Burchard Flakowski

[Franek Grabowski]

Originally Posted by ChrisM

Sorry, Franek, but I thought that was correct - "son of flak". Can you put me right please?

Ski suffix means more less equal to von, see my name, Grabowski - from Grabów. It is used in the context of son, but then the christian name was used, just like in the name Peterson. Example could be Jakubowski or Piotrowski. Another lenghty issue are Jewish names, but this has nothing to the case.
Flakowski would mean a man from Flaków, but as I find no such place in Poland, I believe this was previously Flak, which means gut (no though guy meaning) and is a peasant's name, so I assume someone changed it to sound more noble. This often happened in 19th century.

[RT]

Very interesting, many germans hv the final "ski", is this "ski" rein polish, or some dialectal form for example Silesian or....

rémi

[ChrisM]

Thanks very much for that, Franek. I now have an idea of the true origins of the name. As far as I can tell, it seems a fairly unusual one, or at least in Luftwaffe circles.

What I was doing in my summary of Flakowski’s life was to repeat a "joke" which might have originated from the man himself or was the creation of the American interviewer, Harry Flannery. Flannery says: "My man…..was Captain Burchard Flakowski. The name was an unusual one for a bomber pilot since flak in German means "anti-aircraft" and the ski on the end of a name means "son of". Thus the name of my interviewer was, appropriately enough, translatable as: Burchard, son of Anti-Aircraft."

Perhaps "nearly translatable" would have been a better way of expressing it!

Chris

[Chris Goss]

It would appear that Flakowski was a pilot with the transport unit 1/KGzbV 103 and that he flew in groundcrew from the Bf 110 unit 1/ZG 76, the unit which 'captured' Fornebu earlier that day. Apart from odd aircraft, German combat flying units did not have their own transport aircraft hence his unit was carrying out this role. He appears to have been posted to another unit afterwards, possibly but not definitely KG 76, possibly as an instructor if the fact that he was an instructor is correct. Apart from the interview, nothing has come to light to confirm he commanded a Gruppe or even a Staffel apart that F1+AC would indicate it was the mount of the Gruppen Kommandeur; I cannot recall if the loss report states after his name Gr Kdr

[ChrisM]

Thank you, Chris. With your help I now have an understanding of the possibilities/likelihoods of Flakowski’s career in 1940. I shall amend my brief summary accordingly, with all appropriate qualifications as it seems that there are unlikely to be any absolute certainties.

I appreciate your help and that of other forum members very much and thank you all for it. My interest in Flakowski is because he has provided the only contemporary account I have seen of attacks on my home city of Birmingham through Luftwaffe eyes. Also, whilst he was sitting up aloft, I was lying far below, listening with my mother and sister to the thumps. And looking forward to seeing another dawn, as he probably was as well.

Chris

[Franek Grabowski]

Originally Posted by RT

Very interesting, many germans hv the final "ski", is this "ski" rein polish, or some dialectal form for example Silesian or....

rémi

It could be estimated that about 50% of Germans have Slavic origin, mostly Western Slavic and Polish. In most cases their "ski" names indicate Polish origin. Silesian dialect is just Polish with plenty of German words, so Silesian names would be either Polish or German, but there is nothing between.

Originally Posted by ChrisM

Thanks very much for that, Franek. I now have an idea of the true origins of the name. As far as I can tell, it seems a fairly unusual one, or at least in Luftwaffe circles.

What I was doing in my summary of Flakowski’s life was to repeat a "joke" which might have originated from the man himself or was the creation of the American interviewer, Harry Flannery. Flannery says: "My man…..was Captain Burchard Flakowski. The name was an unusual one for a bomber pilot since flak in German means "anti-aircraft" and the ski on the end of a name means "son of". Thus the name of my interviewer was, appropriately enough, translatable as: Burchard, son of Anti-Aircraft."

Perhaps "nearly translatable" would have been a better way of expressing it!

Chris

It would not surprise me if Flakowski did not know what does it mean himself. Plenty of Germans with Polish names neither know their meaning nor how to pronounce them. It is also obvious that he must have been a subject of several jokes because of his name, and it is possible he just told it as a joke but it was miswritten by interviewer as an authentic meaning.
Flakowski is not a very common name ion Poland but you can find it on a google. Grabowski is a very popular name, but I am not awared of any Luftwaffe member of this name.

[RT]

Grabowski is a very popular name, but I am not awared of any Luftwaffe member of this name.

Not that's makes you happy but I hv at least 5 + a Soccerworldcup winner, + some Grabow

rémi

[ChrisM]

Revisiting this thread of about a year ago I realise that I never did forum members the courtesy of mentioning the final result of their advice. This was a website page about this man, including extracts from his 1940 NBC radio interview which I mentioned in the thread. It's here, if anyone wants to have a look at it: http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/L3O...esstaffshg.htm

I remain very grateful for all the help which forum members generously gave me.

Chris