Etampes, 3 June 1940

[Franek Grabowski]

For some reason the thread was closed, but a reply is needed to the last post.
Polish pilots known to take part in combat were Karubin, Krasnodębski and Zumbach. Undercarriage of Krasnodębski's aircraft did not retract, and he was unable to fight. Zumbach had stoppage of machine guns, and likely due to inertia of gun system typical for MS.406C-1, he was unable to engage the enemy successfully, being engaged by Me 110s at any time he attempted to fire. Karubin scored one Me 110, but it was credited to Balmer, thus causing anger amongst Polish pilots. I cannot say why Avions credit Karubin with a victory. Zumbach also noted that French pilots followed a solitary German plane but did not engage, but one, the main force attacking Etampes, and consisting of about 20 aircraft.
Commanders of GC I/55 were Cdt Cdt Danton Merlia, Thomme and Rabatel (from handwritten text, so possibly spelling errors), so it ishard to say there were only French NCOs.
Also, at Etampes there were about three FK-58s attached to the flight.
All the pilots distinguished themselves few months later in the Battle of Britain, Karubin and Zumbach becoming aces. There is no reason to doubt their comments.