Grandfather's album
In his childhood Jacek Mainka came across a photo album belonging to his grandfather β an RAF pilot from the Second World War. Around a hundred small, black-and-white photographs of varying quality. But those images β Spitfires in Polish markings, pilots standing in front of their aircraft, airfields in England β made an indelible impression on the young boy.
Mainka made his grandfather a promise: one day he would fly such an aircraft over Poland.
The path to the goalThe same way as they did β
starting from Tiger Moth
To reach the Spitfire, Mainka followed the same path as the wartime RAF pilots. He started from the basics β from the De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, the same type used to train fighter pilots in the Elementary Flying Training Schools during the Battle of Britain. He acquired a 1939 example β T-7230 β and accumulated thousands of hours in it.
After the Tiger Moth came the Harvard T-6 β the advanced trainer, the final step before combat. Exactly the same path that Polish airmen followed in 1940β1945 before assignment to Spitfire squadrons.
This was no coincidence or sentiment. It was a deliberate decision: to understand that aircraft the way those men understood it. To pass through the same stages, to acquire the same skills.
To meet those men, to fly with them β it was worth all the effort, cost and responsibility of owning a warbird.
Jacek Mainka
The first Spitfire
over Poland
On 27 June 2014 Jacek Mainka fulfilled the promise made to his grandfather. As the first Polish pilot, he flew a Spitfire over Poland.
On board he carried a Polish flag β presented to him by the President of the Republic of Poland, BronisΕaw Komorowski. A symbolic gesture: the flag that Polish airmen dreamed of bringing back to a free Poland was now returning above the country in the cockpit of the legendary aircraft.
The flight was not only a personal fulfilment. It was a tribute to an entire generation β to those who flew Spitfires with 303, 302, 308 and other Polish squadrons, and who through years of post-war exile dreamed of returning home.
I had dreamed of this since childhood. But it wasn't only my flight β it was a flight for all of them.
Jacek MainkaA pilot's journey
Polish RAF pilots: Tiger Moth β Harvard β Spitfire. This training sequence became Mainka's model.
Jacek Mainka brings Tiger Moth T-7230 (1939) to Poland. The first step on the road to the Spitfire.
Harvard SP-YIX joins the collection β the advanced trainer. Exactly as the wartime Polish pilots had done.
Jacek Mainka becomes the first Pole to fly a Spitfire over Poland. On board β a flag from the President of the Republic of Poland.