I have gotten into the Polish squadrons (303, 302) in the BOB,
Here are a few missions I am developing for the BOB Anniversary expansion
Fighter Command was still slow to use its Polish airmen, but at 4:15 on the afternoon of August 30, No. 303 Squadron was carrying out maneuvers over Hertfordshire when Flying Officer Ludwik Paszkiewicz spotted a large flight of German bombers and fighters about 1,000 feet over his formation.
By this point the Poles had memorized some battle commands in English, so Paszkiewicz radioed Kellett, “Hullo, Apany Leader, bandits at 10 o’clock.” Kellett did not deign to respond. His squadron had been ordered to practice, not fight.
Paszkiewicz, however, opened his throttle and pointed his aircraft’s nose upward. The Germans were already under attack by a few Hurricanes, and “Paszko” joined another fighter that had latched onto the tail of a twin-engine Messerschmitt Me-110 of the 4th Staffel, Zerstörergeschwader 76 (4/ZG.76).
The Hurricane pilots opened fire simultaneously, sending the Me-110 into a blazing death dive.
On the afternoon of August 31, the eve of the first anniversary of the Nazi invasion, the Poles of No. 303 Squadron were among several RAF flights that ranged through a massive formation of more than 200 Luftwaffe aircraft targeting the pivotal sector station at Biggin Hill.
During a mere 15 minutes in combat, Kellett and five of his men each shot down a Messerschmitt without suffering any losses of their own.
That night Chief of the Air Staff Sir Cyril Newall rang up the squadron and gushed: “Magnificent fighting, 303 Squadron! I am delighted!”
On the morning of the 6th (sept) the squadron joined the whole of 11 Group to intercept a massive fleet of Germans, between 300 and 400 aircraft on a 20-mile-wide front, aiming for targets throughout Britain. Straining for the crucial altitude advantage, the Poles, blinded by the sun, flew directly into a formation of bombers escorted by Me-109s.
A sprawling dogfight ensued.
Leading Yellow Section, Major Zdzislaw Krasnodebski fixed a bomber in his sights, but a 109 he had not noticed behind him opened fire.
The German’s 20mm cannon shells hit the Pole’s fuel tank, spilling burning gasoline into the cockpit. Blinded by the fire, Krasnodebski managed to turn his craft onto its back and unfasten his safety harness, rip off his oxygen mask and yank open the canopy.
He was careful not to pull his ripcord until he had dropped clear of the combat area lest the Germans shoot him as he hung helpless in his chute. When he was at about 10,000 feet, he tried to open his parachute, but at first could not find the ripcord. He finally found the handle and yanked it with all his strength.
Seconds after the chute cracked open, he heard the scream of an approaching fighter and feared a German was targeting him even after his long free fall.
That pilot had indeed intended to target the dangling parachutist, but it was not a German plane; it was a Hurricane flown by Urbanowicz, who at the last moment saw the distinctive yellow Mae West life jacket worn by RAF pilots and veered off.
Urbanowicz circled the parachute all the way down, not realizing he was safeguarding one of his brother Poles.
Krasnodebski landed outside Farnborough, where elderly members of the local Home Guard surrounded him and aimed their rifles.
Although the injured flier spoke little English, the old men could tell it was not German he was mumbling, and they summoned an ambulance that took him to the local hospital.
Sept 7th
Both Polish units joined 17 RAF fighter squadrons that climbed into the sky that unseasonably warm afternoon to intercept successive waves of German aircraft nearing the Channel coast.
As the sky over southeastern Britain was filled by one vast dogfight, Churchill, inside an underground operations complex beneath Uxbridge, asked Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, “What other reserves have we?” “There are none,” the sobered prime minister was told.
Three hours after the first attacks, the Germans returned in force. Again the Poznán and Kosciuszko squadrons hurtled into the fray.
Over Gravesend, Kellett led eight of his Poles in an assault on an enemy formation estimated at 400 planes. Fortunately for this tiny group of interceptors, shortly after the melee commenced another British squadron joined the fracas.
So many men abandoned crippled planes, and the sky was so crowded with parachutes, that the fliers (from both sides) drifting down feared the notoriously trigger-happy senior citizens of the Home Guard would mistake them for an invading German paratroop division and, as one Kosciuszko pilot later remarked, “shoot us with duck shot or catch us on a halberd while we were landing.”
The Polish airmen lost two planes that day, with one pilot, Sergeant Michal Brzezowski, killed, but they shot down 16 of the enemy, scattered the bomber formations and chased them back across the Channel with their bomb bays still full.
***If anyone has a request for a pilot or mission for the BOB please send me the info, (e-mail or PM me here) and I will build this for this package.
Off to wreck some very pretty hurricanes and spitfires.
Oh yea! More rejoicing!!