In Le Mans Western Cemetery there is a plot (no. 38) with the graves of 150 Allied servicemen (a large number of them airmen), cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. In the first row (row C, grave 44) lies Capt. Pilot Zbigniew Janicki, an aviator with the 317th 'Vilnius' Fighter Squadron of the Polish Air Force in the UK, an instructor in combat training units from October 1943. On 12.05.1944, at his own request, he was seconded to the American Air Force and assigned to the 61st FS (61st Fighter Squadron). He flew the P-47 Thunderbolt long-range heavy fighters. On 19.06.1944 he took off as part of the squadron to attack ground targets in France, but turned back towards base due to technical problems. His aircraft went down at Ruille-en-Champagne, 30 km from Le Mans, and the pilot was killed on the spot. There is now a memorial in Ruillé-en-Champagne to the place of Zbigniew Janicki's death, unveiled on 14.06.2015.