>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabby_Gabreski
>>Happy Memorial Day.
>>
>>Despite what all that we hear, there are real heroes.
>>
>>This crazy fella was the CO of the 51st Fighter Interceptor squadron on my base in Korea. I never met him... he was either in the air or sleeping, but I did get to hear him over the combat radio while he engaged a MIG. That MIG never had a chance.
>>
>>Colonel Gabreski, we salute you.
>
>There was another famous Polish pilot of that era: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_%C5%BBurakowski
>
>As a young engineer my father worked on the Avro Arrow. One of its test pilots was Żurakowski. My father tells a story of one of the test flights. Somehow one of the major control surfaces (I don't recall which, maybe the elevator) was improperly connected so it worked backwards. Żurakowski made his takeoff roll, got airborne at very low altitude and then tried using that control surface. In less than one second he detected the problem and compensated for it. Shortly afterwards he radioed back to the tower in an unexcited voice, "{control surface} controls reversed, returning to base" and then landed normally.
>
>Very few people in the whole world would not have died in a ball of flame in those circumstances. Żurakowski was basically treated as a god after that.
>
>These days the phrase "god-tier" is grossly abused, but this was a real-life example.

Quite a feat, indeed.