Flying across the Atlantic was a dream many aviators shared in the 1920s and ’30s, but for Polish pilots it had particular meaning. On the other side of ‘the Pond’ there was a sizeable Polish diaspora, hundreds of thousands of Poles whose families had emigrated to North and South America, most of them during the huge exodus in the 19th century when Poland was under occupation by Russia, Prussia and Austro-Hungary.
As soon as the reborn country had fought off its enemies, people started talking about making trans- Atlantic flights. Such acts would also symbolise the establishment of contact with the Polish émigrés who still maintained an emotional link with their homeland. But after the death of Maj Ludwik Idzikowski during a state-sponsored flight in 1929, further Atlantic crossing attempts by military pilots were banned.
Enter a slight man in a captain’s uniform, Stanisław Skarzynski, born in 1899. He became a pilot by accident: a bona fide hero of the war against Soviet Russia in 1920, he was wounded for the second time during the decisive battle of Radzymin. The serious knee injury, which put him in hospital for two-and-a-half years, left him with a limp for the rest of his life. Since he could n…
