Stanislaw, Skalski

[keith A]

I still don't see where the shared victories come from on 8 November. In "Poles in Defence of Britian" Robert Gretzyngier states Skalski "claimed the destruction of a Bf109 with others", and in Kenneth Wynns excellent Men of the Battle of Britain he also lists a shared claim but neither indicate there were two shared victories. In John Foremans RAF Fighter Command Victory Claims pt.1 501 Squadron do make claims for two Bf109s destroyed and another damaged (the kills are credited to FL Jones and PO MacKenzie). In his more detailed work "Battle of Britain: the forgotten months" he attributed the same pilots quoting the combat reports, although Jones' claim seems very doubtful. Gretzyngier cites Wynn's work in his bibliography (as well as Foremans) so there is some element of cross-fertilisation. I note also there's no mention of who Skalski shared these victories with. Chris Shores doesn't include them in AH either so....my take is that Skalski may have claimed a victory but that it was attributed to another pilot, whether he awarded himself a share or not. Possibly mirroring some of the claims put forward by him in Poland in 1939 and confirmed (how?) post-war. Maybe he fired at both the Bf109s destroyed but....Kenneth MacKenzie was definitely awarded a full victory and evidence would support Jones also.

regards

Keith