg | 8 1/2 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | mjr | Antoni Głowacki | 8 1/3 | 3 | 4 |
| 18 | por | Eugeniusz Szaposznikow | 8 1/3 | - | 1 |
| 19 | por | Adolf Pietrasiak | 8 1/10 | - | 2/5 |
| 20 | mjr | Witold Łokuciewski | 8 | 3 1/2 | - |
| 21 | chor | Henryk Pietrzak | 7 1/2 | 1 | 1 |
| 22 | mjr | Józef Jeka | 7 1/2 | - | 3 |
| 23 | mjr | Bolesław Drobiński | 7 | 1 1/3 | - |
| 24 | ppor | Marian Bełc | 7 | - | - |
| 25 | sierż | Stanisław Karubin | 7 | - | - |
| 26 | mjr | Karol Pniak | 6 3/4 | 2 | 2 5/6 |
| 27 | mjr | Wacław Łapkowski | 6 1/3 | - | 1 |
| 28 | ppłk | Stefan Janus | 6 | - | 1 |
| 29 | por | Ludwik Witold Paszkiewicz | 6 | - | - |
| 30 | ppłk | Kazimierz Rutkowski | 5 1/2 | 2 | 1 |
| 31 | por | Czesław Główczyński | 5 1/2 | 2 | 1 |
| 32 | por | Michał Cwynar | 5 1/2 | 1 | - |
| 33 | płk | Stefan Witorzeńć | 5 1/2 | - | 2 |
| 34 | ppłk | Mieczysław Mümler | 5 1/2 | - | 1 1/2 |
| 35 | ppor | Bolesław Własnowolski | 5 1/2 | - | - |
| 36 | por | Mieczysław Adamek | 5 9/20 | 1 | - |
| 37 | por | Franciszek Surma | 5 | 3 1/3 | 1 |
| 38 | kpt | Stanisław Blok | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| 39 | por | Kazimierz Sporny | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | por | Grzegorz Sołogub | 5 | 1 | - |
| 41 | st.sierż | Jakub Bargiełowski | 5 | - | 3 |
| 42 | mjr | Jerzy Popławski | 5 | - | 2 |
| 43 | por. | Jan Kremski | 4 14/15 | 1/3 | 1/15 |
| 44 | Eugeniusz Nowakiewicz | 4 5/6 | 1 | 1 | |
| 45 | Władysław Potocki | 4 3/4 | 1 | ||
| 46 | Tadeusz Nowak (pilot) | 4 1/2 | 1 | 1 | |
| 47 | por. | Kazimierz Wünsche | 4 1/2 | 1 | - |
| 48 | Mirosław Ignacy Wojciechowski | 4 1/2 | |||
| 49 | Julian Kowalski | 4 1/3 | 4 | 3 | |
| 50 | Tadeusz Koc | 4 1/3 | 3 | - |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c Air League of the British Empire (1 January 1989). Air pictorial: journal of the Air League. Air League of the British Empire. p. 348. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
- ^ a b Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, "Udział Polaków w Bitwie o Anglię", Biuletyn IPN nr 8–9 (129–133) 2011. [permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e "Lista Bajana". Polishairforce.pl. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
- ^ Czechoslovak Life. ORBIS Pub. Hause. 1970. p. 103.