North American Mustang Mk.III (P-51C-5-NT) FB387/PK-G, S/L (Kpt.) Eugeniusz “Dziubek” Horbaczewski DSO DFC, No. 315 (City of Dęblin) Polish Fighter Squadron, No. 133 Wing Royal Air Force, RAF Coolham ca. July 1944.

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Eugeniusz Horbaczewski was born on 28 September 1917 in Kyiv, then part of the newly proclaimed Russian Republic (now Ukraine). After Poland regained independence, the family moved to Brest (Now part of Belarus) where young Horbaczewski spent much of his youth and attained his first glider flying license. In 1938 he entered cadet flying school in Dęblin, from which he graduated in 1939.

During the Invasion of Poland in 1939 he was made a Podporucznik (2nd lieutenant) but saw no combat. He was evacuated through Romania, Yugoslavia and Greece to France. Still without a combat assignment he was then evacuated on 27 June 1940 to Britain. After training on Royal Air Force aircraft, on 21 August 1941 Horbaczewski was posted to the Polish No. 303 Squadron, flying the Spitfire V. He probably shot down his first aircraft, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, on 6 November over France. His first confirmed kill was a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 on 4 April 1942.

In February 1943 Horbaczewski volunteered for the Polish Fighting Team, also known as the "Skalski's Circus". Under the command of F/Lt Stanisław Skalski, the team fought from March 1943 in the Tunisia Campaign alongside the Desert Air Force. Following the surrender of the German Army in Africa on 13 May, the team was disbanded while three pilots stayed on and to become part of Desert Air Force units; Skalski became Commanding officer (CO) of No. 601 Squadron, Horbaczewski CO of No. 43 and F/O Wladyslaw Drecki a Flight Commander in No. 152.

On 16 February 1944 Horbaczewski took command of the Polish No. 315 Squadron, then flying Spitfire V out of RAF Heston. From April 1944, the squadron was reequipped with North American Mustang III and transferred to Coolham Airfield in Southern England.

Horbaczewski was known to have flown four Mustangs in his career, the first was FB166 PK-G which he flew for a short time until it was damaged in combat on 12 June, followed by the more widely known FB382 (often confused with FB166) PK-G, which he flew in support of the Normandy landing and thus adorned with the black-and-white invasion stripes. The aircraft also featured the logo of No. 315 squadron and the score he accumulated from the beginning of the war, including 20 ground targets (depicted as yellow bombs) and 12 aerial victories (black crosses).

On 22 June while conducting a ground attack mission against targets south of Cherbourg, one of No. 315’s Mustangs was shot down by anti-aircraft fire with another, flown by W/O Tadeusz Tamowicz, badly damaged and had to perform an emergency landing on the no man’s land. Horbaczewski, unwilling to leave his pilot on the continent, landed on a nearby USAAF field and picked Tamowicz up using a borrowed jeep. The two pilots then flew back to England inside Horbaczewski’s Mustang with him sitting on top of Tamowicz’ lap.

On 10 July, the No. 315 squadron was transferred to RAF Brenzett to defend London and southern England against V1 flying bombs as part of the “anti-diver” operations. At this point his former Mustang was replaced with FB387 PK-G on which he scored additional 1 ½ aerial victories and 4 V1 flying bombs downed (depicted beside the cockpit as V1 silhouettes).

On 18 August 1944, Horbaczewski took flight on his last Mustang III, FB355 PK-K, and led No. 315 Squadron on a "Rodeo" (codename for fighter sweep) mission. Around 8.00 am, they encountered a large group of German Focke Wulf Fw 190 fighters over Beauvais in France. Horbaczewski took part in the victorious fight of his unit, and then, for reasons that are still unexplained, his plane crashed near Velennes, burying the pilot in the debris. His body was exhumed from the crash site only on 3 March 1947 and buried in the communal cemetery in Creil, France.

During his last flight, Horbaczewski downed 3 Focke Wulf Fw 190s bringing his total tally to 16 ½. Eugeniusz Horbaczewski was awarded the Gold Cross of Virtuti Militari (posthumously), the Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari, the Cross of Valor 4 times, and the British Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).