{{Short description|Polish World War II flying ace}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person |name=Aleksander Chudek |honorific_suffix = |image= |rank=chorąży |birth_date={{Birth date|df=yes|1914|08|17}} |birth_place=Stoczek, Poland |death_date={{death date and age|df=yes|1944|06|23|1914|08|17}} |death_place=near Le Plessis-Grimoult, France |allegiance={{flag|Poland}}<br /> {{flag|United Kingdom}} |branch={{air force|Poland}}<br /> {{air force|United Kingdom}} |unit=Polish 114th Fighter Escadrille<br />No. 315 Polish Fighter Squadron<br />No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron |service_years= until 1944 |service_number=783023 |commands= |battles=Polish Defensive War, World War II |awards=Virtuti Militari; Cross of Valour; Distinguished Flying Medal (UK) }} '''Aleksander Chudek''' (17 August 1914 – 23 June 1944) was a Polish fighter ace of the Royal Air Force in World War II with 9 confirmed kills.
==Biography== [[File:Stele Chudek-LePlessisGrimoult.jpg|thumb|Aleksander Chudek stele in Le Plessis-Grimoult, France]] Before World War II Chudek served in the Polish 114th Fighter Escadrille.<ref name="Krzystek p. 131.">Krzystek 2012, p. 131.</ref> After the Soviet invasion of Poland he crossed the border with Romania, then he came to France and finally, on 27 June 1940, arrived in the United Kingdom. After a brief induction into the Royal Air Force, he was assigned to an auxiliary unit of the RAF as a pilot distributing new or refurbished aircraft at airports across the UK.<ref name="Sikora p. 219.">Sikora 2014, p. 219.</ref> In June 1941 he was transferred to No. 55 Operational Training Unit and began training on the Hawker Hurricane fighter. In July he was assigned to No. 315 Polish Fighter Squadron where he flew Supermarine Spitfire fighters. On 14 August 1941 he shot down his first plane. In July 1943 he was posted for three months to No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron.<ref name="Sikora p. 220.">Sikora 2014, p. 220.</ref> On 23 June 1944 he flew over Normandy and never came back.<ref name="Zieliński p. 25.">Zieliński 1994, p. 25.</ref> Initially it was thought that his plane fell into the sea, but in 2009 it was found that the plane crashed between the towns of Le Plessis-Grimoult and Roucamps.<ref name="Aleksander Chudek na polishairforce.pl">{{cite web |url=http://www.polishairforce.pl/chudek.html|title=Biografia Aleksandra Chudka|language=pl|accessdate=2011-11-11}}</ref>
On 23 June 2009, 65 years after the crash, a monument dedicated to Aleksander Chudek was erected in Le Plessis-Grimoult.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.paris.polemb.net/index.php?document=315 | title =Uroczystość odsłonięcia pomnika poświęconego chorążemu Aleksandrowi Chudkowi | accessdate =11 September 2009 | author =Ambasada RP w Paryżu | language =pl | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100626061347/http://www.paris.polemb.net/index.php?document=315 | archive-date =2010-06-26 | url-status =dead }}</ref>
==Aerial victory credits== * Bf 109 – 14 August 1941 and 1 damaged * Bf 109 (two) – 29 August 1941 * Bf 109 – 16 September 1941 * Fw 190 – 27 September 1941 (probably destroyed) * Fw 190 – 21 October 1941 * Fw 190 (two) – 17 August 1943 * Fw 190 – 6 September 1943 * Fw 190 – 23 September 1943
Chudek is credited with destroying nine enemy aircraft, with one probably destroyed and another damaged.{{sfn|Shores|Williams|1994|p=177}}
==Awards== 60px Virtuti Militari, Silver Cross <br /> 60px Cross of Valour (Poland), four times<br /> 60px Distinguished Flying Medal<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://moje.radio.lublin.pl/wydrukuj-28-01-2010-historia-bez-patyny-reportaz-agnieszki-czyzewskiej-jacquemet-ostatni-lot.html |title=reportaż Historia Bez Patyny |access-date=2015-10-31 |archive-date=2013-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826160340/http://moje.radio.lublin.pl/wydrukuj-28-01-2010-historia-bez-patyny-reportaz-agnieszki-czyzewskiej-jacquemet-ostatni-lot.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last1=Shores|first1=Christopher|last2=Williams|first2=Clive|year=1994|title=Aces High: A Tribute to the Most Notable Fighter Pilots of the British and Commonwealth Forces in WWII|publisher=Grub Street|location=London, United Kingdom|isbn=1-898697-00-0}} * Sikora, Piotr: ''Asy polskiego lotnictwa''. Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza Alma-Press, 2014, s. 218-222. {{ISBN|9788370205607}} * Tadeusz Jerzy Krzystek, Anna Krzystek: ''Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii w latach 1940-1947 łącznie z Pomocniczą Lotniczą Służbą Kobiet (PLSK-WAAF)''. Sandomierz: Stratus, 2012, s. 131. {{ISBN|9788361421597}} * {{cite book|first=Józef |last=Zieliński |title=Asy polskiego lotnictwa |publication-place=Warsaw |publisher=Agencja Lotnicza ALTAIR |date=1994 |page=25 |isbn=((83-86217-2))|oclc=34751125 |lccn=95149065 |ol=865104M |language=pl}}
==Further reading== * Cumft O., Kujawa H. K. ''Księga lotników polskich 1939–1946'', Wydawnictwo MON, Warszawa 1989 * {{cite web |url=http://www.polishairforce.pl/chudek.html |title= Biografia na polishairforce.p|author=Wojciech Zmyślony|page=1|language=pl|accessdate=2012-06-27}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chudek, Aleksander}} Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Medal Category:Polish World War II flying aces Category:Recipients of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Category:Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland) Category:1944 deaths Category:1914 births Category:Polish military personnel of World War II Category:Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Category:Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II