Gazdzik Jan

Jan Stanisław Gaździk (1899–1965) — captain pilot of the Polish Army, major of the Polish Air Force in Great Britain, flight commander of No. 304 Bomber Squadron RAF, associated with the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Kraków. He was born on 17 December 1899 in Rymanów. He began his military service in the 61st Infantry Regiment, taking part in the Polish-Bolshevik War. In 1920 he graduated from the Infantry Officer Cadets’ School in Warsaw, and in 1923 he completed a piloting course in Bydgoszcz, obtaining the pilot’s badge (No. 596). He was then transferred to the aviation corps and assigned to the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Kraków. In the interwar period he held command positions, including commander of the 22nd Line Squadron (1930–1931), and was active in the Silesian Aero Club. In 1935 he was promoted to captain and later served in the 6th Aviation Regiment in Lwów as a staff officer. In September 1939 he served as the tactical-operational officer of the VI Bomber Group of the Bomber Brigade. After evacuation through France he reached Great Britain, where he served in No. 304 Polish Bomber Squadron RAF as commander of B Flight, and subsequently on the staff of the Polish Air Force. He was ultimately promoted to major and demobilised. After the war he remained in exile in Great Britain, where he was active in Polish community and musical circles. He died on 2 December 1965 in London and was buried at Highgate Cemetery.