Page 188 - Who Was Sapper Brown

Jacek Blocki escaped from Poland at the age of 17 when it was overrun by German and Russian troops at
the outbreak of the Second World War, eventually arriving in Britain. There he enlisted in the Royal Air

Force and trained to become a Bomber Command pilot. By 1941, in the rank of sergeant, he had become
a senior pilot in 305 Polish Bomber Squadron, flying Wellington bombers over Germany. On his 11th

operational mission to Saarbrucken in the Ruhr, Jack’s Wellington ‘S’ for Sugar was severely damaged by
anti-aircraft fire, resulting in the loss of one of its two engines. With 33 holes in the fuselage, nonexistent

wing flaps, only one engine and with wounded crew Jack somehow contrived to bring ‘S’ for Sugar home
to RAF Lindholme. In 1942 he completed his first Operational Tour (33 missions), was promoted Flight

Sergeant, and awarded the Virtuti Militari (Poland’s highest military decoration for heroism and courage
in the face of the enemy at war, and the equivalent of the Victoria Cross).There is a spelling error on
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his headstone.

After a rest period as flying instructor, during which time he married Hilda, Jack was commissioned

as Pilot Officer in 1943, converted to the American B24 Liberator bomber and commenced his second
Operational Tour with 1586 Special Duties Squadron based at Brindisi, Italy. The role of 1586 was

highly classified; it primarily involved the night-time precision parachuting of agents and materiel into
German occupied Europe, including Poland, especially during the Warsaw uprising. The story of both of

Jack’s squadrons and the dangers he and his colleagues faced are well documented in Adam Zamoyski’s
excellent history of the Polish Air Force.21

As the final operation of Jack’s second tour he was selected to participate in ‘Operation Butterfly’, the

extraction of three senior underground Polish officers from Poland, who were to form part of the Polish

Government in London. Jack, as co-pilot and navigator, flew in a DC3 Dakota having had only one day’s
familiarisation with the aircraft, from Bari in Italy to a grass landing strip near Krakow, Poland, in the ‘no

man’s land’ between the retreating Germans and advancing Soviets. On his successful return, as he had
already been awarded the Virtuti Militari, he was offered any posting of his choice. Knowing he was to be

rested having completed his second operational tour Jack asked for the Ferry Command Service based
in Canada, and he spent the remaining few months of the war ferrying aircraft from Canada to the UK.

‘Of the 125,000 who served with [Bomber] Command during WW2 only 65 pilots completed two Operational

Tours – Jack was one of them.’ 22

In 1947 Jack was granted a permanent commission in the rank of Flight Lieutenant. In 1970 he developed

a love for yachting, eventually becoming an Ocean Yachtmaster. His final posting was to RAF Nicosia
in 1974, sailing to Cyprus in his newly-purchased 32-foot yacht with his wife through Gale Force 10

winter gales in the Bay of Biscay to get to Larnaca Marina in April. He and his wife were in Nicosia when
the Greek coup and Turkish invasion occurred that July; she was evacuated to the UK together with

most service dependants. He then served on a nine-month United Nations tour on the island, before
eventually retiring on Christmas Eve 1976, to build their house in Erimi and indulge his passion for

sailing. He also found time to write an autobiographical book, First Tango in Warsaw, and another about
his trip to Cyprus, Underwater Gorillas are hard to find.

On retiring he also joined the Episkopi Hash House Harriers, with which he completed a phenomenal

1585 runs with 122 hares. He died on 12 September 2010, at the age of 88 years.23

20 Wikipedia – Virtuti Militari. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuti_Militari
21 Zamoyski, Adam (2004), The Forgotten Few – The Polish Air Force in World War II (Barnsley: Pen and Sword)

22 ‘Jack – Obituary’ in Episkopi Hash Harriers Journal ‘The Inside Angle’ October 2010.
23 Ibid.

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