A Hawker Hurricane Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Brigadier General Tadeusz Sawicz, the last surviving Polish pilot among the 144 who fought in the Battle of Britain, died on October 19, 2011 in Toronto, Canada. He was 97.

He was born on February 13, 1914 in Warsaw. After finishing high school, he enlisted in the army in 1933. A year later, he joined the Aviation Cadet School in Dęblin and served for three years in an air regiment in Warsaw.

Mr Sawicz was also the last surviving officer of the Pursuit Brigade, which defended Warsaw against the German air force, the Luftwaffe, in September 1939. He fought against the Luftwaffe flying PZL P.11c fighter planes.

On September 14, 1939, he flew his plane to the besieged capital, bringing orders from the Polish army's commander-in-chief to the commanders of Warsaw, according to the website of the Polish Air Force.

After the fall of Poland, Mr Sawicz escaped through the south of the country to Romania before heading to France, and then on to Britain. He arrived just in time to fight in the Battle of Britain, which took place between July 10 - October 31 1940.

He commanded all three Polish fighter wings in the Royal Air Force. In 1941, he organized the 316th Warsaw Squadron, which flew Hawker Hurricanes.

Mr Sawicz is credited with shooting down three German aircraft, the Associated Press wrote.

He was awarded the Silver Cross Virtuti Militari. He was the only Pole to be honored with the Distinguished Service Cross, which he received from the UK, US and the Netherlands.

He remained in the UK after the war before moving with his wife to Canada in 1957. In Mr Sawicz's obituary, The Toronto Star wrote that Mr Sawiec worked in Montreal at Wheeler and Nordair Airlines.

In 2006, he received the rank of brigadier general from then-President Lech Kaczyński.

A service in his memory will be held at a later date in Warsaw.

Veronika Joy