Date:	Monday 4 February 1946
Time:	13:20
Type:	Avro Lancaster B Mk I
Owner/operator:	300 (Ziemi Mazowieckiej) Sqn RAF
Registration:	PA269
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Long Street, Wigston Magna, Oadby and Wigston, Leicestershire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Faldingworth, Lincolnshire
Destination airport:	RAF Faldingworth, Lincolnshire

Narrative:
Avro Lancaster PA269/"BH-U", 300 (Ziemi Mazowieckiej) Sqn RAF: Written off (destroyed) when crashed at Long Street, Wigston Magna, Oadby and Wigston, Leicestershire, England, on 4 February 1946. All six crew (all of whom were Polish nationals) were killed.

While overflying Wigston in very poor weather conditions, the aircraft went out of control and spiralled into the ground. During the descent, the aircraft disintegrated in the air and crashed in the city of Wigston. Debris were found on a large area and several houses were damaged. While there were no casualties on the ground, all six crew members were killed. According to the website of All Saints Church of England School, Long Street, Wigston Magna, Oadby And Wigston, Leicestershire, England, which was built in 1977-78 close to the crash site:

"At the beginning of peace time after the end of the Second World War a Lancaster Bomber, crewed by Polish Airmen, tragically crash landed on what is now All Saints school campus. We are proud to remember the young Polish men who died; in memory of this fatal event, we have a memorial garden in our Key Stage 1 playground as a living legacy for our young children at All Saints."

On Monday 4th February 1946 a Lancaster Bomber dived from the sky and crashed into a ploughed field in Wigston just yards to the rear of properties on Long Street/Leicester Road and Aylestone Lane.

The crash of the Lancaster was reported in several newspapers at the time. This is the report from the Lancaster Guardian of February 8th 1946:

POLISH AIRMAN KILLED
One of the crew of six Polish airmen who were killed when a Lancaster bomber blew up in mid-air over Wigston Magna, Leicestershire, during a freak thunderstorm on Monday, was Warrant-Officer Michal Shzwandt. In June he married Miss Mary Hepworth, at Morecambe, where her family now reside.

Aged 29, Warrant-Officer Shzwandt fought against the German onslaught in Poland, was imprisoned in Lithuania, and escaped to join the Polish Air Force in this country. A bomb-aimer in air operations against the Reich until the cessation of hostilities, he was afterwards employed in flying troops with Italy to England, and in routine duties".

The ill-fated bomber number PA269 was being flown by airmen of 300 Polish Squadron, RAF. It took off from its base at Faldingworth, Lincolnshire, on a routine cross country training exercise. Although the scattered wreckage caused damage to over 100 houses in the vicinity of Aylestone Lane, there were no casualties on the ground.

Crew (300 Squadron):
Wing Commander Romauld Sulinski (Pilot) Service Number P/76647, age 37
Flying Officer W. Jedrzejczyk (Navigator) Service Number P/2516, aged 30
Flying Officer Czeslaw Kazimierz Sulgut (Air Gunner) Service Number P/2930, aged 27
Warrant Officer Waclaw Brzezinski (Wireless Operator) Service Number P/793023, aged 27
Warrant Officer Michal Szwandt (Air bomber) Service Number P/794532, aged 28
Flight Sergeant Feliks Mikula (Flight engineer) Service Number P/783490, aged 25

Probable cause: The aircraft may have been struck by lightning while flying in very bad weather conditions (clouds with turbulence and thunderstorm activity). All six crew were buried at adjacent graves at Newark-upon-Trent Cemetery, Newark-upon-Trent, Nottinghamshire

1. Halley, James (1999). Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents. Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.27. ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Final Landings: A Summary of RAF Aircraft and Combat Losses 1946 to 1949 by Colin Cummings p.59
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft PA100-RZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain)
4. The Lancaster File (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1985)
5. Lancaster Guardian of February 8th 1946
6. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-683-lancaster-ib-wigston-6-killed
7. http://www.allsaintsprimary.com/lancaster-memorial
8. http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.com/300/300_losses.html
9. http://www.leicestershirewarmemorials.co.uk/war/memorials/view/1252
10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/7504354/sulinski,-romuald/
11. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/7503606/jedrzejczyk,-wladyslaw-r/
12. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/7504353/sulgut,-czeslaw-kazimierz/
13. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/7503277/brzezinski,-waclaw/
14. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/7504416/szwandt,-michal/
15. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/7503955/mikula,-feliks/
16. http://albumpolski.pl/artykul/historia-smierci-romualda-sulinskiego- (Polish text)
17. http://www.allsaintsprimary.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Lancaster-Bomber.pdf
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._300_Polish_Bomber_Squadron
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Faldingworth
20. https://www.bcar.org.uk/faldingworth-history
21. 75th Anniversary of crash Report: https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/day-lancaster-bomber-crashed-wigston-4957355
22. https://sw-ke.facebook.com/groups/558447124214499/permalink/2866744526718069/
23. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?21261-460204-Unaccounted-Airmen-04-02-1946&p=124317#post124317
24. "RAF Write-offs 1946": Air Britain Aeromilitaria 1979 p.95: https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_1979.pdf

Avro-Lancaster PA 269 Polish Air Force - Plaque © Peter Mikula-Rang (WMR-55366) Beech tree planted where the Lancaster PA269 crashed, All Saints Church of England School, Long Street, Wigston Magna, Oadby And Wigston, Leicestershire, England: Lancaster PA269- Air Crash Site © Peter Mikula Rang (WMR-55367) Memorial Plaque from the Mikula family dated 4 February 2016, erected on the 70th anniversary of the crash: Lancaster PA269 © Peter Mikula-Rang (WMR-81616) Lancaster PA269 © Peter Mikula-Rang (WMR-81616)

Joined @All_SaintsCofE today as they remembered the all Polish crew of Lancaster PA269, 300 Squadron, which crashed on 4 Feb 1946, 74 years ago. Painting presented by Nick Taylor to school that was built on crash site. @RoyalAirForce @raf_engagement @ProjectPolska1 @RAFBBMF pic.twitter.com/YF1RBNOTwC

— Balbir Singh Flora MBE (@BalbirFlora) February 4, 2020