http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/British/aba?full=1
On this pic are polish pilots whose fight in RAF against German.
The unit began its formation in July 1940 in Blackpool. The flying personnel consisted of very experienced pilots of the 111 “Kosciuszko” and 112 “Warszawa” Eskadra of the Polish Air Force. Poles never really considered it a new unit, but a continuation of the squadron’s history dating back to 1918. 303 Kosciuszko Squadron entered the Battle of Britain on August 30, and from the beginning took part in intensive action. Throughout its stay at Northolt in the 11th Fighter Group - which bore the brunt of fighting during the Battle - the squadron achieved phenomenal success. With 125 confirmed victories to its credit, in the space of mere five weeks it became the top-scoring squadron of the entire Fighter Command.
Th Few word about this pic
From left: S/Ldr Zumbach, W/Cdr Witorzenc, F/Lt Bienkowski
Pic was doing propably 11 November 1942 in Kirton-in-Lindsey
Nice info! Well done and thanks!
Yes if you watch the film Battle of Britain (which I got on DVD for £9.99 recently ) You will see them shown. They had a particular hatred of the germans and would just go for them.
Hello.
The Polish contribution to the defence of the UK & the later attacks against Axis targets is becoming forgotten as the years pass.
Without their agressiveness & commitment, the Battle of Britain & later actions, may well have had a different outcome.
One must remember that the RAF had a sufficient supply of replacement aircraft (thanks to Beaverbrook) but a critical shortage of pilots - especially those experienced in combat.
The greatest pain I feel is over the betrayal of Poland & her people at Tehran & Yalta, where the mass murderer Stalin was given her to do with as he wished.
Roosevelt & Churchill turned their backs on the very Country that France & Britain went to War over in the first place - a decision they must have regretted to their end.
they had 125 victories in 5 weeks…5 weeks = 35 days, so they had over 3 victories a day for 5 weeks? what is considered a “victory?”
Making an en a/c lose it’s ability to fly.
There are some cool pictures of pilots and planes of 303rd Sqn.
8)
Polar- do you know about the top Polish V-1 killer, Taduesz Szymanski?
Well, according to the official records they had 40 victories in the first 7 days after the activation of the Squadron, and 14 confirmed victories (i.e. shot down airplanes) on September 15, 1940 alone. I suggest you google this info, if you cannot believe it. Maybe you should ask an elementary school student in Poland. Any one of them will likely be able to cite the basic statistics and name at least several of the pilots (just from memory I can list Skalski, Krol, Zumbach, Frantisek, and several others).
Unlike in the US, 303 Squadron is a household name in Poland.
Interestingly, there are some people in England that refuse to believe in those statistics. I read an article by an english journalist, who claims he was heckled by an old lady during a lecture about BoB, who questioned the total number of foreign pilots who took part in BoB. Too bad she never visited Northolt and the monument honoring Polish pilots…
I’m sorry but the information about war-time smugglers turned-out to be false or at least unconfirmed. True fact is that one of aces of 303rd, Jan Zumbach became a smuggler after the war. He was shipping “cargoes” ranging from wrist watches (to Britain) to arms and soldiers (to Israel). In early 60’s he organised Katangese Air Force. Have you heard about other similar ideas of wartime heroes?