Lech Laszkiewicz, G3KAU, 29 January 2021

Lech Laszkiewicz, G3KAU, was 99 when he died. He had an interesting life. As a schoolboy he escaped back to his home in Poland from behind Russian lines at the start of WW2. His mother said that it was not safe to stay home and sent him on his way to find safety in the West. From his home he travelled via Hungary to Paris to join the free Polish Air Force. He evacuated to Liverpool via Normandy following the fall of Paris. During the Battle of Britain I believe he was a ferry pilot, taking members of his squadron to collect replacement aircraft. He went on to fly Spitfires and then ground attack Mustangs where they were deployed to attack V1 launch sites. He was brought down in France a week after D-Day when he picked up damage to the oil system of his aircraft following the unsafe release of a bomb by a fellow pilot from his squadron, and spent the end of the war in Stalug Luft 1.

After the war he became a ferry pilot to a small UK engineering firm, which eventually led to him experiencing a forced landing in the North African desert.

He had a series of jobs as a passenger pilot, again with some interesting stories that he told to his friends at the Crawley Radio Club over the years. Eventually, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, this led to him retiring in his 50s as a BA captain. He spend the remainder of his years as both an enthusiastic radio amateur (where he was involved in the early LF experiments) and as an enthusiastic model aircraft pilot. In both cases being a prolific builder of equipment and models respectively.

A full account of Lech’s wartime experiences are available online as a five volume set in the Imperial War Museum spoken archive.

Stewart Bryant, G3YSX

Category: Silent Keys