Michal Sindera reviews "Polish Spitfires" - part of Kagero's mini-TopColors series.

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I received my copy of Polish Spitfires couple of weeks ago. Is it a booklet with free decals as they claim or a decal sheet accompanied with lavish illustrations? In my case I bought it for the decals. Stunning as the artwork is there is a minimum of information given on the subjects. There is a list of references but these are mostly in Polish and now mostly out of print. On the plus side most of the subjects are ‘new to the market’ not having appeared in kits or decal sheets previously as far as I know. Certainly several of them would appear on my personal ‘wish list’ if I was asked to compile one. So what do you get for your money?

Spitfire Mk IIa P8387 PK*H ‘Halina’ with the presentation name ‘Barty’,315 Squadron August 1940. The photograph of this Spitfire has appeared in a number of publications, e.g. Gifts of War. I little unusual as it was fitted with a de Havilland spinner and prop not the bulbous Rotol unit usually found on Mk IIs. Canopy had a breakout panel. Was one of the options for the AZ Model Spitfire Mk IIa kit released not so long ago. Unfortunately there were several errors in the markings. Apart from that I do not think it has appeared in any other kits or decal sheets. These decals are thankfully 100% correct in particular the name ‘Barty’ is in the correct colour, Medium Sea Grey, and not yellow as it is so often portrayed. References: Gifts of War, Henry Boot & Ray Sturtivant, Air Britain. Polish Wings 6, Supermarine Spitfire I/II, Wojtek Matusiak, Stratus.

Spitfire Mk I X4828 RF*K ‘Krysia’ 303 Squadron September 1941. Flown by F/L Wojciech Kołaczkowski. Recently repainted in the Day Fighter scheme when it was photographed at Speke. On the port side Dark Earth was left as a thin boarder around the letter ‘K’ and behind ‘rysia’. I would have liked to see this duplicated on the decal sheet as it would make things a lot easier. The name ‘Wojtek’, diminutive of Wojciech, appears on the nose on the port side. Kołaczkowski. flew several Spitfires with identical markings, photographs of one of which show that ‘Wojtek’ appeared on both sides of the nose. It is therefore highly likely that it appeared on both sides of X828 as well. An extra decal is supplied for this reason. References: Polish Wings 6, Supermarine Spitfire I/II Wojtek Matusiak, Stratus. Model Hobby 26

Spitfire Mk Vb AA853 WX*C 302 Squadron 6th July 1942. Probably the best known of the bunch, photographs of AA853 have appeared in numerous publications with the fairy tale that this was W/Cdr Stefan Witorzeńc personal aircraft that he flew during Operation Jubilee (Dieppe). Some even promote him to command of the 1st Polish Wing, a position he never held. During the summer of 1942 Witorzeńc was ‘up north’ commanding the 2nd Polish Wing headquartered at Kirton-in-Lindsey while 302 Squadron and AA853 were hundreds of miles away ‘down south’ based at Heston and attached to the 1st Polish Wing headquartered at Northolt. It is not surprising then to find that 302 squadron documents and Witorzeńc’s logbook reveal he did to fly AA853. AA853 was photographed at Croydon during the concentration for Operation Rutter, the original Dieppe raid that was cancelled (not postponed, there was not intention to reinstate it on another date at that time) due to bad weather and the belief that the forces in the Channel had been detected by the Germans. One of the photographs clearly shows that the spinner was painted white leaving the back plate in the original colour, Sky. References: Supermarine Spitfire Mk V, Wojtek Matusiak, Mushroom Model Publications.

Spitfire F.IX BS456 UZ*Ż 306 Squadron, autumn 1942. BS456 was the subject of a series of publicity photographs that are often reproduced in publications. Despite that it does not seem to have appeared in any kits or decal sheets. Chosen by F/Lt Józef Żulikowski he had it coded with the Polish letter Ż. Later he would fly a Mustang III also coded with ‘his letter’ Ż. References: Polish Wings 13 Supermarine Spitfire IX 1942-1943, Wojtek Matusiak, Stratus.

Spitfire F.IX EN179 SZ*J ‘Jasia’ 316 Squadron. EN179 flew with a number of codes including SZ*J between March and mid-May 1943 by F/Lt Władysław Gnyś credited with shooting down the first German aircraft of WWII. Destroyed on the 19th August 1943 with the loss of the pilot F/O Próchnicki parts of the wreckage were excavated in 2005 and await reconstruction to flying condition. References: Polish Wings 13 Supermarine Spitfire IX 1942-1943, Wojtek Matusiak, Stratus.

Spitfire F.IX MH353 WX*K ‘Susan’. 302 Squadron Northolt late 1943. Another Polish Spitfire with a girl’s name it is noted for the cartoon of a turtle hitting a snail on the head with a club and red and white stripes around the cannon barrels. From photographs it appears to have been fitted with the late type of elevators not the early ones as in the drawing. References: Polish Wings 13 Supermarine Spitfire IX 1942-1943, Wojtek Matusiak, Stratus.

Spitfire LF.IX TA864 LW*L ‘Why Not?’ 318 Squadron Risano May-June 1945. 318 Squadron were the last Polish squadron to be formed late in the war specifically to provide tactical reconnaissance for the Polish 2nd Corps. TA864 bore the motif of a naked woman with the caption ‘Why Not?’, which seems to have been popular in WWII as similar motifs appeared on several aircraft of different types. This Spitfire also looks like it was fitted with late style elevators not the early style elevators as on the drawing. References: Lotnictwo z Szachownicą No 37. Likely to appear in Polish Wings No 15 when it is published.

Spitfire LF.XVI thought to be TB898, JH*L, Ahlorn late 1945. A low-back MK XVI, typical in appearance for its time but featuring a curious, fictional scoreboard; 89 trucks, 17 tanks, 24 locomotives, 16 E-boats, and 2 submarines. It may be related to similar markings that were painted on Spitfire TB851 during the RAF Exhibition in Warsaw October 1945. In front was a notice claiming “destroyed by Polish pilots flying this fighter’ even though TB898 had never served with a Polish squadron. It is very likely that JH*L will feature in Polish Wings 16 Spitfire Mk XVI when it is published which will hopefully reveal more of this strange story. References: Lotnictwo z Szachownicą No 36.

Polish Wings 6, Supermarine Spitfire I/II. Can still find new copies through Amazon for around £6.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Supermarine-Spitfire-II-Polish-Wings/dp/8389450550/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318841403&sr=1-6

Polish Wings 13 Supermarine Spitfire IX 1942-1943. Published a few months ago, can be found through Amazon prices starting at around £6.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Supermarine-Spitfire-IX-1942-1943-Vol/dp/8361421351/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318841219&sr=1-4

Polish Wings 15 Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX 1944-1946 is due to be published in February 2012.

Lotnictwo z Szachownicą. Polish historical aviation magazine. Polish text only. Articals often form the basis for the Polish Wings series. Some back numbers available from the Jadar Shop. Back numbers are available from the publishers but probably tricky to do if you live outside Poland.
http://www.jadarhobby.pl/aviation-with-chessboard-c-47_236.html

Model Hobby was a Polish Model Magazine published by Mirage no longer in production. Polish text but photo captions were often duplicated in English. Issue 26 contained a lengthy article on four of Kołaczkowski’s Spitfires including photographs from the Kołaczkowski family archive. Used to be able to get back numbers from the Warsaw Model Centre and may still be able to do so.