Aces High - Witold Urbanowicz

 

The second Ace decal set designed by Arek Stamm is dedicated to Witold Urbanowicz, the second ace available from Warlordgames as a box set. 

Witold Urbanowicz was a second most efficient Polish fighter pilot in World War 2. Since 1933 he was active fighter pilot in Poland. In 1936 his 111 fighter squadron, equipped with PZL11c was assigned to save eastern border of the country. During one of the patrols Urbanowicz gain his first victory, shooting down soviet R-5 scout plane that violated the border and refused to go back. 

The PZL11c from 111 fighter squadron was the first marking from the new aces set. My model is 3d printed resin and came from Roc-Works range. There is also available Planeprinted version. Model was painted with dedicated colours (Polish khaki light, and Polish Blue-Grey) from Hataka range. Though there is no official PZL11c card for Blood Red Skies we can find her stats on the Master List and in the Warlord Army List Builder app. 

The war caught Witold Urbanowicz as a instructor in the Polish Fighter School in Dęblin. The students used to fly with elder version of the Puławski style fighters: PZL7a. Urbanowicz as a leader of an ad hoc fighter flight tried to cover the school's area against German bomber raids. The PZL7a from Dęblin is the second marking in the Urbanowicz set. Unfortunately early gull wing fighter is unavailable in the yet.

After the evacuation with other pilots through Romania and France he finally end his journey in Britain. His first kill during the war was Bf110 shot down on 8th of August while serving in 601 RAF squadron. Then he was posted to 145 RAF squadron where additional victory was noted. His Hurricane form 145th squadron is the third one in the Urbanowicz ace set. 

At the end of August 1940 Urbanowicz was posted to the new 303 Polish RAF squadron as a Flight leader. Since previous S.Ldr Krasnodębski was injured he became an Acting Squadron Leader. Within 303, during the Battle of Britain Urbanowicz gained most of his victories (13) and became an ace. His most often used Hurricane Mk I was marked with RF-E

My model is a Warlordgames one, painted with standard early war RAF: Dark Green/Dark Earth/Sky camo using Hataka range paints. There is also available 3d printed Hurricane Mk I commissioned by Planeprinted.

 

The fifth aircraft in the Urbanowicz Ace set is his Spitfire Mk IIa RF-W from 303 squadron which was flown after the Battle of Britain finally ended. My Spitfire is a 3d printed resin designed by Planeprinter though another available option is early war WArlordgames Spitfire. As on Hurricane I used Hataka range paints for early war RAF camo.

 

Witold Urbanowicz was only known Polish fighter pilot who served in the Far East within famous 23 Fighter Group. On his P40 (the sources  are vary if it was E or K version) he claimed 2 additional victories on Japaneese Ki43. Urbanowicz in his memories said that his most often flown aircraft was "The Deacon Sad Sack" nr 169. 

 

As an Urbanowicz's aircraft I chose 3d printed P40 from Planeprinter. I painted it with Olive Drab/Medium Green/Neutral Grey camo. There is also avialable Warlordgames new resin model. 

Witold Urbanowicz ace decal set consist of six planes: PZL11c, PZL7a, Hurricane Mk I (145 RAF, 303 Polish RAF), Spitfire Mk IIa, P40E. Most of the models are available on the market (in Warlordgames range (Hurricane, P40E, Spitfire) and as an STL files for 3d print (PZL11c, Spitfire, P40). The only unavailable one is PZL7a, but I hope this missing will be filled.

Witold Urbanowicz as an ace in Blood Red Skies game is a master of the sky with maneouvering oriented skills as Acrobatic (gaining 180 instead of 45 degree pivot after succesfull Maneuvre test) and Slippery that gives him additional bonus for dodging and preventing from outmaneuvering. With all his abilities Urbanowicz gives level 7 base maneuverability bonus (plus aircraft's maneuverability) which is quite high number.

In Blood Red Skies Urbanowicz is a good option for those players who prefer defensive play, rather turning fight than alpha strikes. His outstanding maneuvering abilities make him a tough opponent in turning fight. In my opinion Urbanowicz would be great option while using with not typical turning fighter as P40E that make her more efficient in that kind of fight.