He landed alive though severely burned, with his clothes still on fire. Mynarski's descent was rapid due to the burnt parachute and shroud lines, resulting in a heavy impact on landing. Only Mynarski managed to leave via the rear escape door. He fell into the open hatch and jammed it closed until Flight engineer Roy Vigars reached him to quickly clip on Friday's parachute and toss him out the hatch while pulling the unconscious crewman's rip cord. The hatch cover caught him above his left eye and knocked him out. When bomb aimer Jack Friday, tried to release the escape hatch cover in the aircraft's nose, the rushing wind ripped it from his hands. Five left through the front escape hatch on the floor of the cockpit. Įxcept for Brophy, all crew members of the Lancaster managed to escape the burning bomber. He then reputedly said "Good night, sir," his familiar nightly sign-off to his friend, and jumped. Mynarski crawled back through the hydraulic fire, returned to the rear door where he paused and saluted. With Mynarski's flight suit and parachute on fire, Brophy eventually waved him away. All his efforts were in vain, initially using a fire axe to try to pry open the doors before finally resorting to beating at the turret with his hands. Without hesitation, Mynarski made his way through the flames to Brophy's assistance.
The tail turret had been jammed part way through its rotation to the escape position. As Mynarski approached the rear escape door, he saw through the inferno in the rear, that tail gunner Pilot Officer Pat Brophy was trapped in his turret. Losing both port engines, de Breyne ordered the crew to bail out. Raked by cannon fire with major strikes on the port engines and centre fuselage, a hydraulic fire engulfed the bomber. After encountering flak over the coastline and briefly being "coned" by searchlights, the Lancaster was attacked by a Junkers Ju 88 enemy night fighter. They reached their target at midnight, Tuesday 13 June. In the aftermath of D-Day attacks on 12 June 1944, Mynarski was aboard KB726, taking part in the crew's 12th operation, a raid on Cambrai in northern France. Mynarski Memorial Lancaster Mynarski's last "op" In early June, de Bryne's crew received Canadian-built Avro Lancaster Mk X bomber, # KB726, coded "VR-A" (call sign A for Able). After a short introduction to this four-engine heavy bomber, 419 Squadron began to receive the Avro Lancaster bomber in 1944, including examples built in Canada by the Victory Aircraft Company in Malton, Ontario. The squadron first flew combat operations using Vickers Wellington bombers before converting to the Handley Page Halifax bombers. 419 "Moose" Squadron, based at RAF Middleton St. After a series of transfers through operational training units, as a warrant officer (second class), he joined Flying Officer Art de Breyne's crew as the mid-upper gunner in No. Mynarski was promoted to temporary sergeant in Halifax just prior to going overseas in January 1942. 3 Bomb and Gunnery School at RCAF Station MacDonald, MacDonald, Manitoba, graduating just before Christmas as an air-gunner, earning his "AG" brevet. 2 Wireless School in Calgary but had trouble learning Morse Code. In 1940, Mynarski joined the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, a militia unit, but only served a short time before enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). To help support his family after his father's death, at the age of 16, he worked as a chamois cutter. Mynarski was educated at King Edward and Isaac Newton Elementary Schools, later graduating from St. Known as Andy to his close friends, he had five other siblings, two brothers and three sisters. Mynarski was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on 14 October 1916, the son of Polish immigrants.
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