Bristol Blenheim, Co. Dublin, March 1941

Irish newspapers on the 15th March 1941 carried the following news article: 

Aircraft Down At Clontarf.  
THE Government Information Bureau issued the following statement early this morning: - "A British 'plane made a forced landing in the sea near Clontarf, Dublin, at about 10 o'clock last night.  The pilot, who was uninjured, was rescued.

In the Irish Army file on the subject landing contain the following summary of the nights activity from the Daily Report Summary produced by the Army G2 intelligence branch.

A British Blenheim twin-engined bomber made a forced descent on the sea about 400 yards off shore in the vicinity of CLONTARF BATHS DUBLIN at 21.30 hrs. on the 14th March. The Pilot who was the sole occupant of the machine was rescued and was subsequently interned. The aircraft is now partly submerged in shallow water. Particulars of the pilot who is of Polish nationality are as follows:
F.93306 Flight Sgt. STANISLAW KARNIEWSKI.
Station: Kemble, Gloucester, England.
Identity Card No. 483995.

Irish Army Officer Captain J Healy wrote the following hand written written acount of his encournter with the pilot the night of the crash.

15.3.41
At 00.30 hrs I was informed by Air Defense that a Polish airman had crashed near Dublin & was being brought to St Bricins Hospital.  At 00.45 hrs I interviewed at St Bricins hospital  a man in blue grey uniform, with three chevrons on sleeve, surrounded by cross crown & word Polish bear shoulder.  he spoke very poor English, and understood a few words of French & German.  His story would appear to be that he was a Pole, a sergeant in British Royal Air Force, by name Stanislaw KARNIEWSKI stationed at Kamble (? Kemble) Gloucester, England.  - he was flying alone, a small bomber, now used as training plane, from one point to another, and poor visibility & absence of instruments (he had not even a watch) caused him to lose his way.  He had very little petrol, and seeing lights like Paris, decided it was Dublin, and that it was best he should make an emergency landing + this he did.  he claims to speak Russian well, as up to 193? his parents were in Moscow.  He was not eager to offer any further particulars, and I therefore did not press him.  Being unhurt and dry he was removed to Collins Bks by infantry Lieut in charge of him.

This aircraft is the subject of a well known photo, taken during the aircraft's recovery on the Clontarf sea front.  One can see damage to the propellers, indicating the engines being powered at the time of the landing.  There is damage to the nearside wing leading edge.

Air Corps and Army personnel attended the stricken aircraft using the Port Control Launch during the middle of the 16th of March, the day after the landing.  At that point the aircraft was fully submerged in the sea water.  The aircraft was being tended to by various Dublin port vessels and members of the Marine Service.  Attempts were made to lift the aircraft during that afternoon but the port crane was determined to not have sufficient capacity to lift the aircraft and the slings placed around the fuselage continually slipped off towards the tail.  Efforts continued later that night when the tide receded,  The aircraft was finally floated at 23:30 hours and taken to Alexandra Basin.  Using another floating crane was made available and this finally landed the aircraft on the dockside at 03:00 hours on 16th March.  It appears that in the effort to drain the aircraft to make it light enough to lift, much damage was done to open up the wing and fuselage structure.

A salvage party was dispatched to the North Wall on the 20th March 1941 to collect the salvaged aircraft.  The wreckage was then subject to a fairly detailed technical inspection by Air Corps personnel who found at first hand the effect that salt water immersion would have on modern aircraft structure and equipment.

 

Information gathered from the small Air Ministry Casualty file, AIR81/5442 relates that he departed Kemble at 1510 hours on a local training flight.  Kemble is today the site of Cotswold Airport and is just under 30 miles north east of Bristol city center.
 

Information received by the RAF the following day reported his having landed around 2100 and 2200 hours in Dublin the same day.  Sgt Karniewski is listed on his evasion report as posted to No 7 Ferry Pool, and most of the signals in the AIR81 file relate to Headquarters, Service Ferry Pool and that at the time of his release, this organization no longer existed.

What little is known about Stanislaw comes largely from Peter Sikora and Lukas Gredys in their polish language book  Polskie skrzydła nad Irlandią and Polish databases of wartime airmen.  He was born in May 1902 in  Minsk, in what would be the Soviet Union during the war.  He was an experienced prewar pilot and had been awarded the Krzyż Zasługi (Cross of merit) for his duty during the 1939 campaign.  He was posted then to the staff of General Józef Zając in the Eskadra Sztabowa (Staff Squadron) and flew RWD-14 Czapla aircraft.  He was shot down by Polish troops on the 3rd of September 1939.  He escaped German capture by flying to Rumania in a RWD-14, and in January 1940, made his way to France.  After the fall of that country he again had to flee this time to the UK in June 1940.  Due to his age, he was assigned to ferry duties with the Ferry Pilots Pool, moving aircraft from 5 Maintenance Unit at Kemble to front line squadrons

His escape and evasion file dating from November 1943 records his birth on 08 May 1902 and his prewar service with the Polish Air Force.  In the report his narrative is recorded as: 
1. Internment
        I left KEMBLE (Gloucestershire) on 14 Mar 41 on a practice flight.  On the return journey I ran into bad weather and through lack of petrol was forced to land in the sea near DUBLIN.  After two hours I was rescued and interned at the CURRAGH Camp.

2. Escape Attempts
        I was successful in getting out of the camp in Aug 42, when the gate was lifted off its hinges, but was recaptured almost immediately.

F/Sgt Karniewski was was released from internment in October 1943 as part of the closure of the Allied compound.  As it was clear that he had been on a non operational mission he was sent to the border and released into Northern Ireland with nineteen of the other early internees.  It was at that time that the report above was created.  he had featured in two well know photo of internees.  The image here on the page composites these, the left hand image was taken at the wedding of Roswell Tees and that on the right is an image taken in the internees bar in the Curragh Camp.

After his release from internment, he was posted to 16th (Polish) Service Flying Training School for refresher training and then served as a transport pilot overseas in the Mediterranean and Far East with first 216 Transport Group and later 229 Transport Group.  He is buried in Warsaw, having died in 1961. 

His grave, where he is buried with, it is thought his wife, Eugenia, is a large triangular structure with an aircraft propeller, or replica, attached to the headstone.

Compiled by Dennis Burke, 2025.