No. 303 Squadron RAF

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No. 303 Squadron
S/Ldr Zumbach's plane, 1942
Sqn Ldr Zumbach's plane, 1942
Information
Role Air superiority
Aircraft Operated Hawker Hurricane
Supermarine Spitfire,
P-51 Mustang
Home Station varied
Unit's code RF (changed on August 2, 1945) in PD
Nickname: "Rafałki"
Squadron holiday September 1
Usually carrying scarlet scarfs
History
Date Founded August 2, 1940 at Northolt
Date Disbanded December 11, 1946 at Hethel, Norfolk
Badge
Badge of the 303 squadron
Badge of the 303 squadron
Notable Battle Honours Battle of Britain 1940, Fortress Europe 1941-1944, France and Germany 1944-1945

No. 303 "Kościuszko" Polish Fighter Squadron (Polish: Warszawski Dywizjon im. Tadeusza Kościuszki) was a Polish-manned fighter squadron flying as part of the Royal Air Force. It was named after the Polish and American hero General Tadeusz Kościuszko. Kosciuszko Squadron was formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish government in exile of 1939, and the United Kingdom on 2 August of 1940 and became officially operational a few weeks later on 31 August. Kosciuszko Squadron is famous for claiming the highest number of enemy kills during the Battle of Britain of all fighter squadrons then in operation through September to October 1940[1]. The squadron was disbanded in December 1946.

Operational History

No. 303 (Polish) Squadron was formed on August 2, 1940, and became operational on August 31 of the same year, its initial cadre being 13 Officer & 8 NCO pilots and 135 Polish ground staff. Initially English speaking serving RAF Officers were appointed to serve as CO and Flight Commanders along side their Polish contemporaries, as it was thought the Polish pilot contingent were not yet familiar with RAF Fighter Command language, procedures and training. The 'Kosciuszko' name chosen by the squadron was in honour of the famous Polish Kosciuszko Squadron which fought during the Polish-Soviet War in 1920. No. 303 Squadron was also linked to the original Kosciuszko Squadron through personnel that had served in the Squadron of 1920. Later, further air force units from the aforementioned were renamed the 7th, 121st and 111th Squadrons of the Polish Airforce.

On August 30, 1940 the squadron scored its first victory while still officially non-operational, against a German Do-17Z bomber. In subsequent actions 303 Squadron achieved the highest number of claims for aircraft destroyed from amongst the 66 Allied fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain, even though it was late in joining combat, starting 2 months after the battle had begun. Its success in combat can be attributed to the years of extensive and rigorous pre-war training many of the long-serving Polish veterans had received in their homeland; far more than many of their younger and inexperienced RAF comrades now being thrown into the battle. In its first seven days of combat, the squadron claimed destroyed nearly forty enemy planes. The squadron became a legend of the Battle of Britain and its pilots were called "the glamour boys of England". Withdrawn from battle for a rest on the 11 October, the squadron had claimed 126 kills in 6 weeks. However, losses had also been heavy, with 18 Hurricanes lost, 7 killed and 5 pilots badly wounded.

During 1941-43 303 Squadron pilots flew on Fighter Command's offensive sweeps over North West Europe, flying the various marks of Spitfire. During the Operation Jubilee 303 Squadron achieved the highest number of air claims of all Allied squadrons. On April 11, 1942, when an aerial gunnery contest was staged within No. 11 Group RAF, the three competing Polish squadrons - 303, 316 and 315 took the first three places out of all 22 air squadrons, 303 Squadron coming first by a very healthy margin. After D-Day the squadron remained with ADGB ('Air Defence Great Britain'), moving to RAF Coltishall for operations over Holland. April 1945 saw the unit equipped with P-51 Mustangs.

The 303 "Kościuszko" Squadron was the most effective Polish squadron during the Second World War. Pilots of the 303 Squadron were the only representatives of the Polish Army invited to the London Victory Parade in 1946; they decided to refuse the invitation since no other Polish units had been invited. Since the end of the war, the Squadron morale was decreasing due to the treatment of Poles by the Allies, and the Squadron was eventually disbanded in December 1946.

Squadron statistics

126 German aeroplanes shot down by No. 303 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. Painted on a Hurricane.

(from July 19, 1940 until May 8, 1945)

Year 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Overall
Combat sorties 1,049 2,143 1,348 2,075 2,653 632 9,900
Hours of flight time 1,086 2,743 1,967 3,693 5,259 1,118 15,866

Scores

Battle of Britain Score
destroyed 126
probably 13
damaged 9

(4,7% of all enemy aeroplanes during the battle)

File:Dywizjon 303 1.jpg
178th German aeroplane shot down by No. 303 Squadron. From the left side: Sgt. Rokitnicki, F/Sgt Wunsche, Flt Lt Bieńkowski, Fg Off Horbaczewski and Fg Off Lipiński. In the background Spitfire VB, BM144 -D flight by Zumbach.


