In 1939, Cpt. Zbigniew Szostak defended the Polish sky on PLL "Lot" airplanes against the Germans, however, the Poles were out matched, and to avoid German slavery, he managed to get to France and join the Polish army/air force created by General Sikorski, and got a B 24! (thanks Marcin!)

In the summer of 1944 the Polish squadron had 12 planes, 9 Handley Page Halifax aircraft, and 3 B-24 Liberator machines.

He was a very good officer, and though pilots after 50 combat flights were typically retired from combat flights to train new pilots, Capt Szostak already had 108 combat flights in total... and then the Warsaw Uprising happened

The pilots, after crossing the Carpathians, were advised to find the Vistula line as quickly as possible and follow it north until the capital was seen. Then the problem for dropping supplies was that the city buildings made places for the drops harder to see, in addition, planes over the capital were particularly exposed to the fire of anti-aircraft artillery directed by searchlights.supply parachutes and the probability safe drops in the right place.

The women who fought in the city were often responsible for the signals and markings of the supply drop zones, and holding flashlights, they laid on the ground creating pre-arranged geometric figures, allowing pilots to quickly distinguish the drop zones

A B 24 (KG 890GR-S) was loaded with supplies to drop into Warsaw for the resistance, and since Stalin wouldn't allow allied forces to land on his airfields, the planes were heavy with fuel and supplies, light on ammo, and though it made it to the drop, the entirely Polish crewed B 24 was easily targetted by the Germans due to the clear night skies, and single flight path to and from Krasinski Square in Warsaw, and the plane and crew crashed in Nieszkowice Wielkie, none survived.

In December 1946, General Iżycki, commander of the Air Force in the West, handed to Zbigniew Szostak's parents the decoration of his son, the Golden Cross of the Virtuti Militari IV Class Order and the Cross of Valor, fourth decoration. In the Polish air force in the West, none of the airmen managed to achieve such a large number of distant combat flights in the most difficult conditions.

The faithful replica of the legendary Liberator KG 890GR-S is today the focal point of the exhibition of the Warsaw Uprising Museum.

 The 1: 1 aluminum model was built in 2006 on the basis of the bomber documentation provided by the Americans and interviews with 1586 Squadron aviators and mechanics. The original parts of the machine were also used in the replica.

http://nieszkowicewielkie.szkolagminabochnia.pl/patron/
http://polska-zbrojna.pl/home/articleshow/9131?t=Ostatni-lot-Liberatora#
https://wmeritum.pl/ziemi-wloskiej-polski-powietrzna-pomoc-dla-walczacej-stolicy/151425

With the help of the Allies, Polish, British, American, Canadian, New Zealand and South African pilots flew for the fighting Warsaw. In August and September 1944, 280 supply runs flew for Warsaw: 170 planes from Italy, 110 out of Great Britain as part of the Frantic VII operation.

Airplanes dropped over 200 tons of supplies - weapons, ammunition, food and medicines.

 From this it is estimated that the insurgents collected between 60 and 90 tons. The flights were long and dangerous because Joseph Stalin did not allow Allied machines to land at Soviet airports.

The American planes were to drop the containers in three different places: Mokotów, Żoliborz and Sródmieście. The exact locations were marked with white, a hundred metres long sheets spread over the roofs and streets.

At about 0030 the ten-minute-long airdrop started; those watching from the ground thought at first that it was a paratroop drop. Numbers of colourful parachutes painted he sky. It aroused enthusiasm among the insurgents and an increased artillery fire on the part of the Germans

147 pilots died in the missions or lost, including 59 Poles. 30 planes were also dropped, out of which 11 from the Polish 1586 Squadron.

For more on the Polish efforts via American planes, look up the 61FS with commander Francis Gabreski

it was not easy to find these, which are the best I could find of the nose art on this plane, if anyone knows what these mean, these mission symbols, and can help inform me (us!) that will be appreciated..

