Stefan Bastyr was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 aviator and military pilot, one of the pioneers of the Polish aviation. He is credited with the first military flight in the history of the Polish Air Force

Polish Air Force

The Polish Air Force is the military Air Force wing of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej...

 on November 5, 1918, almost a week before Poland officially regained her independence, at the opening stages of the Polish-Ukrainian War

Polish-Ukrainian War

The Polish–Ukrainian War of 1918 and 1919 was a conflict between the forces of the Second Polish Republic and West Ukrainian People's Republic for the control over Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.-Background:...

.

Initially he was a military pilot in Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

 during the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. From February 1916 he served as an observer in Flik 10 reconnaissance squadron on the eastern front, from December 1917 in Flik 12D on Austro-Italian front. In 1918 he himself trained as a pilot and was assigned to Flik 37P from June 1918. He undertook about 100 sorties during the war and scored at least 1 air victory on June 4, 1916.

In the Polish Air Force, he took part in the Battle of Lwów (1918)

Battle of Lwów (1918)

Battle of Lviv begun on 1 November 1918 and lasted till May 1919 and was a six months long conflict between the forces of the West Ukrainian People's Republic and local Polish civilian population assisted later by regular Polish Army forces for the control...

. He died in an aircrash of Fokker D.VII

Fokker D.VII

The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft...

 in Lviv (probably due to a hear failure) during the Battle of Lwów (1920)

Battle of Lwów (1920)

During the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 the city of Lwów was attacked by the forces of Alexander Ilyich Yegorov. Since mid-June 1920 the 1st Cavalry Army of Semyon Budyonny was trying to reach the city from the north and east. At the same time Lwów was preparing the defense...

 and is buried at the Łyczaków cemetery in Lwów (modern Lviv).