Anna Leska: Difference between revisions

▲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 has 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> 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’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>

▲Personal life

▲Anna Leska married Captain Pilot [[:pl:Mieczysław_Daab|Mieczysław Daab]] of [[301 Squadron Special Duties Flight|301 Squadron]] in Britain in 1947.<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><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rocznica urodzin Anny Leskiej-Daab {{!}} dlapilota.pl |url=https://dlapilota.pl/wiadomosci/instytut-pamieci-narodowej/rocznica-urodzin-anny-leskiej-daab |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=dlapilota.pl |language=pl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=DKAmedia |date=2020-01-21 |title=Anna Leska – the first woman in the British Air Transport Auxiliary RAF |url=https://www.britishpoles.uk/nna-leska-the-first-woman-in-the-british-air-transport-auxiliary-raf/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=BritishPoles.uk |language=pl-PL}}</ref>

▲Recognition and commemoration