Remembrance: a Polish fighter pilot far from home

As we head towards Remembrance Day I have in mind some blips to do with wars past.

Today, Aberdeen (Dyce) Airport is busy with fixed wing aircraft taking holiday makers and business people to domestic and European destinations and with helicopters servicing oil rigs far out in the North Sea. However, it started life as a war-time Royal Air Force station for fighters covering the North Sea. It also specialised in training pilots, particularly in the art of photo-reconnaissance. Consequently there was a regular turn-over in the units based at the station. From July 19th to December 15th, 1941, No. 310 squadron were based at Dyce, flying Hawker Hurricanes. This squadron, although part of the RAF, consisted almost exclusively of Czechoslovak exiles. The Czechoslovak Fighter Squadron had been established at Duxford in July 1940 and was not disbanded until September 1945.

Serving alongside the Czechs in 310 Squadron there was one young Polish pilot, P/O Wilhelm Sniechowski. On 8th December 1941 he was practising night landings and take offs at Dyce; after the third take off his Hurricane lost height in a steep left turn and spun into the ground. The pilot tried to bale out but it was impossible in such a low altitude and he was killed. Sniechowski had survived a previous crash whilst attempting to land at RAF Acklington on November 5 1940.

P/O Sniechowski lies buried in a plot reserved for the war-dead, at the tranquil and ancient Church of St Fergus, overlooking the River Don, a couple of miles from the airport. He lies alongside two Czech comrades from 310 Squadron, together with some 50 other airmen, including ten Luftwaffe air crew.

When I visited the graveyard this morning there was a candle burning at Wilhelm Sniechowski's grave; clearly he is not forgotten.