Channel Four have been busy with history documentaries this week and have also produced a fascinating account (which you can watch here) of the contribution of Polish Pilots to the Battle of Britain. When it became clear that Poland would fall to the Nazis, over 8000 Polish airmen escaped to Britain at the beginning of the Second World War, and a Polish government was set up in exile. The Royal Air Force was initially indifferent to the skills of these pilots, but they quickly proved themselves as the pressure from the Luftwaffe mounted. 303 Squadron was formed specifically for Polish pilots, and by the end of war had one of the most impressive records of any squadron, including the shooting down of 126 planes during the Battle of Britain. The programme is based on the diary of one of the pilots on the squadron, who recorded his experiences until his death in 1942. His son is interviewed for the programme here. He is very proud of his father's contribution, but angry at how an image of a Spitfire has been used by the BNP despite the fact the markings show that the pilot is clearly Polish... (See image below - many thanks to Dr Dixon for this)
PS: More information here from a website about the Polish contribution to World War II
PPS: Here are pages on the Battle of Britain from the RAF, the BBC and Robert Fisk in the Independent.
I believe your statement about the 126 kills is incorrect. 303 Squadron had far more than 126 victories by the end of the war. 126 is the number of claims (not kills) the squadron had during the Battle of Britain itself.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I have edited the post to reflect this more clearly.
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