Władysław Gnyś

Władysław Gnyś (24 August 1910 – 28 February 2000) was a Polish pilot of the Polish Air Force, a World War II flying ace and the first Polish victor in aerial combat in World War II. He briefly served as the commander of No. 317 Polish Fighter Squadron; he was shot down on his first mission over France on August 27, 1944.

In 1931, Gnyś entered military service with the Polish Air Force. In 1933 he began air training in Grudziadz and later in 1936, was a flying instructor at the Polish Air Force Academy at Dęblin. During the war he scored six victories - three solo and three shared - in the Polish and French campaigns.

By May 1939 Gnyś had been posted to the 121st Eskadra Mysliwska (121st Fighter Escadrille) in the city of Kraków, equipped with obsolete PZL P.11c fighters. On 31 August the Squadron was assigned to operate with the III/2 Dywizjon (Group) and it relocated to a reserve airfield in Balice.

In the early morning of 1 September 1939, Gnyś was woken by a German bombing raid on Kraków. At about 7 am (according to other sources, 5:30 am) Gnyś flew a sortie with Cpt Mieczyslaw Medwecki (), the Group Commander. Just after take off and at about 300 meters altitude the Polish fighters were suddenly attacked by a pair of German Ju 87B dive-bombers from I/StG 2 "Immelmann". Unteroffizier Frank Neubert successfully fired at Medwecki and scored probably the first aerial victory of the war. The P-11 fell away having suffered serious damage, and Medwecki was killed. Gnyś was now also under attack, but later shot at a "Stuka" piloted by Lt. Brandenburg. The German aircraft started to smoke, but managed to return to base at Nieder-Ellguth. A few minutes later Gnyś attacked two Do-17E bombers from KG 77. After a few passes both Do-17 bombers crashed in the country village of Żurada, near Olkusz. One of the German bombers was coded "3Z+FR" on its fuselage and all six crew members were killed, one later identified as a Uffz. Klose. On his return to base Gnyś met a lone He 111, but he was out of ammunition.

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