Lt. Eric Impey was a SAAF navigator at the time of daring operations of the Warsaw Airlift. A day before he left for his last flight, he wrote “An Airman’s Prayers”:  “My God, this night I have to fly/ And ere I leave the ground/ I come with reverence to Thy Throne/ Where perfect Peace is found.” 

He expressed his anxiety and entire dedication to God in this poem after being struck by the emptiness left by his friend who didn’t return from the Warsaw Airlift mission a day before. His friend – Lt. Bryan Jones, survived the war. 

Lt. Eric Impey was a 26-year-old SAAF navigator responsible for finding the target. Together with his crew, they took off from Celone, Italy, heading to Warsaw, Poland, on August 16, 1944. A long way over German-occupied territory was a dangerous and questionable mission they had to undertake. But they did. Such were the orders received.

Many World War II monuments have the inscription “Go passerby and tell the world that we perished in a battle, faithful to the orders received”… 

How dedicated to the cause these airmen were! Just as soldiers in the past, an order is an order. Warsaw shall never forget the dedication of hundreds of these airmen who sacrificed their lives to drop much-needed supplies to the battered Polish capital.

Eric Impey was born in Cape Town and served in the 31st Sq during World War II. His colleagues remembered him as courageous and stouthearted. He was also a poet sensitive to the things he observed around him. An athlete that would have had an international career if the war had not crashed his plans.

The crew of Liberator EV941Q that left for Warsaw on August 16, 1944, had eight airmen onboard: Cpt. Allen, 2nd pilot Lt. A.J. Munro, bombardier Lt. W. Klokow, navigator E.B.H. Impey, radio operator W/O1 D.B. Brandsma and W/O1 D.J. Palmer, W/O E Bradshaw, Sgt. J.R.W. Nickerson. 

They dropped supplies to bring relief to Warsaw struggling against the Germans. Chased by a night fighter, they were shot down near Kracow in Luborzyca. All were killed.