Also I could NOT get any photo with a better view of the nose art on EITHER of these B 24s, both seem to be winged figures (Death maybe? Azreal? Grim Reaper?) riding a bomb. In the very top photo, I certainly need someone to say what that triangular design is

https://4generals.blogspot.com/2018/10/polskie-akcenty-w-blood-red-skies.html
https://forum.odkrywca.pl/topic/352323-malowanie-liberatora-w-mpw/page/3/#comments

http://www.sppw1944.org/index.html?http://www.sppw1944.org/powstanie/powstanie_zrzuty_eng.html

Warsaw, Krasinski Square, August 15, 1944, 2:30 am.

A group of women with flashlights in their hands stood in the shape of an arrow on the square. They stood silently, listening carefully. Among the cacophony of shots and explosions they tried to catch the sounds of the approaching allied bombers. They lived to see it.

From the side of Miodowa Street with every second a steady noise of Liberator's engines was growing. The machine was approaching from the Vistula river, flying literally just above the roofs of the houses. Suddenly the pilot pulled it up. Probably he wanted to gain height so that the container parachutes could open and the load fell on the ground undamaged.

About two hundred meters before Krasinski Square two German cannons concentrated their fire on the bomber. Their staff didn't even have to use spotlights - the flying plane was perfectly visible in the ghostly glow of the burning city.

The German fire was accurate. The women waiting for the airdrop on Krasinski Square heard the sounds of bullets hitting the Liberator's hull. The bomber then leaned on the left wing and collapsed on Miodowa Street.

The airdrops of weapons and ammunition for the insurgent Polish were not carried out only by Polish crews in Liberators and Halifaxes, the English, Canadians, South African Air Force, and Australians were also taking part in the supply drop flights over the burning city.

On September 18, 1944, about a hundred "Flying Fortresses" B-17 appeared over Warsaw, which dropped 1284 containers, from which less than 300 fell into the hands of the insurgents...

The Polish 1586 Special Purpose Squadron took part in the operation, created on the basis of 301 Bomb Squadron "Pomeranian Land", British bomb squadrons 148, 178 and 624 (in their ranks, apart from the British, the aforementioned Australians and Canadians also flew) and two bomb squadrons of the SAAF South African Air Force.

Sunday, 13 August 1944, was a beautiful, sunny day.

On the runway of the airport in Celone near Foggia, Italy, Liberators belonging to the SAAF were loaded up. A short flight awaited them, they were to fly to Brindisi, about 200 kilometers to the southeast.

After reaching their destination, the crew commander and the navigators went for a briefing to the hq of the 178th Bomb Squadron of the RAF. When they entered the extensive Operation Room, the first thing they saw was a huge map of Europe hung on the wall. A thick, black, zigzagged line connecting Brindisi with a city in the north was writhing on it. When they came closer, they read the name "Warsaw". Warsaw? What the hell for? Are we supposed to bomb Poles?

A British officer soon told them what was going on. This time they won't fly with bombs, but with supply for the insurgents. The Africans did not believe their ears. One and a half thousand kilometers in one direction, a flight over eight countries, mostly over the area occupied by the Germans! These are missions for suicides or lunatics!

None of them managed to get a single word of protest out of themselves. They were penal soldiers who looked into the eyes of death more than once, not only during the war, but also in their homeland. If there is an order, then it must be carried out as well as possible. At the same time the ground staff was loading containers with weapons, ammo and meds for the Warsaw insurgents into the Liberators. Each bomber took twelve longitudinal metal containers weighing about 150 kilograms each.

In the late afternoon, ten Liberators decorated with the emblem of the 31st SAAF Bomb Squadron,  an owl against the background of a crescent with the Latin motto "Absque metu" or "No fear", headed out first headed for Albania then lowered the flight over Hungary - there were German radio stations there. Then the bombers gained altitude, flew over the Tatra Mountains and again lowered the flight ceiling in order to avoid meeting German night fighters.

Bravura and tragedy

The fighting, burning city could be seen from afar. A powerful glow illuminated the sky, and the pilots from South Africa thought that this is probably how hell looks like... Without any problem they found the Vistula and lowered the flight almost scrubbing their belly on the waves. The navigator started to count bridges.

The crews of British and South African bombers, who did not know Warsaw, found the drop points by "jumping" the bridges on the Vistula River. They had instructions according to which, for example, after "jumping over" the third bridge, they were to turn left and look for orientation signs in the form of flashlights or bonfires arranged in circles, squares or arrows. Usually women - nurses or messengers - took care of setting the signs.

