Adam Kubinciak

Military
media-19580.jpeg UPL 19580 Adam Kubinciak receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross

robin hagel

Object Number - UPL 19580 - Adam Kubinciak receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross

Adam Kubinciak was a member of the crew delivering a B-24 Liberator from America to the British Isles via Greenland and Iceland. As they approached Scotland the plane iced up and, at the same time, they got lost in cloud. By a stroke of luck they spotted an airstrip and - in spite of red flares warning them off - made an emergency landing on a short fighter runway, They refuelled and carried on to RAF Valley in Wales where plane and crew were separated; the B-24 to be modified for combat elsewhere and the crew to the Combat Replacement Depot at Stone.



Kubinciak was assigned to the 446th BG at Bungay in Norfolk and it was from there that he flew his very last mission on 26th February 1945 when his aircraft 'Miss Liberty' caught fire after No 3 engine exploded and the crew bailed out over East Sussex. Adam and the co-pilot were the last to jump and they rolled out together just before the plane slammed into a bungalow in the village of Chapel St Mary. He did stay on at Bungay flying non-combat operations until June when he shipped home on the 'Queen Mary'.



Many years later the crash site of 'Miss Liberty' was re-developed and parts of the plane salvaged. The excavations were witnessed by the then schoolboy Brendan Wood who tried to discover its history. He had no luck at the time but gave it another try - many, many years later - and eventually managed to contact Adam, then living in Florida. They kept in touch and Brendan made several trips to visit Adam until the latter's death in December 2011.

Connections

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Units served with

A flight of B-24 Liberators of the 446th Bomb Group fly in formation above the clouds.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 446th Bomb Group
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 446th Bomb Group
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 446th Bomb Group
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 446th Bomb Group

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: Miss Liberty
  • Unit: 446th Bomb Group 706th Bomb Squadron

Places

Aerial photograph of Bungay (Flixton) airfield, looking south, the technical site- with T2 hangar- and control tower are to the right, where the main airfield gate is also situated, 16 October 1945. Photograph taken by No. 541 Squadron, sortie number RAF/106G/UK/930. English Heritage (RAF Photography).
  • Site type: Airfield
  • Known as: Flixton

Revisions

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Sources

Biography completed by historian Helen Millgate. Information sourced from correspondence files and articles related to the service of Adam Kubinciak.

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ContributorKUBIERJO
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Robin Hagel, grand-daughter

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ContributorAAM
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Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia

Adam Kubinciak: Gallery (2 items)