Ludomil Antoni Rayski

liverpool annie · Apr 15, 2009

The biography is interesting reading ... have you heard of him ??

Ludomil Antoni Rayski

In 1915 Rayski was accepted into the Turkish Air Force and dispatched to the front and promoted to the rank of Observer. He served during the battle of Gallipoli, where he was seriously wounded. Upon his return from the hospital he was transferred to the Ottoman 5th Army based in Smyrna, where he was wounded for the second time. Upon return to service, on his own request he was sent to a fighter pilot training and earned his wings in the ranks of the Turkish Air Force. He served on various fronts of the war until its end. In January 1919 he was demobilized. Immediately afterwards he bought a single LVG C.V plane and flew across the Black Sea to Odessa, where he joined the Polish 4th Rifle Division under Gen. Lucjan Żeligowski. There he was made the commanding officer of that division's improvised air escadrille, equipped with 9 planes (apart from Rayski's LVG these were a single Nieuport 11C1 and eight Anatra Anasal DS). After a brief period of struggles against the Bolsheviks alongside Denikin's Whites, the unit was withdrawn to Poland
At that time the newly-reborn Polish army was badly lacking experienced pilots. Although the Polish forces managed to seize dozens of World War I planes from the defeated Central Powers, there were not enough pilots to fly them. Because of that, immediately after Rayski's arrival to Poland in June 1919, he was made the commanding officer of newly-formed 10th Reconnaissance Escadrille, composed mostly of the former escadrille of the 4th Division. A skilled pilot and commander, after the escalation of the Polish-Bolshevik War and during the final stages of the Polish-Ukrainian War, in August of that year he became the commanding officer of the most famous Polish air unit of the time, the 7th Kościuszko Air Escadrille. Rayski was chosen as the commander of that unit not only for his skills as a pilot, but also for his language abilities, as the squadron was manned primarily with American volunteers. He served with that unit on the front until January 1920. Three months afterwards he was promoted to the rank of Major and given a new assignment: command of a newly-formed 21st Air Escadrille. Although composed mostly of badly-trained pilots and insufficiently-manned, the unit proved to be one of the most successful air units of the war and during the battle of Warsaw Rayski was given command of the entire 3rd Air Squadron. He held that post until May 1921.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludomił_Rayski

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