Quote:
Originally Posted by Hufflepuff
Getting back to the thread subject...
...wasn't there an all-Polish Voulnteer Pilot group in service with the RAF during the battle of Britain? I have read about the Polish parachute brigade, but that was in the army during operation Market Garden in '44.
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The first squadrons were
300 and
301 bomber squadrons and
302 and
303 fighter squadrons. The fighter squadrons, flying the
Hawker Hurricane, first saw action in the third phase of the
Battle of Britain in late August 1940, quickly becoming highly effective. Polish flying skills were well-developed from the
Invasion of Poland and the pilots were regarded as fearless and sometimes bordered on reckless. Their success rates were very high in comparison to the less-experienced British Commonwealth pilots.
[1] 303 squadron became the
most efficient RAF fighter unit at that time
[2]. Many Polish pilots also flew in other RAF squadrons. In the following years, further Polish squadrons were created: 304 (bomber, then
Coastal Command), 305 (bomber), 306 (fighter), 307 (night fighter), 308 (fighter), 309 (reconnaissance, then fighter), 315 (fighter), 316 (fighter), 317 (fighter), 318 (fighter-reconnaissance) and 663 (air observation/artillery spotting). The fighter squadrons initially flew Hurricanes, then
Supermarine Spitfires, and eventually some were equipped with
P-51 Mustangs. Night fighters used by 307 were the
Boulton-Paul Defiant,
Bristol Beaufighter and the
de Havilland Mosquito. The bomber squadrons were initially equipped with
Fairey Battles and
Vickers Wellingtons, then
Avro Lancasters (300 sqn),
Handley Page Halifaxs and
Consolidated B-24 Liberators (301 sqn) and
de Havilland Mosquitos and
B-25 Mitchells (305 sqn). 663 flew
Auster AOP Mk Vs.
Polish Air Forces in France and Great Britain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia