Background
Tadeusz Kotz was born in Grabanów as Tadeusz Koc on 9 August 1913 to a family of wealthy farmers.
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Tadeusz Kotz
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After war he published his memoirs. After school he entered the cadet flying school in Dęblin. Later, he served in the Polish Air Force as a fighter pilot.
During the Invasion of Poland in 1939, Kotz fought with the Polish 161st Fighter Escadrille air unit of Łódź Army.
He shot down his first enemy Messerschmitt on 2 September 1939, and also shared Junkers Ju-86 shot down, while piloting a PZL P.11 airplane. On 16 September he shot down a Soviet reconnaissance bomber Polikarpov R-5.
After Poland was defeated, Kotz was ordered to evacuate to Romania along with other pilots. He escaped via Yugoslavia and Greece to France, and then to the United Kingdom to serve with the Royal Air Force.
Commencing in late 1940, Kotz served with Number 317, Number 308 and Number.
303 Squadron, flying the Spitfire. Later, he became a Squadron Leader with Number. 303 Squadron. In February 1943 Kotz was shot down in combat with World War II/JG 26 over Northern France, but evaded capture and returned to England via German occupied France, Spain and Gibraltar to return to the United Kingdom on 21 February 1943.
In September 1944, he attended the Aviation School in Weston-super-Mare.
His wartime score was 3 and 3 shared destroyed, 2 probables, and 3 damaged. He was demobilized in 1948.
While in Canada, he published a book of memoirs. Błękitne niebo i prawdziwe kule ("Blue sky and real bullets"), in 2005.
He died on 3 June 2008 at a nursing home in Collingwood, aged 94.