(from , until , )
1940-1945 Score
destroyed 205 1/6
probably 40
damaged 28

September 1

1940

May 8

1945

(include 3-0-3 enemy aeroplanes on the ground)

Locations

File:Dywizjon 303 Misia.jpg
The dog "Misia", mascot of the 303 squadron, sitting on a Spitfire.
File:Dywizjon 303 2.jpg
Fg Off Bronisław Kłosin holding the aerial gunnery contest award, on the left side of him, Flt Lt Bieńkowski, on the right side Flt Lt Zumbach.

Squadron equipment

  • August 8, 1940 - Hurricane I (inter alia, August, 1940: L1696 -T; at the beginning of August, Flight "A": P3700 -E, P3974, R2688, R4178 -G, V7244 -C, Flight "B": P2985, P3975 -U, R4175 -R, R4179, V7235; later: L2026 -Q, L2099 -O, N2460 -D, P3120 -A, P3544 -H, P3939 -H, V6684 -F, V7067 -T, V7235 -M; November: V6577 -P, V7384 -H, V7503 -U, V7504 -G, V7624 -B; December 1940 - February 1941: N2661 -J, P3162 -T, P3585 -C, P3814 -Y, R4081 -O, V6533 -R, V6637 -G, V6757 -E, V6956 -C, V7182 -U, V7466 -S, V7606 -A, V7619 -M, V7644 -Z, V7727 -H, W9129 -W); since July 13, 1941 until August 24, 1941 again Hurricane I (inter alia, P3932 -RF-C).
303 squadron pilots. From the left side: Sgt. Stasik, Plt Off Socha, Plt Off Kolecki, Fg Off Lipiński, Fg Off Horbaczewski, Fg Off Schmidt, F/Sgt Giermar (on the wing), Flt Lt Zumbach, Sqn Ldr Kołaczewski, Flt Lt Żak, F/Sgt Popek, Fg Off Bieńkowski, Fg Off Kłosin, Fg Off Kolubiński, F/Sgt Karczmarz, F/Sgt Sochacki, F/Sgt Wojciechowski and on the propeller Fg Off Głowacki (May 1942, Northolt).
  • January 22, 1941 - Spitfire I (inter alia, N3026 -A, N3108 -P, N3122 -Y, N3285 -J, P9519 -M, R6972 -N); March 3, 1941 - Spitfire IIA (inter alia, P7546 -T, P7786 -C, P7858 -H, P7989 -U, P8039 -R, P8040 -D, P8041 -E, P8073 -Z); May 20, 1941 - Spitfire IIB (inter alia, P8208 -F, P8325 -B, P8329 -P, P8330 -D, P8331 -M, P8333 -S, P8334 -E, P8335 -R, P8336 -W, P8346 -T, P8382 -C, P8385 -A, P8507 -V, P8524 -H, P8531 -Y, P8567 -D, P8642 -X, P8672 -F); since August 25, 1941 until October 6, 1941 again Spitfire I (inter alia, P9429, R6773 -P).
  • October 7, 1941 - Spitfire VB (inter alia, at the end of 1941 and in 1942: W3229 -D, W3506 -U, W3765 -P, W3795 -N, W3893 -K, AA882 -G, AA908 -A, AA940 -B, AB174 -Q (Mk VC), AB183 -A, AB824 -S, AB899 -C, AB906 -W, AB929 -R, AD116 -H, AD138 -T, AD179 -F, AD455 -V, BL375 -J, BL432 -K, BL672 -M, BM144 -D, EN951 -D).
  • June 1, 1943 - Spitfire F IXC (inter alia, BS451 -M, BS506 -O, BS513, EN172 -J, MA222 -A, MA314, MA593 -Y, MA740 -R, MA754 -K).
  • November 12, 1943 - Spitfire VB, Spitfire VC and Spitfire LF VB, Spitfire LF VC (inter alia, Spitfire VB i Spitfire VC: W3380, AA751, AA937, AB272 -D, AD198 -W; Spitfire LF VB and Spitfire VC: AB271, AD237, AD295, AD317, AR513, BL385, BL464, BM207).
  • July 18, 1944 - Spitfire F IX, Spitfire LF IX and Spitfire HF IX (inter alia, Spitfire F IX: BS348, BS408, EN122, EN182 -H, EN526 -A, MA528 -E, MA814 -Q, MH692 -C, MH823, MH910 -G; Spitfire LF IX: MH777 -N, MJ120, MJ216; Spitfire HF IX: MK694, ML339)
  • April 4, 1945 - Mustang IV and Mustang IVA (inter alia, KH663 -L, KH669 -P, KH770 -Y, KH825 -C, KM112 -D, KM186 -A, KM191 -Z, KM220 -G, KM237 -R, KM297 -K).

