Maj. pilot
Juliusz Gilewicz (?–?) — major pilot of the Polish Army, fighter pilot and experienced squadron commander, associated among others with the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Kraków. He graduated from the gymnasium in Zhytomyr (expelled for underground activities), and passed his matura externally in Vyazma (1909). He studied at Kyiv University (medicine and law). In 1915 he was called up to the Russian army, completed pilots’ school in Gatchina and served at the front. From 1917 he served in the aviation units of the I Polish Corps, and subsequently in the Red Army — as commander of an aviation detachment. In 1919 he deserted, flying to the Polish side in a Nieuport 24bis aircraft; in Russian aviation he had carried out approximately 200 combat flights. In the Polish Army from 1919, he served in the 6th and 5th Reconnaissance Squadrons, where he was among others squadron commander and chief of pilots. During the Polish-Bolshevik War he carried out 40 combat flights, participating in reconnaissance, liaison and ground-attack operations. In 1921–1922 he directed training and technical structures (including the Higher Pilots’ School in Grudziądz). In the 1920s and 1930s he held command positions in the 3rd, 4th and 2nd Aviation Regiments, commanded training and fighter groups, and participated in experimental flights and aviation competitions (including the 1st Pomeranian Circuit Flight — 1st place). In 1933 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Before the war he worked in the Aeronautics Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and subsequently at PLL LOT as head of the navigation and flight personnel department. During World War II his complete service record is not fully documented in available sources.
