Peter Sikora

Despite not existing as a free country for 123 years until the end of the First World War, the roots of Polish aviation, including military aviation, reach as far back as the days of pioneers such as Otto Lilienthal or the Wright Brothers. The Polish Military Aviation can trace its origins to the second half of 1917, and was officially established when Poland regained her independence on 11 November 1918. The country was then able to build its own air force with men being proud to call themselves Poles again. Despite its difficult rebirth, in the 1930s Poland developed a wide range of its own aircraft. These included the PZL P.6 fighter which gained fame for being the most advanced of its day and the first fighter aircraft made of metal in the world, or PZL P.24 fighter considered by the RAF as a purchase option. Towards the end of the decade, however, foreign aircraft design had overtaken them. In 1939, Poland fought its lonely war against overwhelming might of the German Third Reich, the fascist state of Slovakia and the Soviet Russia. Though surrounded, massively outnumbered and flying mostly inferior aircraft, Polish fliers caused the attacking forces considerable losses, including 500 aircraft, destroyed and damaged. As well as telling the story of the valiant Polish flyers, Polish Military Aircraft 1918-1939 includes a wonderful collection of photographs, the majority of which have never been seen in the West. Together, these take the reader on a journey throughout the early years of Polish military aviation, showing amazing pictures of German, Austro-Hungarian or Russian aeroplanes, in many cases scavenged by the Poles. Also included is selection of British aircraft which were used in Poland, as well as a host of photographs of Polish-designed and built machines, including these that had to face Luftwaffe in September of 1939.

They came to fight for freedom and their country. They came to fight Germans. They were men of the Polish Air Force who had escaped first to France and then to Britain to fly alongside the Royal Air Force just as Fighter Command faced its greatest challenge – the Battle of Britain.Many of the Polish airmen joined existing RAF squadrons. The Poles also formed their own squadrons, but only four were operational during the Battle of Britain. Two, Nos. 300 and 301, were bomber squadrons, with the remaining pair, Nos. 302 and 303, were fighter squadrons. Flying Hawker Hurricanes, both 302 and 303 squadrons were active by the middle of August 1940, just when they were needed most with Fighter Command stretched to its limit at the height of the Battle of Britain.The Polish squadrons, many of the pilots battle-hardened from their encounters with the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France, soon made their mark. In particular, 303 Squadron become the highest-scoring unit of Fighter Command.In total, 145 Polish pilots, the largest non-British contingent in Fighter Command at the time, fought in the Battle of Britain. While Winston Churchill praised the contribution of the ‘Few’, the pilots of many nationalities who had defended Britain, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding was more specific: ‘Had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of the Battle would have been the same.’