No. 308 Polish Fighter Squadron

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No. 308 "City of Kraków" Polish Fighter Squadron
Polish Government in exile
Branch Royal Air Force
RoleFighter and fighter bomber
Part ofRAF Fighter Command
Nickname(s)Krakow
Dywizjon Myśliwski "Krakowski"
AircraftHawker Hurricane
Supermarine Spitfire
Insignia
Squadron CodesZF (Sep 1940 - Dec 1946)

No. 308 "City of Kraków" Polish Fighter Squadron RAF (

Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom
in 1940.

Pilots of 308 squadron (from left): Marian Wesołowski, Bolesław Palej, Forest Yeo-Thomas, Stefan Krzyżagórski, Stanisław Piątkowski, Stefan Janus, Tadeusz Rolski, Jerzy Popławski, Franciszek Skiba, Marian Pisarek, Jan Jakubowski, Tadeusz Schiele. Jerzy Zbierzchowski is kneeling, accompanied by the mascot of the 308 Squadron - female Jumbie
308 Squadron ground personnel at the Spitfire

History

The squadron was formed on 5 September 1940 at the RAF Polish Depot in

Squires Gate, Blackpool, from pilots of the Fighter Squadron of the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Krakow (in September 1939 the regiment was part of the Krakow Army). The personnel list was approved on 9 September 1940, and on 12 September the squadron of 170 personnel were transferred to Speke Airport near Liverpool for initial training. It was supplied with Miles Master (trainers) and Hawker Hurricane
fighters. The first CO, Squadron Leader John Davies, was killed after striking a balloon cable just a few weeks after taking command.

On 24 November 1940, the first air victory was recorded on the Squadron's account when Pilot Mieczysław Parafiński downed a twin-engine Ju 88 bomber during a training flight.

The squadron began combat service on 1 December 1940, also preparing for night flights in order to repel Luftwaffe night raids.

By October 1941 the squadron was based at

"Tommy" Yeo-Thomas was intelligence officer.[1] It then converted to Spitfires and operated from RAF Northolt
. The new equipment was quickly mastered by the pilots, as evidenced by the success of 2nd Lt. pil. Wandzilak, who was the first of the PSP pilots to shoot down an Fw 190 on 21 September 1941.

The squadron was then operated over

Normandy Landings in 1944. It disbanded at RAF Ahlhorn, Germany
on 18 December 1946 after hostilities had ceased.

308 Squadron was one of the most effective PSP fighter units (69 certain kills, 13 probable, 21 damage).

Aircraft operated

Aircraft operated by No. 308 Squadron RAF[2]
Oct 1940 Apr 1941 Hawker Hurricane I
Mar 1941 May 1941 Supermarine Spitfire I
May 1941 Aug 1941 Supermarine Spitfire IIA
Aug 1941 Nov 1943 Supermarine Spitfire VB
Jan 1942 Feb 1942 Supermarine Spitfire IIA
Nov 1943 Mar 1945 Supermarine Spitfire IX
Mar 1945 Dec 1946 Supermarine Spitfire XVI

See also

  • Polish Air Forces in Great Britain
  • Polish contribution to World War II

References

  1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    , Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2010
  2. ISBN 1-85310-053-6
    .

External links

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