Antoni Kocjan

excelled in two areas : sailplane design and air intelligence. He was one of the leading Polish sailplane designers between WWI and WW2. During WW2 he achieved excellent results in intelligence operations, the most important of these being the discovery of the secrets of the German V2 ballistic missile, the first such missile in the world.

He was born in 1902 at Olkusz in southern Poland. In 1920 he volunteered for service in defence of Poland during the Polish-bolshevik war. After graduation from a secondary school, in 1923 he became a student at the Warsaw Technical University. There he met fellow students Rogalski, Wigura and Drzewiecki, who – in 1926 – started building aircraft in the Workshops of the Aircraft Section at the Mechanical Faculty of the University. Later on they gained fame as the designers of many RWD sports aircraft which achieved success in Challenge International air competitions in 1932 and 1934.

Antoni Kocjan commenced his aircraft work as a fitter and carpenter during construction of the JD-2, the first aircraft built by the Aircraft Section. Thanks to his excellent production skills he soon became the head of the workshops. At the end of 1920s the production technology of sports planes built by amateurs was of rather low quality, which affected structure reliability and endurance. Against this background, the RWD aircraft built under Kocjan, where of very high quality, similar to those built by experienced manufacturers.

In 1930 the Workshops of the Aircraft Section were incorporated as a private factory owned by the designers, and were moved from the basements of the University to new buildings at Warsaw-Okecie aerodrome.In 1929 Kocjan completed a flying training course in the Warsaw Flying Club, and became interested in gliding which had just begun its development in Poland. In 1930 he designed and built the Czajka glider, and in 1931 he obtained his cat. C glider pilot’s licence at Bezmiechowa in Carpathian Mountains. There was high demand for gliders at that time and the Workshops built a batch of 18 Czajkas.

The Workshops could not cope with simultaneous production of both aeroplanes and gliders, so in 1932 Kocjan, together with Wedrychowski, established the Sailplane Workshops, soon located at Warsaw-Mokotów airfield. Subsequent Kocjan designs: Wrona elementary trainer (1932) and Komar advanced trainer (1933) soon gained popularity. 120 Czajkas, 400 Wronas and 74 Komars were built. Komar was used to set 15 Polish and 7 Yugoslav national sailplane records. The most famous of these were the international women’s record in flight endurance of 24 hours 14 minutes set by Wanda Modlibowska on 13-14 May 1937, and the Polish national record in flight enduranc e of 35 hours 14 minutes set by Stanislaw Wielgns on 19-20 October 1949 in a Komar built after WW2.

1934 brought the Sroka glider for training in aircraft-towed flight, 1935 – the Sokól for aerobatics, and 1936 – the Mewa two-seater sailplane, designed together with Szczepan Grzeszczyk. In 1937 A. Kocjan developed one of his most well known designs, the Orlik sailplane, used by Polish pilots during the 1st Sailplane World Championships in 1937 at Rhön-Wasserkuppe. During that event B. Baranowski flew an Orlik over 302 km, making the first ever cruise flight from that location to Berlin . Orlik II was developed in 1938. One example of this type was used by the USAAF during WW2, and in 1948 Paul McCready used it to climb to 9,600 m, This particular sailplane is still flying in Arizona. Orlik ill won 2nd place during the competition at Sezze Littorio in Italy when the Olympics glider for 1940 was selected.

In 1937 A. Kocjan developed the Bąk single-seater, world’s first truly successful motorglider (with good gliding characteristics). In 1938 M. Oflierski used it to set two international records: flight endurance of 5 hours 24 minutes, and altitude of 4,595 m, as well as to fly over a distance of 550 km.

Until the outbreak of WW2 some 650 gliders of A. Kocjan design were built in Poland, 35 more under licence in Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Palestine and Yugoslavia, plus 23 after WW2, for a total of 707. Nearly half of all the gliders built in Poland before the war were Kocjan designs. They were flown by most of the glider pilots trained in Poland before WW2. During the war Kocjan designed gliders were used in Germany, Lithuania, and Slovakia. Only a few Kocjan-designed gliders survived to date, including a Wrona and a post-war-built Komar in the Polish Aviation Museum in Cracow, a Wrona in the Hatzerim Museum in Israel, and the airworthy Orlik II in the USA.

