'When I grow up, I will fly a Spitfire'

摘要

Once upon a time, in a land far behind the Iron Curtain, a grandfather sat his young grandson on his knee and regaled him with stones of World War Two, when for six years he was an airframe fitter with the Polish squadrons in exile operating Spitfires with the RAF. 'Grandpa Rysio' would regularly take young Jacek to the monthly meetings with his fellow veterans at the Victoria Hotel in Warsaw's Zwyciestwa Square, where the eight-year-old was fascinated by the technical discussions about the merits of the fighter. "When I grow up I will fly a Spitfire", declared Jacek. Gp Capt Stefan Witorzenc smiled wryly... In the late 1970s and early 1980s this young boy's dream was but a fantasy. With Poland still firmly behind the Iron Curtain, how could there possibly be a route to flying a Spitfire? Of course, there was none, but what Ryszard Kwiatkowski had done to Jacek Mainka was instil a passion for things flying that just did not go away. Time passed, and the political and economic situation changed for the better. Jacek went through the education system, finally graduating in aircraft engineering before joining LOT Polish Airlines. He progressed to become a captain on the Embraer ERJ-145, and how proud his grandfather was to see him for the first time in that captain's uniform. Jacek's passion for the Spitfire, however, did not diminish. One might imagine that, if he had lived in the UK, he would have joined the RAF and left no stone unturned until he was posted to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.