u/USAAFoverPOLAND

My friend, Peter van Kaathoven, and co-author of our Substack story about Zerlegebetrieben (German aircraft wreck salvage yards in Vught and in Auschwitz), is an active local historian in Vught.

He and his friends unveiled two WWII glider memorials on September 26th near Vught. These American gliders were part of the Market-Garden operation, and had to do emergency landing after their towing planes were shot down, one on September 18th and the other one on September 19th. All allied soldiers were helped by local Dutch resistance, and avoided capture.

In the photos, Peter is doing the speech, and one of the photos is with children of local Dutch resistance fighters who helped the American soldiers.

My friend, Peter van Kaathoven, and co-author of our Substack story about Zerlegebetrieben (German aircraft wreck salvage yards in Vught and in Auschwitz), is an active local historian in Vught.

He and his friends unveiled two WWII glider memorials on September 26th near Vught. These American gliders were part of the Market-Garden operation, and had to do emergency landing after their towing planes were shot down, one on September 18th and the other one on September 19th. All allied soldiers were helped by local Dutch resistance, and avoided capture.

In the photos, Peter is doing the speech, and one of the photos is with children of local Dutch resistance fighters who helped the American soldiers.

Myron Yaw (485th BG, 15th AF) was killed on Dec 26th 1944 over Blechhammer (today Kedzierzyn-Kozle, Poland), togethet with whole crew. They were considered MIA because no crash site or graves were found after the war.

I worked with Waldemar Ociepski, and identified the right crash site in 2001. This info was shared with the US government. The DPMO, and later DPAA did additional studies, and archeology work between 2021 and 2025 allowed Myron’s remains to be found.

Myron’s family paid a particular heavy price in WWII. His older brother was an airman, too, and was killed on one of the Ploesti missions.

Myron was laid to rest yesterday, October 3rd, in Athens, Ohio.

Myron Yaw (485th BG, 15th AF) was killed on Dec 26th 1944 over Blechhammer (today Kedzierzyn-Kozle, Poland), togethet with whole crew. They were considered MIA because no crash site or graves were found after the war.

I worked with Waldemar Ociepski, and identified the right crash site in 2001. This info was shared with the US government. The DPMO, and later DPAA did additional studies, and archeology work between 2021 and 2025 allowed Myron’s remains to be found.

Myron’s family paid a particular heavy price in WWII. His older brother was an airman, too, and was killed on one of the Ploesti missions.

Myron was laid to rest yesterday, October 3rd, in Athens, Ohio.

Read more of my USAAF over Poland aviation research on my Substack.

September 11th is an anniversary of one of the most violent air battles over occupied Europe. On that day in 1944, the 8th Air Force was sent to attack Ruhland in Germany. The Americans were attacked by German JG4 near Kovarska, Czechia. Within just 16 minutes, 50+ aircraft of both sides were shot down. The 100th BG lost one-third of its B-17s, including the whole 350th Squadron. The JG4 lost half of their aircraft. Most of the aircraft went down around Kovarska.

These brutal events are commemorated in an excelent local museum in Kovarska. The museum documents the air battle, displays results of decades of aviation archeology work, and remembers the ones who lost their lives on both sides that day.

If you travel to Czechia from Germany, or visit Karlovy Vary (with a famous casino which made it to the 007 movie Casino Royale), make a stop at the museum!

Also, Jan Zdiarsky who is part of the group running the museum wrote an excellent book about the 100th BG!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1FTfxHXGqu/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Happy weekend!

Please enjoy the photo story of Ewart Sconiers’ homecoming in 2018.
Ewart was the very first 8th Air Force B-17 war hero, one of the very first American POWs in Stalag Luft III (the place of The Great Escape), died in captivity and his grave was only found in 2015/2016.

I was part of the team working on his case, started my own research on Ewart in late 1990s and could be there when he was finally laid to rest next to his mother in 2018.

And yes, there is a symbolic connection between the four people at Ewarts casket in 1944, and the four at his casket in 2018. You can find it out in the Substack post

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/ewart-sconiers-bringing-the-mia-hero

Szymon

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Two B-24s are shot down in the target area. One of them is the B-24 #42-51139 „Hell’s Angel” of the 485th Bomb Group. 6 men died and were buried at the crash site. The grave was taken care of by the Polish population, despite the Nazi occupation, and later despite the Soviet rule. As soon as Poland became a free country in 1989, the rememberance of the American crew flourished again. There is a beautiful memorial at the crash site, and Zygmunt Kraus had an excellent private museum in Wadowice.

