After training with the RAF he was posted to a Polish Squadron, based in Northolt, flying Hurricane fighter planes. His squadron was assigned to defend London and the South East against attacks from the German Luftwaffe.
One morning, his aircraft was targeted and he had to bale out with his parachute. Fortunately, he landed in South London and a passing lorry driver returned him to base. Four hours later, he was back in the air again.
He was later transferred to a coastal command station in Cornwall, flying long sorties over the Atlantic, protecting shipping convoys and hunting enemy submarines. One of the first pilots to fly the new Mosquito light bomber, his plane was targeted again, hit this time by anti-aircraft fire, while en route to bomb submarine pens off the French Atlantic coast.
Bailing out with his navigator, he landed in German-occupied France, aware of the risk, as a Pole. They both hid in a haystack and eventually the French Resistance helped them escape through occupied France over the Pyrenees into Spain, Gibraltar and England.