Bolesław Michal Gładych (17 May 1918 – 12 July 2011)[1] was a Polish fighter pilot, a flying ace of World War II.

[3] Escaping from the Romanian internment camp Turnu Severin (reputedly killing a guard in the process) he reached France, where he joined the recently formed Polish manned "Finnish" Squadron, intended to participate in the Finnish-Soviet war.

[5] Gladych returned to operations in October 1941 and was transferred to 302 Squadron "City of Poznan' in July 1942, joining it after recuperative leave in December 1942.

After crippling Gladych's Spitfire in the spring of 1943, yet again Eder flew alongside his victim and waggled his wings, before flying away.

(Apparently in 1950 Eder and Gladych met by chance at a pilots reunion in Frankfurt and managed to confirm they had been adversaries in each case.)

Gladych was not formally accepted into the USAAF either (his kill credits were officially recognized, however), and continued to fly unofficially until October 1944, when the Polish Air Force finally relented and sanctioned his secondment.

operations with an unnamed P-51 group, claiming a Me 262 jet downed, but this is not confirmed by USAAF records and his ten credited kills were all made with the 61st FS.

He also claimed to have been awarded the Croix de Guerre for the sortie on 8 March 1944 when he strafed an airfield after shooting down an Fw 190.

85: USAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II, Air Force Historical Research Agency).

[10] He also located his brother (a Polish resistance fighter) in a German POW camp in Austria, which had been liberated by the Russians in 1945.

Anticipating the fact that most of the Polish resistance falling into the hands of the Soviets were likely to be deported to Siberia, Gladych used his USAAF status to visit the camp and managed to smuggle his brother out to the West.

[11] After the war "Mike" Gladych emigrated to Seattle, Washington, obtaining a PhD degree and becoming a United States citizen.

Mike said that he struck up a conversation with the man, who described that he was a Yogi and had been charged by his master (not sure if that is the right word) to travel to England and teach willing people about Yoga.

According to Mike, he told the man that he had to resign his commission in the Air Force because he spent his days dropping bombs on people and trying to kill enemy pilots.