Fighter Pilot turned Flying Instructor - Wladyslaw Goettel
Born in Poland in 1908, Wladyslaw Goettel trained as an observer during 1932, joining the Polish 6th Air Regiment at Lviv. Completing pilot training as a fighter pilot during 1934/5, by 1937 he was deputy commander of 161 Fighter Squadron, with whom he flew the PZL11c during the Poland campaign of September 1939.
Following the fall of Poland, the ‘Montpellier Group’ of Polish pilots served alongside the French Air Force; by the end of March 1940, 6 Polish flights of 3 aircraft each had been assigned to squadrons, each named with the first 2 letters of the Polish commander’s name. Goettel commanded No 6 ‘Go’ Flight, part of the 3 Sqn, Groupe de Chasse II/7, based at Luxeuil, flying the Morane MS406 fighter. His pilot colleagues were Sub Lt Krol and Cpl Nowakiewicz, later supplemented by Sqn Ldr Mieczylaw Mummler, who arrived to gain experience of command in combat.
Polish MS406s at Lyon (Bron) for the visit of Gen. Sikorski, March 1940
‘Go’ Flight’s first operational mission was on 4 April, logged 15 missions during the month, mostly defensive patrols over Luxueil, occasional sweeps over the Belfort-Besancon region and one mission to escort Potez 63 bombers attacking Lorrach. Goettel’s Morane was damaged by return fire from a Heinkel 111 on 19 Apr.
Luxueil was a target from the beginning of the German campaign on 10 May, with the Polish pilots in the thick of the action, including fights over the airfield, which was bombed repeatedly. GCII/7 moved to nearby Saint Sauver at the end of 11 May. During this intense period of activity from the new airfield, Goettel became progressively ill and eventually left the Flight for hospital on 2 June. Between 29 March and 20 June, ‘Go’ Flight carried out 110 sorties; its combat record was 7 1/3 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed, with one probable and one damaged. The Flight lost 4 aeroplanes.
Qualifying on the Hurricane at No 5 OTU at Aston Down, Flt Lt Goettel joined 302 Sqn at RAF Northolt on 19 Oct 1940. He flew 13 patrols from Northolt and Westhampnett during November and December, his patrol areas including Guildford, Croydon, Biggin Hill, Maidstone, Tenterden, Mayfield and Shoreham.
302 Sqn Hurricane at Westhampnett, early 1941
Tensions between the RAF Squadron commander, a number of the RAF pilots and their Polish equivalents led to the posting out of Polish pilots Sqn Ldr Mumler, Jan Czerny and Goettel on 12 December 1940. The RAF pilots were posted away from 302 sqn some weeks later. 302 Sqn’s records show Goettel posted to No 1 Anti-Aircraft Co-Operation Unit, but we next encounter him as OC ‘D’ Flight at No 25 (Polish) Elementary Flying Training School at RAF Hucknall.
R4769, 12 June 1942
Thus far, our only record of Goettel flying R4769 is on 12 June 1942, when he carried out a ‘Flight Commander Test’ on student pilot Bronislaw Reckzkowski; given his role as an instructor at Hucknall, we would not be surprized to find more!
Wladyslaw Goettel survived the War and died in 1966.
