Arsen Tsebrinsky was born on March 8, 1912, in Batumi, Georgia. In 1918, his family returned to Poland and settled in Warsaw. He graduated from Szkoły Podchorążych Lotnictwa on August 15, 1934, as a navigator and was assigned to the 1st Aviation Regiment.
In the spring of 1936, he completed a retraining course as a fighter pilot, after which he served with the elite 111th Squadron. On September 3, as part of the 112th Squadron, he participated in several aerial battles. During one engagement, he shot down an enemy aircraft, though the victory was later shared among three pilots who also fired at the same plane. After the battle, the pilots flew to the crash site and recovered valuable trophies: photographs taken in Spain and 100 German marks.
An Unexpected Detour
On September 12, these trophies played an unfortunate trick on Tsebrinsky and Captain Oginsky. While on a liaison flight in an RWD-8 to army headquarters in Włodzimierz, the pilots had to make a forced landing due to technical reasons. They were detained by local militia fighters who, upon finding the photographs and German money, reported shooting down a “German bomber” and detaining two saboteurs. Fortunately, the situation was clarified within a few hours, and the pilots were released.
On September 17, Tsebrinsky, along with other pilots, evacuated to Romania. He then moved through Yugoslavia and Greece, finally reaching France by the end of 1939.
Aerial Engagements in France
In the first half of May 1940, he was assigned to a newly formed flight unit, which also included Eugeniusz Szaposznikow and Michał Brzezowski. The pilots flew as part of Groupe de Chasse II/6. On June 5, during an alert scramble, the pilots encountered a large group of He.111s. Tsebrinsky attacked one aircraft, which caught fire, and its crew bailed out with parachutes.
He then chased another aircraft along with another pilot, who turned out to be fellow Pole Zdzisław Henneberg from a different unit. Together, they shot down the enemy bomber. On June 15, Tsebrinsky shot down an Hs-126 reconnaissance plane from 4.(H)/21. On June 16, his unit was transferred to the Italian front, but the pilot performed only one combat mission in the new Dewoitine D-520s. After the capitulation of France, he evacuated to Oran.
A Hero’s End and Legacy
Arsen Tsebrinsky passed away on September 17, 1940, and was buried in Northwood cemetery at the age of just 28. He was awarded two Krzyżem Walecznym (Cross of Valour), one for the September campaign and another posthumously, as well as the French Croix de Guerre.