Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska

Stefania Cecylia Wojtulanis-Karpińska, (22 November 1912 – 12 February 2005) was a Polish aviator. She was a sports pilot in the inter war period and was a Captain in the Polish Air Force. She flew in the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) in the Second World War, when she was known as Barbara Wojtulanis. She was one of the first two Polish woman pilots to join the British Air Transport Auxiliary, the other being Anna Leska.

Early life and education

Stefania Cecylia Wojtulanis was born on 22 November 1912 in Warsaw, Poland, to Maria (née Gawarkiewicz) and Marcin Wojtulanis. From a young age she was interested in aviation. She was active in the Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet (Women's Defence Organisation) She chose the university as its students were given a priority for flying licences through the Warsaw Aero Club. She was one of the first women in Poland to earn balloon and aeroplane pilot's licences. In 1935, she started glider training (in Miłośno, Polichno and Pińczów), after which she also completed a pilot course. She then completed a course for parachuting instructors.

She was involved in all types of air sports, beginning with her participation in the 8th Krajowe Zawody Balonów Wolnych o Puchar im. płk. Aleksandra Wańkowicza (National Free Balloon Competition for the Colonel Aleksander Wańkowicz Cup) on 17 May 1936 in Toruń, as assistant pilot to Franciszek Janik on the "Syrena" balloon (which took ninth place). In 1937, as a pilot in her own right, she took part in the "Skrzydlata Polska" Cup flying competition. She also took part in a group parachute jump in Lwów. In 1938, she took part as a navigator in the 8th National Aviation Competition. On 16 June 1938, as part of the National Aviation Exhibition, the First Lviv Balloon Competition was held in Lviv. The women's team of Wojtulanis and Zofia Szczecińska took fourth place, covering a distance of and landing in Wygoda near Zalishchyky.

Second World War After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Stefania Wojtulanis volunteered for military service. Her flying experience with the Aero Club enabled her to carry out liaison flights, as a liaison officer, part of the Staff Squadron of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, General Józef Zając. She flew liaison missions on an RWD-8 aircraft.

After the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939, she evacuated to Romania with the Polish Air Force. She was known by her nickname Barbara whilst in the ATA.

The ATA service was arduous, with flights taking place without radio communications, navigation charts, often in poor weather conditions, and it also required her to learn to fly the various types of aircraft delivered, including twin-engine bombers such as the Vickers Wellington. She served in the ATA as a Pilot First Officer until 4 May 1945.

She was the first Polish woman to fly 1,000 hours on combat aircraft. She was promoted in the war to the rank of lieutenant pilot in wartime and then to the rank of captain pilot in wartime. After the war, Wojtulanis was demobilised from the Polish military in November 1947. In 1958, she and her husband settled in Los Angeles, California, and applied for naturalisation in 1963. and worked as a data processing clerk

Stefania Wojtulanis-Karpińska died in the Polish Retirement Home in Los Angeles on 12 February 2005.

Awards and commemoration She was decorated with the Polish Commander's Cross (2003) and Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, the Cross of Merit with Swords (for the 1939 campaign), the Silver Cross of Merit, the Cross of Combat Action of the Polish Armed Forces in the West, the medal "For Participation in the 1939 Defensive War", the Polish Air Medal four times and both the British War Medal and Defence Medal.

In 1993 the International Forest of Friendship in Kansas honoured her with a granite slab with her name and her own tree; the only one dedicated to a Polish aviator. In 1997 she was awarded the Polonia Mater Nostra Est Medal.