Commanders

(under British command until January 1, 1941. Abbreviations: mjr: major, kpt.: captain, por.: lieutenant)

303 squadron pilots. From the left side: Plt Off Ferić, Flt Lt Kent, Fg Off Grzeszczak, Plt Off Radomski, Plt Off Zumbach, Plt Off Łukciewski, Fg Off Henneberg, Sgt. Rogowski, Sgt. Szaposznikow (in 1940).

Pilots of 303

  • S/L RG Kellett Original CO of 303 Sqn during the Battle of Britain.(5 claims)
  • F/L John A. Kent, Canadian Flight commander during the Battle, (11 claims)
  • Josef Frantisek, Czech Sgt. pilot flying with 303 Polish Squadron, was the one of the top claimants of the Battle of Britain, with 17 confirmed kills.
  • Jan Zumbach, commander of 303 Squadron from May 19, 1942, scored 8 kills during the Battle of Britain (13 total)
 
Pilot list of the No. 303 Polish "Kościuszko" Fighter Squadron		 303 Polish Fighter Squadron badge
Commanders:
Ronald Kellett | Zdzisław Krasnodębski | Witold Urbanowicz | Zdzisław Henneberg | Adam Kowalczyk | Zdzisław Henneberg | Tadeusz Arentowicz | Wacław Łapkowski | Tadeusz Arentowicz | Jerzy Jankiewicz | Wojciech Kołaczkowski | Walerian Żak | Jan Zumbach | Zygmunt Witymir Bieńkowski | Jan Falkowski | Tadeusz Koc | Bolesław Drobiński | Witold Łokuciewski
Flight personnel:
Tadeusz Andruszków | Zenon Bartkowiak | Marian Bełc | Michał Brzezowski | Arsen Cebrzyński | Jan Daszewski | Mirosław Ferić | Athol Forbes | Josef František | Paweł Gallus | Bogdan Grzeszczak | Eugeniusz Horbaczewski | Wojciech Januszewicz | Józef Kania | Stanisław Karubin | John Kent | Bronisław Kłosin | Wojciech Kołaczkowski | Tadeusz Kołecki | Jan Kowalski | Karol Krawczyński | Bogusław Mierzawa | Włodzimierz Miksa | Tadeusz Opulski | Jan Palak
Jerzy Palusiński | Ludwik Paszkiewicz | Edward Peterek | Stanisław Pietraszkiewicz | Marian Pisarek | Mieczysław Popek | Jerzy Radomski | Jan Rogowski
Aleksander Rokitnicki | Tadeusz Sawicz | Henryk Skowron | Bronislaw Sikora | Antoni Siudak | Stanisław Socha | Józef Stasik | Eugeniusz Szaposznikow | Mirosław Wojciechowski | Stefan Wojtowicz | Kazimierz Wunsche


Quotes

File:Dywizjon 303 5.jpg
Spitfire VB of the 303 squadron in the "left stairs down" formation, on a combat flight during the Jubilee operation.
  • I cannot say how proud I am to have been privileged to help form and lead No. 303 squadron and later to lead such a magnificent fighting force as the Polish Wing. There formed within me in those days an admiration, respect and genuine affection for these really remarkable men which I have never lost. I formed friendship that are as firm as they were those twenty-five years ago and this I find most gratifying. We who were privileged to fly and fight with them will never forget and Britain must never forget how much she owes to the loyalty indomitable spirit and sacrifice of those Polish fliers. They were our staunchest Allies in our darkest days; may they always be remembered as such!
Group Captain John A. Kent DFC, AFC, Virtuti Militari.

References

  • Arkady Fiedler. 1942. Dywizjon 303. London (English translation: 1943. Squadron 303: The Polish Fighter Squadron with the RAF. New York: Roy).
  • Jerzy B. Cynk. 1998. The Polish Air Force at War: The Official History, 1943-1945. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-7643-0560-3.
  • Lynne Olson & Stanley Cloud. 2003. A Question of Honor. The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II. New York: Knopf.

See also

Roundel of the Polish 111th Fighter Escadrille
Kościuszko's Squadron

External links

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