Two new memorials have been unveiled which commemorate airmen of the Polish Air Force during the Second World War.

The first, presented at a ceremony attended by around 100 people, is in the Garden of Remembrance at the Manx Aviation and Military Museum (next to Ronaldsway Airport) and memorialises 11 airmen who were killed in aircraft accidents in and around the island.

The second is a memorial tablet in Douglas Town Hall Garden (which is also home to other memorials) which recognises the two Polish squadrons which were for a time stationed in the island, at the former RAF base in Jurby.

These were 302 squadron, the first operational Polish fighter squadron to take part in the Battle of Britain, and 307 squadron – the only Polish night fighter squadron.

The tablet was funded by the Polish Consulate General in Manchester, the UK Polish Airman’s Association and the island’s Polish community.

Among the representatives who attended the ceremonies included the Consul General Michal Mazurek, Polish Ministry of Defence Deputy Defence Attache Colonel Tomasz Ferfecki, and PAA chairman Artur Bildziuk – the instigator of the memorials. Local organisers included Kuba Szymanski and his wife Ranita.

Also there was the island’s Lieutenant Governor John Lorimer, who hosted a reception at Government House.

The airmen memorialised are: Wladyslaw Beller, Stanislaw Cielinski, Jan Gawlikowski, Bronislaw Krompiewski, Stanislaw Osmala, Zbigniew Pawlowski, Jozef Piasecki, Stanislaw Pietniunas, Stanislaw Podobinski, Henryk Szope, and Chester Smalczewski.