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THE BENTLEY PRIORY BATTLE OF BRITAIN TRUST APPEAL CHARITY AUCTION the front; Andruszko’s Eskadra consisted of 10 PZL7a aircraft, commanded by Lieutenant Jozef Brzezinski; the Eskadra moved very quickly from base to base until leaving Poland for Romania at the end of September; Andruszko offers the following insight, ‘On my first operational flight there was a large German bomber passing. Excitedly I followed to his tail, pressed the trigger. After two or three rounds both machine guns jammed. Another day on reconnaissance flight watching a German troop concentration, a shell burst in front and gashed the petrol tank. I made myself ready to parachute out but had to get away from that lot as far as possible. The aircraft was trimmed a bit nose heavy. Holding the map in my left hand I left the stick to turn on the emergency fuel tank. The plane went down and I was left floating in the air. Maybe just as well. I would probably attempt to crash land and with a fixed undercarriage that could have been fatal. I landed on the other side of the river amongst some Polish units torn to pieces. My road back to the unit was on the other side of the river, so I grabbed a horse and let him carry me across the river. At the first village I traded him for a bicycle. A lorry heading in my direction picked me up. Arriving at the destination in the dark I heard my name called. It was the very last lorry leaving’; faced with overwhelming odds of 4 to 1 aircraft against, Polish Air Force Personnel were evacuated to either Romania or Hungary having lost 90% of their operational aircraft in action; here Andruszko was interned in camps before being able to leave Romania for Lyon the following month; in France the Polish Government and Polish Armed Forces had reformed under General Sikorski; Andruszko was drafted as Navigator into the French Armee de L’Air at the start of 1940 and was stationed at the Base Aerienne de Toulouse; he was not impressed, ‘in charge of a tiny detachment I was posted for the air defence of Toulouse. There were two or three aircraft, more obsolete than the Polish, that had never seen a pop gun near them, never mind armaments’; he did not have to wait long for a move, however, as France fell shortly after his posting, ‘Soon it was evacuation again. A lot of us gathered at the small port in the south (Port Vendres). Amongst all that lot was the ex Commander of the Polish Air Force. Somehow, he secured a passage on a French merchant ship. He could take two of us as adjutants, but lots had to be drawn. A friend of mine and myself were lucky. We landed in North Africa (Oran)’; from Oran the Polish Airmen went to Casablanca and from there in spite of torpedo and air attacks the convoy reached Britain; upon arrival Andruszko was posted as a Pilot Officer to the Ground Training Centre of the Polish Air Force, Blackpool, ‘Soon we were under the wings of the Royal Air Force. A wonderful, caring service in which I was proud to serve’; posted to No 15 FTS, Carlisle, 26.9.1940 and undertook further training at O.T.U. Aston Down and at I.T.S. Hucknall before being posted for operational service as Pilot with Transport Command to 271 Squadron (Harrows), Doncaster, 14.5.1941; the squadron was primarily tasked with moving men and equipment of Fighter Squadrons from station to station; posted to No 13 F.T.U., Lyneham, April-May 1942, before being posted as part of a Polish Detachment to No 1 Aircraft Delivery Unit, Middle East, July 1942; this unit was responsible for ferrying aircraft from Takoradi on the Ivory Coast of West Africa to airfields near Cairo; this was the main route for reinforcing the Middle East - aircraft would arrive via the sea terminal at Takoradi, be unshipped and assembled and then flown 4,000 miles across Africa; Andruszko comments, ‘A number of us were sent to an Aircraft Delivery Unit.... Africa was nice. Flying was exciting across jungles and deserts. We had casualties. Some went down in the jungles, some died in the deserts’; as Andruszko’s Log Book shows, he flew in a vast assortment of aircraft during this posting, including Hurricanes, Beaufighters, Hudsons, and Falcons; posted to No. 3 A.D.U., Casablanca, Morocco, 3.5.1943; serving with this unit until 21.1.1944, he added Spitfires to his collection; undertook an artillery course and was posted to 74 O.T.U., Petah Tiqva, Palestine, February 1944, in preparation for a posting to an operational Fighter/Reconnaissance Squadron in Italy; posted to 318 (Gdansk) Fighter Reconnaissance Squadron, (Spitfires) Quassassin, Egypt, 4.4.1944, and flew with the squadron to Madna, Italy; his first operational sortie with the squadron was 6.5.1944, in support of the British 8th Army’s drive into Central Italy; he was shortly to be transferred in the same capacity to 225 Fighter Reconnaissance Squadron, Lago; he flew in 25 sorties with the latter before returning to 318 Squadron, Trigno, June 1944; he recommenced Artillery Recce and Photo/Tactical Recce sorties; by 11.10.1944 he had completed 99 such sorties; promoted Flight Commander, August 1944, ‘our main duty was co-operation with the Army - Reconnaissance, Artillery Direction or Photo. There were plenty of targets on the ground. The Spitfire was well armed, so I never brought the ammunition back to base... On one of the assignment flights I saw a German