find family of jozef dabrowski born 17.3.21 in
drzewica,opoczno,kielce,poland.was spitfire pilot at raf northol and
died in flying accident 14.6.43. mothers name janina abramczyk -
father fanciszek dabrowski.

---

Clarification of Question by chris01-ga on 26 Feb 2005 06:38 PST

jozef dowbrowski the spitfire pilot wasmy father and was killed when
my mother was pregnant with me.  i would like to find out my roots and
so would my two children - he was their grandfather

---

Clarification of Question by chris01-ga on 26 Feb 2005 06:43 PST

jozef dabrowski was my father. he was killed in june and i was born in
december.  my mother told me of this when i was over 30yrs old and now
that i am 61yrs and my adoptive father is dead i feel it is important
to find any roots for the sake of myself and my two children who are
his grandchildren

---

Clarification of Question by chris01-ga on 26 Feb 2005 07:07 PST

WOULD ANYONE BE ABLE TO FIND A PHOTOGRAPH - HE WAS LAC SGT 784758 WITH
303 SQUADRON AT NORTHOLT 1943  THANK YOU FOR TRYING TO HELP

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 26 Feb 2005 19:23 PST

Chris,

I would have thought that your father's name would have been found in
this official UK registry of casulties from WWI and WWII:


http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx


but in searching on his name (as well as on dObrowski), I could not find it.

Is it possible that the spelling on the last name was different than
you've given it here?  Or might your father have been using an
Anglicized name?

You might want to contact the CWGC with the specifics of your father's
name, service, and date of death, and ask them if they can come up
with anything.

Given that you know the exact date of the flying accidnet, I wonder if
there are any other details that you know about, and could share with
us?  The more you can provide, the better the chances we could find
out something for you.

Good luck with this.

pafalafa-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 26 Feb 2005 19:58 PST

P.S.  In case you didn't notice these links in the Comments (below),
you should certainly have a look at these sites:

"D?browski Józef"
http://www.psr.netfriend.org/mysliwcy/dead_d.htm

http://www.psr.netfriend.org/mysliwcy/ksiega/test.php?litera=D&status=B&nazwisko=Damm&imie=Adam


Your father is mentioned, but as the sites are in Polish, I cannot
fully make out what is being said.  They appear to reference his
burial place, however.


The sites do not open up very easily....let me know if you have any
trouble accessing them.

pafalafa-ga

The question as I understand it does not ask for information about
living family members.

"find family of" is pretty open ended.

MY MOTHER HAS TOLD ME HOW VERY MUCH IN LOVE THEY WERE AT THE TIME -
SHE WAS IN THE WAAFS WHEN SHE MET HIM - AND WAS DEVASTED WHEN SHE
FOUND OUT HE HAD BEEN KILLED AND SHE WAS PREGNANT WITH HIS CHILD ! 
SHE SAID HE WAS TALL AND AN EXCELLENT SPORTSMAN - VERY GOOD AT
VOLLEYBALL  - I PLAYED NETBALL FOR THE CITY OF SHEFFIELD SO MAYBE
THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE GENES !

There is a Polish Club in London where old emigrees hang out
- a very long chance

I also know of two (now defunct) schools set up for Polish emigrees.

You might also get a clue by asking about RAF Northolt (note the spelling)

Your father's name looks as if it is derived from his birthplace (but
I'm not sure about that)

Tracking the place down is guaranteed (sort of) to find other members
of the same family, until very recently people in Poland have tended
to leave family in the old town (well farm).

Your grandmother's name 'abramczyk' sounds a bit Jewish to me, so you
might find some help in that area.

I suggest that you work this one out carefully, and pay attention to
the Caps-Lock key.

It might be an idea to ask a Gurgle question asking how to ask the
question you want to ask - it sounds cackhanded, but it could be
educational.

Good Luck

Well, I suppose you've already seen this website mentioning your father:

"D?browski Józef"
http://www.psr.netfriend.org/mysliwcy/dead_d.htm

http://www.psr.netfriend.org/mysliwcy/ksiega/test.php?litera=D&status=B&nazwisko=Damm&imie=Adam

"For unknown reasons crashed at Islington Cemetery in London during
training flight":
http://www.geocities.com/psp1945/303/303_losses.html

Does this help?
http://www.rafcommands.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=4561&forum=DCForumID6&archive=yes

Finding the right links that would enable you to continue your
genealogical research would also depend on what you've already tried.

I suppose you know that currently Drzewica is within the "Lodz
Voivodship" (i.e. not Kielce):
http://www.lodzkie.pl/en/region/index.html

"District of Opoczno":
http://www.opocznopowiat.pl/

A map showing Opoczno and its vicinity including Drzewica (with a
place called D?brówka nearby):
http://www.opocznopowiat.pl/upload/20041118091039i23xzd23asrj.jpg

"Voivodships of Poland":
http://www.what-means.com/encyclopedia/Voivodships_of_Poland

Some notes on genealogical records (Jewish and Roman Catholic):
http://www.jewishgen.org/krsig/TownList.htm#FHL

On the history of the No. 303 Polish Squadron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/303_Polish_Squadron

http://www.geocities.com/psp1945/303/303_story.html


The book by Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud:
A Question of Honor, The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II

http://www.questionofhonor.com/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/037572625X/026-3216653-3577236

You could contact the authors:
http://www.questionofhonor.com/contact.htm

An excerpt:
http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=0375411976&view=excerpt

Thank you for help so far.  Have sent a request to rafbombercommand
with ref to info gained from this website and hope this is
informative.  Thank you so much for all efforts made by you.

The Polish edition of the book by Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud
(published in November 2004):

http://www.sprawahonoru.com/