305 Polish Bomber Squadron

Kazimierz F KRAWCZYK (Pilot) buried Heanor Cemetery
John LASKOWSKI (Second Pilot) Aged 25 buried Manchester Southern Cemetery
Andrzej J PLUSA (Observer) buried Newark on Trent Cemetery
Karol DUTKIEWICZ (Wireless Operator) buried Newark on Trent Cemetery
Stanislaw DOROSZ (Air Gunner) Aged 24 buried Newark on Trent Cemetery

This crew first flew together on the 8th January 1943 in Vickers Wellington 1V No 1392. Probably visited the St George and Dragon Inn and signed the ceiling in the early days of January 1943. On the 13th January 1943, they took off from Hemswell in Wellington No Z1272 SM-N to attack Brest. On returning from a completed mission the aircraft crashed near Barrowby in Lincolnshire and adverse weather during an attempt to land. The whole crew perished and the Wellington bomber was destroyed by fire.

CIAPEK (Spotty) Airdale Terrier mascot of 305 Sqn

One day a little terrier dog wandered into an Air Force station and a Polish sqn (305) adopted him. When the bombers went on their first raid to Berlin, he appeared unexpectedly and climbed into one of the aircraft. As nothing would induce him to get out, he flew with the crew over Germany. He was so interested in bombing that he would make a point of being present when the bomb rack was unloaded and stand with his ears pricked up attentively waiting for action. He completed nine missions to Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Stettin. On missions, he would wear his own oxygen tank, having experienced severe air sickness on one occasion prompting the airmen to train him to breathe from an air tank. He also had his own parachute with modified straps which attached to the harness of a crew member.
On his last fateful mission, the aircraft crashed in the North Sea and all the crew perished. Three months later, however, on a beach in Northern England, a policeman noticed a little dog barely alive lying on the sand. He took him to a vet who noticed that he had a collar marked with “CIAPEK 305 SQN” and the name of the Sqn station. The policeman gave the station a call and they confirmed that they did indeed own a dog called Ciapek. Unfortunately on rejoining his air base, Ciapek was a very sad little dog. 305 Sqn had moved on and as Ciapek only understood Polish and growled at the sound of English, he grew ever sadder. It was decided to track down 305 Sqn and they immediately sent a Wellington to pick Ciapek up. When the Polish aircrew walked into the hut, Ciapek recognised them straight away and started wagging his tail. He was back with his unit. Ciapek stayed with 305 Sqn for a long time but the Air Ministry issued a special order forbidding taking animals on bombing raids. Ciapek’s flying days were over and he was transferred to ground crew (AL2) which he greatly resented.