Witold Urbanowicz was one of the outstanding Polish aces. Although he was a bit overscored by Stanislaw Skalski with his 18 individual and 3 shared victories, Urbanowicz had at least four claims to fame:
his first victory was scored far earlier than any other Polish WW2 ace - in August 1936, Urbanowicz downed a Soviet reconnaissance R-5 marauding over the Polish territory
he was the top Polish scorer of the Battle for Britain with 15 confirmed victories (in the first part of BoB he was flying in 145th Sqn RAF)
during the peak of the BoB he was commanding the most successful squadron of the Battle - Polish 303rd Kosciuszko Sqn
he was the only Polish ace who scored against Japanese pilots - he downed two Ki-43s over China with 23rd Fighter Group USAAF
he was the top Polish strafing ace, destroying 9 Japanese aircraft on the ground.
After the war Urbanowicz chose not return to communist Poland and settled in the USA. He passed away in 1996.
