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<\/a>After his maturity exams he volunteered for his national military service. He graduated from the Polish Air Force Reserve Cadet Officers’ School, obtaining a mobilisation posting to the 3rd Air Regiment in Pozna\u0144, where he subsequently trained to fly the PZL P.11 fighters. In 1939 he was employed as a civilian flying instructor at No. 1 Air Force Training Centre at D\u0119blin. In August 1939 he was mobilised with a posting to No. 3 Air Base (re-formed from the 3rd Air Rgt), but in the chaotic withdrawal of Polish forces it took him until 10 September to eventually join his unit near Lublin. Evacuating south-east with the road party of No. 3 AB, Jerzy Mencel found himself in the area invaded by the Soviet Russia, and on 17 September he crossed the border to Romania. He managed to evade imprisonment in an interment camp and in early October he arrived in Yugoslavia, travelling to Greece in a few days. There he boarded a Polish ship, S\/S \u2018Pu\u0142awski\u2019, which took him to France.<\/p>\nPhoto: Jerzy Mencel as a flight commander in No. 309 Squadron in front of a Hawker Hurricane II. His Mae-West was adorned with artwork that depicted his English fianc\u00e9e painting his name.<\/em><\/p>\n During the next few months, like other Polish flyers, he awaited a posting. He was commissioned as podporucznik<\/em> (2nd Lieutenant) on 1 November 1939. His posting for conversion flying training did not come until the spring of 1940, but before he was able to obtain an operational posting, France surrendered. He evacuated to Britain, once more aboard a Polish ship, S\/S \u2018Kmicic\u2019. Unknown to him, it was at the same time, in late June 1940, that his father Franciszek Mencel, a distinguished Polish activist, was murdered by the Germans in a Nazi concentration camp at Mauthausen-Gusen.<\/p>\n Picture: The original drawing by F\/Lt Mencel\u2019s fianc\u00e9e which served as pattern for the emblem. \u2018Jurek\u2019 is a diminutive form of Jerzy.<\/em><\/p>\n He then continued to fly with this unit until April 1944. On 15 March 1942 F\/O Mencel participated in a dramatic operation: South-West England was rapidly covered in fog, preventing the pilots from landing at their home base or on backup airfields. S\/Ldr J\u00f3zef Brzezi\u0144ski, commanding the unit, was killed in the crash of his Spitfire, while four other pilots, including Mencel, were injured. Ten Polish Spitfires were destroyed or badly damaged. Jerzy Mencel was subsequently credited with a Focke-Wulf\u00a0190 damaged on 28 April, and with another aircraft of the type shared destroyed on 15 July (with F\/O Teofil Szymankiewicz, his pre-war colleague from the reserve of the Pozna\u0144-based 3rd Air Rgt). On 24 July Mencel participated in an attack on a German airfield at Fecamp, where he damaged several Messerschmitt 109s. On 19 August 1942 he took part in several patrols over Dieppe during the controversial allied landing there. On 21 September 1943 No. 317 Squadron converted onto the latest British fighters, the Spitfire LF.IXs.<\/p>\n The first unit of the exiled Polish Air Force to re-equip with the Mustang was not a fighter squadron at all. When first, Allison-engined variants of the aircraft were delivered to the RAF, the British found them unsuitable for day fighter operations, due to lack of high-altitude performance. Therefore, Mustang I aircraft were fitted with cameras and used for tactical reconnaissance. Polish No. 309 Squadron \u2018Czerwie\u0144ska Province\u2019 started to covert onto these aircraft in August 1942 (until then it used Westland Lysander high-wing fixed undercarriage two-seaters). It took until May 1943 before the entire squadron had re-equipped with Mustang Is.<\/p>\n In February 1944 No. 309 Sqn converted onto Hawker Hurricanes. Initially the Mk IVs were used, and from April the Mk IIC. Mustang Is returned to the unit briefly in September 1944, after it had been re-organised for purely fighter duties. The Allison-powered aircraft were used for conversion onto the type before the unit received its full set of Merlin-engined Mustangs.<\/p>\n During October 1944 No. 309 Sqn converted to Mustang IIIs at Drem. In mid-December it joined Nos. 306 and 316 Squadrons at Andrews Field, replacing No. 129 Sqn RAF, thus making No. 133 Wing an all-Polish formation.<\/p>\n In mid-January 1945 No. 315 moved to Andrews Field, which brought all Polish Mustang squadrons together in one base for the first time. From then on Nos. 306, 309 and 315 Sqns constituted No. 133 Wing.<\/p>\n Hurricane Mk IIc \u2013 w dywizjonie 309<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a>Once again, P\/O Jerzy Mencel had to wait until the next spring, that of 1941, before he was posted for conversion training on British aircraft. In late April he started flying as a ferry pilot. On 8 May he had an accident in a twin-engined Airspeed Oxford. He suffered seriously: his spine was injured and his pelvis fractured. After a few months of treatment he was able to resume flying, and in late October 1941 he was posted for training at the Polish Fighter School attached to No. 58 Operational Training Unit RAF. Upon completion of the course, at the very end of 1941, he was posted briefly to No. 308 Squadron \u2018City of Cracow\u2019. On 29 January 1942 he flew his first operational sortie. Two days later he was reposted to No. 317 Squadron \u2018City of Wilno\u2019.<\/p>\nNo. 309 Squadron<\/h3>\n