You can read more about this crew on my substack:

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/shot-down-over-auschwitz?r=42ks37&utm_medium=ios

This history gem landed on my desk just last week. This is a Luftwaffe recon photo from October 27 1944. It shows a Soviet grass airfield near Kolbuszowa in Poland. You can clearly see a B-24 neatly parked between the Soviet machines. A friend who shared this photo asked which Liberator it could be.

I checked my records which B-24s landed behind Soviet lines in October 1944. A B-24 from the 455th BG stood out as it was marked as “landed in Soviet controlled territory”, without a specific location. The pilot’s name was Polando. A quick google revealed more info. Polando shared in his memoires he landed near Dhikovich, and one of the villages surrounding the airfield was Dzikowiec. The B-24 #42-78359 “Ten Hits and a Miss” was repaired and flown out of the Soviet zone on Dec 13, 1944. This is how we solved another WWII history puzzle!

This history gem landed on my desk just last week. This is a Luftwaffe recon photo from October 27 1944. It shows a Soviet grass airfield near Kolbuszowa in Poland. You can clearly see a B-24 neatly parked between the Soviet machines. A friend who shared this photo asked which Liberator it could be.

I checked my records which B-24s landed behind Soviet lines in October 1944. A B-24 from the 455th BG stood out as it was marked as “landed in Soviet controlled territory”, without a specific location. The pilot’s name was Polando. A quick google revealed more info. Polando shared in his memoires he landed near Dhikovich, and one of the villages surrounding the airfield was Dzikowiec. The B-24 #42-78359 “Ten Hits and a Miss” was repaired and flown out of the Soviet zone on Dec 13, 1944. This is how we solved another WWII history puzzle!

You can find more stories about USAAF over Poland in WWII on my Substack.

https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka

Ewart Sconiers was the last MIA from Stalag Luft III. I was personally involved in searching for him since early 2000s, until the happy ending in 2018. Here my detailed story of searching for Ewart.

When the US government restarted searching for WWII MIAs in Poland in late 1990s, I was the local history expert they worked with. I shared a lot if information, helped identify many crash sites, and used my experience, knowledge, and network, all to help the effort to bring closure to families.

Ewart was the first man found in Poland after the fall of the Soviet Block. Eight more MIAs were identified in the last few years, and there are 150+ Americans still missing from WWII in Poland.

Here is Ewart’s story.

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/ewart-sconiers-the-last-man-out-of?r=42ks37&utm_medium=ios

Ewart Sconiers was the last MIA from Stalag Luft III. I was personally involved in searching for him since early 2000s, until the happy ending in 2018. Here my detailed story of searching for Ewart.

When the US government restarted searching for WWII MIAs in Poland in late 1990s, I was the local history expert they worked with. I shared a lot if information, helped identify many crash sites, and used my experience, knowledge, and network, all to help the effort to bring closure to families.

Ewart was the first man found in Poland after the fall of the Soviet Block. Eight more MIAs were identified in the last few years, and there are 150+ Americans still missing from WWII in Poland. Here is Ewart’s story.

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/ewart-sconiers-the-last-man-out-of?r=42ks37&utm_medium=ios

August 22nd. On this day in 1944, there was another mission by the 15th Air Force to Blechhammer and Odertal. Many aircraft were lost, including three in the target area.

The B-24 #42-78256 “Purple Shaft” of the 456th BG, pilot Wilson Goodall, was one of the three. There were only two survivors from the 10-men crew.

The Blechhammer 44 association remembers this and many other American crew who flew to
Blechhammer and Odertal. They have a very fine museum located in a German WWII air raid shelter.

https://www.facebook.com/share/14mcXsJBDNt/?mibextid=wwXIfr

More of my WWII aviation history stories: https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka

A Polish historical reenactment group honors a B-17 crew from the 452nd BG.

This group of young Polish people re-enact a B-17 crew which landed in their neighbourhood in March 1945. This Flying Fortress, #43-38231 „Try'n Get It” of 452th BG, landed near Wrzesnia, Poland, after a mission to Zwickau. The American crew was then accomodated by Soviet troops, and returned to England, via Poltava in Ukraine.

There were two more B-17s from the 452nd BG which landed or crashed in Poland. One landed in Radomsko, just four days earier than the „Try'n Get It”.

The other one was the “BTO in the ETO” shot down in June 1944 near Biala Podlaska. I wrote about it on my Substack.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DMf11W916/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/from-an-american-airman-to-a-polish?r=42ks37&utm\_medium=ios

The crew of 1st Lt Arthur Lindell was lost over Blechhammer on Dec 26, 1944. All crew was lost and declared MIA. I researched this loss in 1999/2000 and correctly identified the crash site. This is why the US government could do field work and excavations leading to the identifications.

