Hello everyone,
The time has come to finish the story about Donata Makijonek. This will be the last historical part before the final presentation of the model, where I will post a summary of Makijonek's activities. I also invite you to one of the last posts about the Nieuport XXI 2453 replica building workshop.
The fights with Western Ukraine came to an end, and meanwhile the Ukrainian People's Republic under the command of Semon Petliura, fighting in the east with the Bolsheviks and the army of the white General Denikin, reached the Polish positions. In view of the approaching danger in the form of the Red Army, an agreement is reached between the governments of Poland and the Ukrainian People's Republic to stop fighting. Later, the agreement will turn into a military alliance of close cooperation and joint struggle against Russia's imperial plans.
After returning from the last combat flight. In the cockpit of Breuguet XIV 10.41 - sergeant pilot Toluściak and lieutenant observer Ratomski. Standing next to the plane is the squadron commander, captain pilot Makijonek (second from the right) and lieutenant pilot Prauss (third from the right). Barnowicze on October 14, 1920.
The beginning of the Polish-Bolshevik war is estimated as early as February, or even January 1919, but now it was about to break out in full force. The first year of struggle ended with a number of successes of the Polish army, which gave the commander-in-chief Józef Piłsudski the certainty that the coming year 1920 would be a time of fighting on an unprecedented scale.
For Makijonek, a new war began, a new enemy and a period of new struggles. Unfortunately, his health declined sharply. Untreated tuberculosis from the time of the Bolshevik prison was constantly making itself felt. This conflict was supposed to be a period without combat flights for him precisely because of his health condition. At that time, the 3rd Squadron was equipped with the most modern aircraft at the disposal of the Polish Air Force and one of the best in the world - Breugeut XIV. This type of aircraft was too demanding for the ailing pilot, so Makijonek was now in command from the ground.
In mid-April 1920, his Squadron began flying on the South-Eastern Front from the airfield in Starokostiantyniv. At that time, the 3rd Squadron was included in the V Aviation Group, which was commanded by the legendary pilot Jerzy Kossowski. This amazing man, to whom I will surely dedicate a workshop and a model in the future, took a liking to Makijonk and was constantly staying in the place where the 3rd Squadron was stationed. Perhaps both pilots were brought closer by kinship of souls, both came from the tsarist air force, both complemented each other perfectly, both were people of extraordinary courage and dedication to the cause of their homeland.
I also plan to discuss the details of Makijonek's service during the Polish-Bolshevik War during another workshop, so today I will only mention that as a commander he showed an extraordinary sense of organization. The unit under his command received numerous praises, and Makijonek himself was mentioned in the praise order by the Commander-in-Chief himself for the ingenious and efficient withdrawal of the Squadron from Kiev during the Soviet counteroffensive.
Flying personnel and chauffeurs of the 3rd Squadron in Barnowicze in October 1920. The first on the left is the squadron commander, captain pilot Donat Makijonek, the second - lieutenant pilot Tadeusz Prauss.
The 3rd Squadron ended its combat activity on August 20, 1920. After the Warsaw battle, she returned to the Mokotów airport to rest. However, the break was short, the war was still going on and it was necessary to return to the front. As one of the best squadrons, it was to work for the Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters this time. At the end of the war, her glorious activity received the highest ratings from the command. Makijonek receives the highest Virtuti Militari award for his service.
The car park of the 3rd Squadron in Barnowicze in October 1920. The squadron's commander, pilot captain Donat Makijonek is standing first on the left, pilot lieutenant Tadeusz Prauss is second.
After the armistice, Donat Makijonek returns to the health resort. After the treatment, he again takes command of the 3rd Squadron, which at that time was based in Vilnius. He commanded it until March 1925. Unfortunately, aviation was changing, posing new challenges, new qualifications and new skills for the staff. Makijonek, although he was an excellent pilot and commander, was unable to meet the new requirements, most of his time was spent fighting the developing disease. In the face of these facts, the command decided that Makijonek no longer met the requirements and in January 1925 transferred him to the position of the park commander of the Lower School of Pilots in Bydgoszcz.
Breuget XIV with the emblem of the 3rd Intelligence Squadron in a hangar in Vilnius in 1921. Standing from the left: Lieutenant Bronisław Wąsowski, the next two gentlemen are unknown, Captain Pilot Donat Makijonek, Captain Pilot Tadeusz Prauss, Lieutenant Observer Stanisław Ratomski, Second Lieutenant Observer Józef Sieczkowski.
He worked there until December 30, 1928. The next day he was retired with the rank of major. His service to Poland is over. He started a family and in order to provide for it, he had to take a job, a small pension does not allow for a normal life. This is how he started working at the Prodmetal factory in Bydgoszcz, but he was on sick leave more often than at work, so he was finally fired.
In 1938 he moved with his family to Puławy. In 1939 came another dark time in his life. Another war broke out. The German invasion of Poland on September 1, and the aggression of the Soviet Union on September 17.
In 1940, Donat Makijonek was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in the Lublin fortress. It's still unclear what the cause was. It is possible that Donat Makijonek was involved in the resistance movement in Poland, or the arrest was related to his activities as an outstanding soldier. We know for sure that in May 1941 Donat Makijonek was transported to the German concentration camp in Auschwitz and murdered there. We do not know the date of his death.
A man who survived thousands of hours of danger, risked his life in the heat of battle for many years, was murdered by the criminal German system of the Third Reich.
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Unfortunately, the fall of the model from the table caused a lot of havoc. Over the last few days, it took me some time to remove the damage and here I must say that luck smiled on me, I managed to restore the state from before the fall. It remained for me to eliminate some defects in painting, which arose as a result of this catastrophe, but I left that for the end.
I started to put on the tail rigging, horizontal and vertical rudder control lines. I also installed the tail skid. The last stage of this work was to install the legs of the landing gear and make tensioners in this place. In order to better present the model, I decided to make a wooden base for the tail boom in the meantime. It was mounted the wheels and the propeller with the hubcap and give it a final finish with pigments.
Regards
Lukasz