The outbreak of WW2, and the German occupation of Poland changed the life of A. Kocjan completely. In September 1939 he was wounded in an air raid and his Sailplane Workshops were destroyed by fire. In the occupied country any aircraft- related activity was banned. Initially Kocjan made his living by manufacturing wooden clog soles as there was shortage of leather. He soon became involved in the Polish underground activity, joining the air-related intelligence service. In September 1940 he was accidentally arrested by the Germans in a street round-up. As was usual at that time, without any trial he was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Joint efforts of his friends allowed to bribe him out from that infamous place after ten months of sufferings which near ly saw him dead.

In July 1941 he started working in workshops that repaired German army vehicles, where he was employed through underground connections as a supply worker, in order to conceal his intelligence activity which required a lot of travelling. Upon his release from Auschwitz he returned to the Industrial Studies Bureau of the 2nd Dept HQ Home Army. Initially he was the head of the aviation-armour section, and subsequently of the separate aviation section. This collected reports from the entire pre-war Polish territory, from Germany and other occupied countries, related to aircraft technology and industry. Both related to aircraft factories and their production – important for the Allies in planning of air raids – and to new types of German aircraft and aero engines. For example, the section obtained drawings of the Jumo 004 jet engine. Knowledge of aircraft technology allowed him to perform reasonable selection of the information which was then sent over to London by radio, and delivered (complete with drawings, sketches, etc.) on microfilm by couriers who travelled across Europe once a month.

Within his underground activity, Kocjan also participated in production of hand grenades and in the work of “Dural” scientific-technological group of the Aircraft Industry Branch HQ Home Army. The latter included planning of taking over of aircraft industry plants upon the liberation, and of production start-up after war’s end. At the same time he helped to set up a secret printing shop of the Home Army (the largest underground printing shop in Warsaw) in the basement of the demolished Sailplane Workshops.

In ear ly 1943 his Industrial Studies Bureau received information of mysterious pilotless missiles tested by the Germans at Peenemiinde at Usedom near Stettin. The first such report was sent to London in February 1943, and another in March . In April 1943 Churchill appointed Col. D. Sandys to evaluate the information about German long-range rocket missiles. In June the British Staff decided that the Peenemiinde centre be attacked. On the night of 17 August 1943 597 British bombers dropped some 2,000 bombs on the centre, delaying the use of V2 missiles against Britain by half a year.

After this raid, in the autumn of 1943 the Germans transferred the trials of VI and V2 missiles to Blizna range in central Poland, to the east of Cracow. In November 1943 the Polish underground intelligence network commenced monitoring of the missile trials. The missiles would fall in various parts of Poland, but during April and May they would most often do so in the Bug river area. On 20 May 1944 a Home Army troop captured an unexploded V2 missile at Sarnaki on Bug. The captured rocket engine and other components were hid in a barn. In spite of search, the Germans found nothing. A team of experts from Kocjan’s Bureau investigated the components, photographed and measured them. This allowed to prepare detailed drawings of the rocket engine. Most important components, including the radio guidance equipment, were brought to Warsaw, unknown to German occupants. The prey of the Polish intelligence network was so important, that the British sent a Dakota to occupied Poland, in order to collect it. During the operation, code name “Wildhorn”, the aircraft landed on the night of 25 July 1944 at an airfield prepared by the Home Army troops near Tarnów, The components were taken by air to Brindisi, Italy, and from there to London.

Kocjan, however, failed to participate in the shipment of V2 components, as he was arrested on I June 1944 by the Gestapo in connection with the secret printing shop in the basement of his Sailplane Workshop ruins. While in custody, he was also accused of the hand grenade manufacture, but in spite of cruel tortures he never told the Germans anything about his co-workers or the organisation. Following the inhumane treatment he was in terrible shape, and could hardly speak at all. An attempt to bribe him out of the prison failed. After the Warsaw Uprising broke out in August 1944, he was shot by the Germans on 13th of that month. He was posthumously awarded the highest Polish military decoration, Virtuti Militari, by the HQ Home Army.
Antoni Kocjan was a talented sailplane designer and aircraft production manager, but also a top class intelligence officer, who managed to steal the most secret information of the Third Reich, related to rocket missiles.At the same time he was known as an unassuming person, friendly towards people and animals.

He is remembered on the “Operation VI and V2” memorial in front of the Warsaw Technical University.