35141 WWII POLISH FIGHTER PILOT

Polish military aviation (full name: Polish Air Force), after the defeat in the September campaign in 1939, began to be formed initially in France, and later also in Great Britain. Initially, Polish pilots could perform combat tasks over the British skies only as pilots of British fighter squadrons, but from August 1940, Polish fighter and bomber squadrons were formed. Especially the first ones took part in the air battle for Britain in the summer of 1940, and the 303 (called Warsaw) Squadron Tadeusz Kościuszko, who had been fighting with the Luftwaffe since August. Traditionally, he is credited with 126 enemy aircraft shot down in the course of the Battle of Britain, which makes him the most effective Allied fighter squadron of this battle! It was flew by such great pilots as, for example, Colonel Zdzisław Krasnodębski (considered the creator of the squadron), General Witold Urbanowicz (Lieutenant Colonel RAF with 17 shots on his account) or Lieutenant Colonel Jan Zumbach (13 kills on his account). It is worth adding that in 1940-1945 the entirety of the Polish Air Force in Great Britain destroyed, for sure, 769 airplanes or on the ground, and probably 177 airplanes. At the same time, the PSP lost about 4,160 pilots and ground service soldiers.