eorge Marter Crawford American aviator, Officer of the Polish Army, volunteer during the Polish -Soviet War 1920.
Born in 1896 in Bristol, Pennsylvania, a mining engineer by profession. In May 1917, he was drafted to serve in the Air Force. After initial training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was assigned to Minneola Field on Long Island to learn to fly. Already as a pilot he went to France. Before being assigned to combat formations, he underwent training at the training center in Issoudon. In the period from the beginning of November 1917 to the beginning of January 1918, he was a pilot of the 1st EL. Then he flew in the colors of 20 EN. On September 12, 1918, during an observation flight over German territory, his machine was shot down and Crawford was taken prisoner. After regaining freedom, from December 1, 1918 to the end of August 1919, he worked in the American Military Mission in the Baltic States.
He served in the Polish Air Force from September 1919, in the 7th Kościuszko Squadron as a pilot (he belonged to the flight commanded by Captain M. Cooper), and from August 1920 as its commander. He distinguished himself in solo reconnaissance flights deep into enemy territory, always providing valuable information. Flying usually Ansaldo Balilla no 10, he was many times in very big troubles, and his plane was almost shoot down few times. However his skills and luck was on his side during all the war.
After the end of hostilities, he returned to the United States. He became a stockbroker in New York. He married Dorothy Sherman (1896–1974). He died on December 8 1974 in New York at the age of 80 and was buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery.
Models and textures by me.
