Anna Leska: Difference between revisions

| image = [[File:Anna Leska-Daab.png|thumb|Anna Leska-Daab]]

| death_date = 21 January 1998 (aged 87)

'''Anna Leska''' (14 November 1910 - 21 January 1998) was a Polish pilot certified to fly gliders, balloons and aeroplanes. She was one of the two first Polish woman pilotpilots to join the British [[Air Transport Auxiliary]] during, the [[World War II|Second World War]],other alongsidebeing [[Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rok Amerykański - Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie |url=http://www.rokamerykanski.muzeumlotnictwa.pl/index.php/women/anna_leska_daab |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.rokamerykanski.muzeumlotnictwa.pl}}</ref>

From the age of eighteen, she trained to pilot gliders, hot air balloonballoons and aeroplanes at the Warsaw Aeroclub and the [[:pl:Aeroklub_Pomorski_w_Toruniu|Aeroklub Pomorski]] (Pomeranian Aero Club), eventually earning her A and B glider pilot licence and qualifying as a balloon pilot. From 1938, she was a member of the Warsaw Aeroclub.

In September 1939, she was called up for auxiliary military service, appointed a wartime [[Podporuchik]] (second lieutenant) and assigned to the Staff Squadron of the Air Command [[:pl:Eskadra_sztabowa|Eskadry Sztabowej Dowództwa Lotnictwa]]. On 22 September 1939, Leska managed to escape in an [[RWD 13|RWD-13]] aircraft from a [[Nazi Germany|German-controlled]] airfield in [[Okęcie]], from where she witnessed the bombing of Warsaw. The Polish aircraft hashad been hidden in the surrounding forests to protect the fleet from attack and had been camouflaged between the trees. Pilots were instructed to move the planes out of the forest between air raids, and take off rapidly without waiting for the engine to warm up. Leska later described her escape flight as "taking off from an undug potato field" in an air raid.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Anna Leska – niezwykły pilot w burzliwych czasach |url=https://www-polska--zbrojna-pl.translate.goog/home/articleshow/32736?t=Anna-Leska-niezwykly-pilot-w-burzliwych-czasach&_x_tr_sl=pl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www-polska--zbrojna-pl.translate.goog |language=pl}}</ref>

She made her way to the [[United Kingdom]] via [[Romania]] and [[France]], where she began her efforts to become a member of the British [[Air Transport Auxiliary]] (ATA).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Rok Amerykański - Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie |url=http://www.rokamerykanski.muzeumlotnictwa.pl/index.php/women/anna_leska_daab |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.rokamerykanski.muzeumlotnictwa.pl}}</ref> The ATA required at least 250 solo flying hours from applicants to be pilots but Leska was a newly qualified pilot when she flew in the Polish [[Invasion of Poland|September campaign]] with only around 30 hours in her log book. She later said "of course, I lied and admitted to about 250 hours”.<ref name=":1" /> On 1 January 1941, after training and passing her exams, she became a Pilot Third Officer in the ranks of the Air Transport Auxiliary.<ref name=":0" /> She was the 28th woman accepted into the ATA, and the first Polish woman alongside [[Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska]]. From early 1941 she piloted aircraft from factories and repair shops to field airfields, and took part in flying equipment transfers. They often piloted bombers, delivering them from factory airfields to the airfields of bomber squadrons throughout the UK. "Most [women pilots] were English, 27 American, as well as Canadians, New Zealanders, South African pilots, a small number of Dutch women and only three of us Poles," recalled Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska, one of the first foreign women pilots in the ATA (the third Polish women pilot was [[Jadwiga Piłsudska]], daughter of [[Józef Piłsudski]], the Polish prime minister). Leska served in the ATA from 6 January 1941 until 30 November 1945, being promoted to Pilot First Officer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ATA Personnel |url=https://archive.atamuseum.org/personnel.php |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=archive.atamuseum.org}}</ref> She was made a Flight Leader in spring of 1943 and oversaw eight women pilots, five British, one Chilean, one Argentinian and one American.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Boyne |first1=Walter J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FW_50wm8VnMC&dq=anna+leska&pg=PA501 |title=Air Warfare: an International Encyclopedia: A-L |last2=Fopp |first2=Michael |date=2002 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-345-2 |language=en}}</ref> During that time Leska was stationed at the ATA pools at both Hatfield and Hamble. She ferried 1,295 aircraft of 93 types, including flying boats and 557 [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfires]] in a total of 1,241 flying hours. Along with other women pilots, Leska was photographed for publicity purposes, including a shot of her in the cockpit of a Spitfire at [[White Waltham Airfield|White Waltham]] taken by photographer [[Lee Miller]] which was published by [[British Vogue]] in June 1942.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Paton |first=Elizabeth |date=2015-11-21 |title=Lee Miller’sMiller's Journey From Model to War Photographer |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/fashion/lee-miller-a-womans-war.html |access-date=2023-03-19 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Air Transport Auxilliary pilot flying a spitfire, - 4221 {{!}} LeeMiller |url=https://www.leemiller.co.uk/media/Air-Transport-Auxilliary-pilot-flying-a-spitfire-Anna-Leska-Published-UK-Vogue-June-1942-P44/PU5woRhX9TfffNcWmRzb7A..a |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.leemiller.co.uk}}</ref>

In 1977, Leska-Daab and her husband returned permanently to Poland. She was later active in the Warszawskim Klubie Seniorów Lotnictwa (Warsaw Senior Aircraft Club).{{Sfn|Skrzydlata Polska|3'1998}}

Anna Leska-Daab died on 21 January 1998 and was buried at the [[Powązki Cemetery]] in cemetery section 24, row 6, grave 1, alongside her parents and siblings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anna Leska Daab (1910-1998) - Find a Grave... |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141601473/anna-daab |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.findagrave.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Anna Daab-Leska |url=https://niebieskaeskadra.pl/m/?control=8&id=3600&title=anna-daab-leska |language=pl}}</ref>

Leska's portrait featured in the [[Imperial War Museum]]'s exhibition Lee Miller, A Woman's War in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-07-07 |title=Lee Miller: A Woman’sWoman's War |url=https://www.meer.com/en/16565-lee-miller-a-womans-war |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=Meer |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Women at War |url=https://thelondonmagazine.org/article/women-at-war/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=The London Magazine |language=en-GB}}</ref> A caricature of Leska as Pilot First Officer, with her signature on it is held in the Archiwum Akt Nowych archives in Poland<ref>{{Cite web |last=CMS |first=Widzialni |title=Anna Leska - Daab - |url=https://www.aan.gov.pl/index.php?c=article&id=527&v=1679259303 |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.aan.gov.pl |language=pl}}</ref> and she was one of the Mothers of Polish Independence featured in the ''Matki Niepodległości Polski'' exhibition there in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=CMS |first=Widzialni |title=Matki Niepodległości Polski - |url=https://www.aan.gov.pl/index.php?c=article&id=1051&v=1679259598 |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.aan.gov.pl |language=pl}}</ref>

<references responsive="1">
</references>

* {{Cite journal |lastref={{harvid|Skrzydlata Polska|first=1998}} |date=1998 |title=Anna Leska-Daab |journal=Skrzydlata Polska |location=Warszawa |publisher=Agencja Lotnicza |volume=3/1998 |issn=0137-866X |oclc=839207783}}

[[Category:Polish military aviators]]