2nd Lt Avery M Gilliland was the co-pilot, and Sgt Myron L Yaw was the ball turret gunner. These two men are identified.

If you have a family member who is still MIA, please contact the DPAA! They are looking for family members for DNA and they can share relevant documents with you!

https://www.dpaa.mil/Families/Contact-Information/

Exactly 82 years ago, the 8th Air Force conducted one of the “shuttle” missions. Aircraft factories in Rumia and Gdynia, both in occupied Poland, were targeted. The formation then flew on to Soviet Union to land at Poltava, Ukraine.

Two of the escorting P-51 Mustangs chose to land closer to the front lines, in Lubartow, Poland.

THE LINK TO FULL STORY

https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka/p/mustangs-in-lubartow?r=42ks37&utm\_medium=ios

Happy Weekend!

I am so happy to share with you a brand new story on my Substack!

Let me introduce to you Ewart Sconiers of De Funiak Springs, Florida, and of the 97th Bomb Group. He was the first ever B-17 war hero of the
8th Air Force, and was literally the last man out of Stalag Luft III to return home.

I have known him since at least 2003, when I started researching his MIA case. He died in captivity and his grave was never found.

This story shared today presents how he became a hero.

The sequel, scheduled for August 29th, will tell how we found him.

Szymon

https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka/p/ewart-sconiers-the-first-8th-air

This Saturday, I am bringing you the story of the 1st ever B-17 war hero of the 8th Air Force.

This story had a rich photo coverage, probably because this incident story happeded in the very first week of the B-17 raids. At that time, the bases must have had as many journalists and reporters as flight crews. Many photos will be included in this story.

Ewart Sconiers, the hero, was shot down later in another mission, and happened to be the last prisoner out of Stalag Luft III. He died in captivity and his grave was found only in 2010s. I will tell this story later this year, too.

https://open.substack.com/pub/sserwatka

Gorczyca was the copilot of Ralph Beam (460th BG, 15th AF) on a mission to Blechhammer South on December 2nd 1944. Their B-24 #42-78678 “Ditney Hill” got damaged and the crew chose to land in Soviet-held territory. They were forced to bail out in an area contested between Polish partisans,  Ukrainian UPA, and Soviet Red Army. All crew but Gorczyca ended up with the Soviets. Gorczyca disappeared without trace.

There is a story of a man captured in that area around that time by a Soviet unit. The man could not speak Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, or even German. Soviets interrogated and then executed him. If the story is true and if the man was Gorczyca, his Polish-sounding name and no skills in local language may have been his death sentence, since they made the Soviets think he was a spy. And spies had to die.

Beam’s crew was transferred to the US base in Poltava, Ukraine. Their first attempt to leave that place was unsuccessful as they crashed their B-24 on take off. That B-24 was repaired after being damaged over Blechhammer and landed in Zamosc, Poland on Nov 20 1944.

Local history enthusiasts are finding parts of B-24 Ditney Hill to this day. This article is in Polish but you can have your browser translate it. There are 9 photos related to the 2022 excavation.
https://rzeszow.wyborcza.pl/rzeszow/51,34962,29013679.html#s=S.galeria-K.C-B.1-L.1.duzy

Same excavation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17kgTyVhn2/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Flying Fortress was shot down near Lomianki by Warsaw on September 18th 1944. 8 our of 10 airmen died. One of them, Walter Shimshock bailed out safely and was killed after landing by Waffen SS. The local Polish population raised in 2022 a memorial to this American crew, and one of the streets was named after the pilot, Francis Akins. Another street is named after Wladyslaw Szymszak (Walter Shimshock’s birth name before the family emigrated to the USA). In 2024, on the 80th anniversary of this tragic event, a twin memorial was unveiled in Columbia Heights, Minnessota, at Huset Park. This is the hometown of Walter Shimshock, and Lomianki and Columbia Heights are partner towns since 1991.

The B-17 was named after a famous 1944 movie. I wrote about this and other American aircraft which landed or were shot down in Poland, and were named after songs or movies, in my „In the Air and on the Air” Substack story.

https://sserwatka.substack.com/p/in-the-air-and-on-the-air-part-1?r=42ks37&utm\_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm\_medium=web

Photos: https://www.lomianki.pl/pl/aktualnosci/18995,Z-Lomianek-do-Columbia-Heights.html

https://lomianki.info/upamietniono-amerykanskich-pilotow/

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1241771056285746&set=a.395439359349890&type=3