staff car coming on a rather exposed road. It got the taste of four machine guns and two cannon (next day it was reported that the General commanding that Sector was killed). As I pulled out the artillery shell hit me. Miraculously it hit the thick under carriage bar and exploded there. Splinters tore up the oil tank. Being deadly scared of prison camp I headed towards our lines. The engine was getting red hot and grinding. Had to switch it off - too late to parachute out - nowhere to land, only hills and mountains. First slope of a hill had to do - hit the mound of earth, somersaulted and ploughed on the back the rest of the way. Apart from the cockpit handle buried in my left arm and a few pebbles in the skull I was ok, hanging upside down on the straps and trapped’; with the end of his operational tour Andruszko returned to the UK, and was posted on a refresher course to 286 Squadron, Western Zoyland, Somerset; he completed the course, 19.3.1945, and after two more training courses was posted to India, 11.9.1945, and on to No 36 Staging Post, Ferry Flight, ‘One day I delivered an aircraft to the Maharaja of Jodhpur. I boarded the passenger collecting Dakota due for New Delhi. I don’t know how but somehow the pilot missed the message that New Delhi Airfield was closed. We were approaching to land, I happened to look out of the window, there were cyclists and a car heading towards us. Suddenly the engines revved up wildly, big bang, and we were in the air again. The pilot had mistaken the broad, well lit avenue for a runway. With the wing half sheared off we landed at the next airfield.’ Andruszko returned to the UK in February 1946, and was finally released from the Polish Air Force on 3.12.1946, after having served a total of 10 years, spanning service in the Polish Air Force, the French Armee de l’Air and the Polish Air Force, Great Britain. Tragically in 1987, a year after the death of his wife, Michal Stanislaw Andruszko was found drowned in a river near his home in Bungay, Suffolk. WWW.SPINK.COM
September 6, 2012 - LONDON 17 Captain W.A. Shirlaw 17 The Great War A.F.C. Group of Three to Elephant Fighter Bomber Pilot Captain W.A. Shirlaw, Royal Flying Corps, Late Highland Light Infantry a) Air Force Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued b) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oak Leaves (Lieut. W.A. Shirlaw. R.F.C.), the last two partially officially reimpressed, extremely fine, with the following related items: - A.F.C. John Pinches, London, case of issue - The recipient’s related miniature awards, in <strong>Spink</strong>, London, case - Commission appointing William Allan Shirlaw a Captain in the Royal Air Force, dated 1.12.1918 - The recipient’s British Empire Aviator’s Certificate - Silver presentation cigarette case (Hallmarks for Birmingham 1917), R.F.C. crest on front, and inscribed ‘From A Flight 18th T.S. to their Flight Commander Capn. Allan Shirlaw Xmas 1917’ - Silver lighter casing, inscribed ‘WAS’ - Silver identity bracelet, the obverse engraved ‘W. Allan Shirlaw, R.F.C. Pres.’, the reverse suggestively engraved ‘Ethel’ - Section of windscreen from the recipient’s Avro - The recipient’s Kodak camera, in leather carry case - The recipient’s Apollo binoculars, in leather carry case - The recipient’s King James Bible - Rosary beads and crucifix - Two family photograph albums, one compiled by the recipient, and one compiled by the recipient’s wife - A collection of wartime photographs showing H.M. The King touring the country - A large number of portrait photographs of the recipient (lot) £1,200-1,600 A.F.C. London Gazette 3.6.1919 Capt. William Allan Shirlaw (H.L.I., T.F.) ‘In recognition of distinguished services rendered during the war’ Captain William Allan Shirlaw, A.F.C., born Glasgow, May 1895, and educated at Allan Glen’s School, Glasgow; after school he served as an apprentice locomotive engineer with the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company, Kilmarnock; Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 8th (Lanark) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, 25.11.1914; promoted Lieutenant, 1.6.1916; seconded for duty with the Royal Flying Corps and appointed Flying Officer, 29.7.1916; served with the British Expeditionary Force from July 1916, attached to No. 27 Squadron (Martinsyde Elephants), Fienvillers, France, and flew over 200 hours in the skies above the fighting area: ‘On one occasion, at a height of 5,000 feet, he had his engine shot clean through, and fortunately was able to land in the barbed wire in front of a French trench. On another occasion, after a running fight of forty minutes, having managed to rid himself of his opponents, he was forced to find a suitable landing place, and on reaching the ground was promptly taken prisoner, but fortunately for him it was by a very aged French Sergeant.’ (The recipient’s obituary, in Beardmore News, refers). Promoted Flight Commander, with the temporary rank of Captain, 13.8.1917, he returned to the U.K. and commanded ‘A’ Group Flight, No.2 Training Depot Station, Chester, training up Scout pilots; following the end of the War he was appointed Second-in-Command, RAF Montrose, before retiring from the Royal Air Force, 7.6.1919. Captain Shirlaw married Miss Florence Barnes, 20.8.1919, and died 15.12.1926. 83
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