Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    First Kills: The Illustrated Biography of Fighter Pilot Władysław Gnyś
    Unavailable
    First Kills: The Illustrated Biography of Fighter Pilot Władysław Gnyś
    Unavailable
    First Kills: The Illustrated Biography of Fighter Pilot Władysław Gnyś
    Ebook503 pages5 hours

    First Kills: The Illustrated Biography of Fighter Pilot Władysław Gnyś

    By Stefan Gnyś

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Polish pilot Władysław (Władek) Gnyś was credited with shooting down the first two German aircraft of World War II on September 1, 1939. On this day, as Gnyś' squadron took off near Kraków to intercept the German invaders, German Stuka pilot Frank Neubert attacked, killing the captain. Władek, who barely survived himself, evaded the pursuing Stukas and went on to make the first Allied kills, while Neubert was credited with the first aerial kill of the war.

    An experienced fighter pilot, Gnyś fought in the Battle of Poland with the Polish Air Force, the Battle of France with the French Air Force and the Battle of Britain and beyond with the Royal Air Force. During the latter part of Operation Overlord of June 1944, Władek was shot down over France and crash landed. Wounded, he was taken prisoner but then escaped, his life spared by the enemy on more than one occasion.

    Fifty years after the invasion of Poland, in the summer of 1989, Gnyś and Neubert met and shook hands, making news around the world. They reconciled their differences and remained friends until their deaths. This event symbolized the prevailing friendly coexistence between Poland and Germany.

    Written by his son Stefan and drawing from his logbooks, this highly illustrated biography of Władek Gnyś is the most in-depth account of the Polish hero’s life. It tells Władek's story from his childhood in rural Poland, through his time flying in three Allied air forces during World War II, to his reconciliation with Neubert and his commemoration as a national war hero in Poland.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCasemate
    Release dateJan 23, 2018
    ISBN9781612005577
    Unavailable
    First Kills: The Illustrated Biography of Fighter Pilot Władysław Gnyś
    Author

    Stefan Gnyś

    Stefan Gnyś is the son of pilot Władek Gnyś and has spent many years tracing his father's war through the archives of the air forces he served with. He was an award-winning teacher, and is a singer-songwiter. Stefan lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

    Related to First Kills

    Related ebooks

    Military Biographies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Reviews

      Oct 4, 2018

      Reviews
      8 min read

    • Article

      Turning Points

      Feb 21, 2023

      Turning Points
      3 min read

    • Article

      Gogol Bordello

      Jun 24, 2022

      Gogol Bordello
      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jan 25, 2024

      Letters
      13 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      May 13, 2021

      Reviews
      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jul 9, 2020

      Letters
      4 min read

    • Article

      History On The Airwaves

      Apr 15, 2021

      History On The Airwaves
      3 min read

    • Article

      Knight Of The Air

      Aug 6, 2019

      Knight Of The Air
      9 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jan 19, 2023

      While I agree with Fern Riddell that we shouldn’t treat audiences of historical dramas as stupid (The Conversation, Christmas), most people in any audience are not as well-versed in the subject as the programme-makers. Period dramas such as The Crown

      4 min read

    • Article

      Where There’s Smoke?

      Aug 4, 2020

      Where There’s Smoke?
      5 min read

    • Article

      Family Ties

      Dec 3, 2019

      Family Ties
      5 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Nov 28, 2019

      Reviews
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Families Of The Fallen

      Jan 22, 2018

      The fighting at Passchendaele affected the lives of hundreds of thousands, including the families of serving MPs like D.D. Sheehan “IT WAS A HORRIFIC WAR AND YOU CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT IT WAS LIKE IN THE TRENCHES” D.D. Sheehan MP lost two sons during W

      5 min read

    • Article

      From Russia With Love

      Aug 9, 2022

      From Russia With Love
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Families Of The Fallen

      Oct 4, 2018

      “IT WAS A HORRIFIC WAR AND YOU CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT IT WAS LIKE IN THE TRENCHES” “TODAY’S GENERATIONS HAVE TO REALISE WHAT THAT GENERATION GAVE UP TO GIVE THEM THE LIFE THEY HAVE HAD” D.D. Sheehan was the MP for Mid Cork and a member of the Irish Parl

      4 min read

    • Article

      Frontline Oracle

      Jun 1, 2023

      David Chrisinger's The Soldier's Truth is a road book suffused with a spirit of discovery and adventure. Perhaps no genre is better suited to its subject, the World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle, who could not stay home. Chrisinger asked himself wh

      4 min read

    • Article

      They Also Served

      Aug 22, 2023

      They Also Served
      3 min read

    • Article

      BOOKS & co

      Jun 12, 2020

      By Mike Wood Dunkirk and D-Day are both iconic dates in history. And they’re also the bookend dates in Mike Wood’s new book – A Soldier’s Story – about his father’s war years. One of the last men to be evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk, and a wit

      6 min read

    • Article

      Over The Top

      Jun 20, 2019

      Joakim: “The Battle of Flers-Courcelette in 1916 was the first time tanks were used in war. There were 32 British tanks – Mark I, or ‘Mother’. There should have been more, but some of them broke down. The Great War marked the end of ‘old’ warfare and

      4 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Oct 26, 2023

      Reviews
      8 min read

    • Article

      Hurrah For The Wavy Navy

      Mar 9, 2022

      Hurrah For The Wavy Navy
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Apr 16, 2020

      If the interview with Simon Jenkins in your March issue (A Welsh Tragedy?) is anything to go by, I suspect his recent Radio 4 documentary – controversially entitled Wales: A Twentieth-Century Tragedy? – was largely based on flimsy anecdotal evidence.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Sep 1, 2022

      Thomas More, in a c1527 portrait. His book Utopia has sound advice for politicians, says reader Jeremy Rhodes After reading Lauren Johnson’s article on Henry V and Henry VI (September), I will have to agree to disagree with the claim that Henry VI’s

      3 min read

    • Article

      ‘Ernie Was One Of Us’

      Oct 6, 2020

      ‘Ernie Was One Of Us’
      19 min read

    Reviews for First Kills

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words