Stefan Karwowski

[jodel]

Hi,
Nothing to say really.
I was just thinking back and remembered "Stefan Karwowski"
I used to live on the edge of West Malling airfield in the 80s and get free passes into the "Great Warbirds" to make up for the inconvenience, lol of the show.
We spent many a wonderful evening there after the public left.
My dad got to put his hand on a Mosquito again for the first time since the war. Both it and he are sadly gone now,
Stefan took my breath away with his Bearcat displays. It isn't often that a piston engine fighter pulls vapour trails off the wing tips. Once rolling upwards from ground level after a very low fast pass corkscrews of vapour where visible from both wing tips.
He was one of a breed now sadly confined to the memories of we who were lucky enough to see and hear them in their prime.

[dakman]

Hi jodel welcome to the forum ,I remember some great displays there too
Is this chap the late Stefan Karwowski who died in a accident in a Pitts
near Wanaka NZ some years ago . A great loss .

[thebrads]

That was him, but note it was spelt "Karwowski". I had the pleasure of being close to the family at one point, and heard some awesome stories about him.

[Peter Lewis]

I was at school with Stefan, he got a direct-entry commission into the RAF as one could in those days.

There was a discussion in another thread about him, some time ago.

[chinapilot]

A really good guy...it would be great if the thread title actually had the correct spelling of his surname.

[Dave Homewood]

I have corrected the thread title.

The other thread is here:
rnzaf.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=986

[1929bsa]

Really excellent to see all the threads on Stefan Karwowski....my wife and I saw him several times at The Great Warbirds Displays at West Malling, and once I think at Blackbushe, as well as Biggin. Awesome and memorable flying, and he absolutely flew the wings off Stephen Grey's Bearcat. Tragic loss along with Stephen Piercy (for different reasons). I bought the very first issue of FlyPast in London where I lived from 76 to 85 (met my Kiwi wife there in 81 and we've been in NZ since 85). We were members of the Sally B B17 Supporters Club and the Brooklands Society, and tried to get to all great WWII themed airshows each year plus Shuttleworth Collection's Flying Evenings. Magic times. {:--)>

[Dave Homewood]

Welcome to the forum Jodel and 1929bsa.

[bee]

Jan 21, 2013 22:27:25 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Welcome to the forum Jodel and 1929bsa.

[bee]

Stefan and I worked together at British Aerospace in Kingston on Thames at the end of the 70’s and early 80’s, he was marketing the Harrier and Hawk aircraft. In his spare time he was test and display flying. We lost contact following my marriage in 1983 and soon after I learnt he had been killed at Wanaka. I remember being relieved that he’d been at ‘home’, he was so proud of being a Kiwi. I regret not searching for him online previously as I lived in Sydney from 2002 till 2012 and spent many happy times in NZ, not least at Warbirds over Wanaka in 2004 when I took my father (Sir Russell Wood) to the show - he served in the Fleet Air Arm during WW11 (809 Squadron) and aged 82 was welcomed to Wanaka as the true Veteran that he was. After his death in 2008 I contacted the Spitfire display pilot Carolyn Grace who performed a fly past at my father’s funeral - she remembered Stefan with great admiration and respect as the most supreme of display pilots.

[Dave Homewood]

Welcome Bee.

[Deleted]

Jan 13, 2013 6:57:00 GMT 12 dakman said:

Is this chap the late Stefan Karwowski who died in a accident in a Pitts near Wanaka NZ some years ago .

Without intending to be morbid, if anyone is interested in reading the accident report I can supply a scan of same.