Finding a drop site in a burning city was like finding a needle in a haystack. Poles and Africans circulated until they found the agreed signs. Many South African pilots were hunters. In their homeland they hunted and now, over burning Warsaw, they also waited for a "sure shot" - the right place to drop containers. Unlike the British, they also flew very low, just above the roofs of the houses. It protected them to some extent from the fire of anti-aircraft artillery, but it made it difficult to find the place of the airdrop. The British, restricted to the "King's Regulations" flew high, making them easy targets for German gunners.

On that first night over Warsaw the South African pilots lost two planes. Lt Kettle's Liberator was hit so hard that the pilot decided to land in an emergency at Okęcie. The crew survived, but was taken prisoner.

Another of the South African Liberators, heavily shot by the Germans, set off on his way back, but after several minutes his first pilot suddenly got up from behind the wheel and, not saying a word, left the cockpit, went to the bomb chamber and jumped out with a parachute. The second pilot, Lieutenant Christopher Burgess, took over the helm, but he knew well that he would not be able to reach the base in Italy with such a damaged machine. So he directed Liberator to the east and landed in an emergency near Kiev. The Russians interned the crew, but after some time they released them.

The next day seven South African machines took off to fly over Warsaw. This flight was much more difficult - they knew what kind of hell they were flying to. Two crews paid for it with their lives.

The Liberator led by Lt Hooey was to drop the containers on Krasinski Square. At 2:30 a.m. they passed the Silesian-Dabrowa Bridge and turned left. It was over Miodowa St when the shells of German anti-aircraft artillery started hitting it, and it crashed just behind the barricade erected by the insurgents a dozen or so days earlier. Fuel from the tanks placed in the wings ran to all sides and started a violent fire.

The crash zone was immediately swarmed with insurgents. One of them was the famous post-war sports commentator Bohdan Tomaszewski - during the Uprising he was a Home Army soldier with the pseudonym "Maly".  The crew members were DOA, and immediately removed from the wreckage. They were buried in the courtyard of the present theatre school, and in 1947 they were exhumed and moved to the Rakowicki Cemetery in Cracow, where they are still resting today. In Warsaw, on Miodowa Street, there is a plaque commemorating the death of the heroic crew.

Another Liberator with a South African crew hit by German anti-aircraft artillery crashed in Praga. Also in this case, the whole crew died on the spot. On the way back to Italy, near Otwock, a third bomber with an African crew crashed. Two pilots died and the rest were interned by the Russians.

Changers

Two nights later, the 31st Squadron got another blow - three crews did not return from the flight to Warsaw again. One was attacked by a German fighter near Cracow. The bomber took such a beating that it exploded in the air. Only the co-pilot, Lieutenant Johannes Groenewald, managed to save himself. The severely wounded man landed on a parachute and was taken over by a Home Army unit. After recovery, he fought for seven months in the Home Army unit and was handed over to the British.

Two other Liberators were shot down near Cracow and Tarnów. In just three days, the 31st SAAF Bomb Squadron lost half its crews and was withdrawn from further flights, as was the British 178th RAF Bomb Squadron.The role of the 31st Squadron was taken over by the 34th SAAF Bomb Squadron, which had a winged torch and a Zulus motto in its emblem - "Intlasela Zasebusuku" - "Striking at night".

It was not until after the fall of communism in Poland, in 1992, that the opportunity arose to honor these brave bomber crews. About 60 of the air crew from supply missions to Warsaw received awards and medals from Poland.

The history of crews and their missions over insurgent Warsaw is still kept alive in South Africa. It is difficult to find a pilot of the South African Air Force who has not heard of them. This history overshadows all other SAAF achievements during the war. Not the fighting of Italy in Ethiopia, not the North African campaign against the Nazis or fighting in Italy - it is the supply flights to Warsaw that are the most historically significant for the pilots from South Africa. To this day, they are still  universally respected.

for 3 documentaries, about 30 minutes apiece, which show interviews and recreations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIz8zYjmRLw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjwAER__YWs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeNB8DTEltA

http://www.aircrewremembered.com/us-warsaw-uprising.html

Thanks Marcin!