Posted on 10 November 2011 at 08:47:27 GMT Having read a number of books about the Battle of Britain recently, the Poles (and the Czechs) were excellent fighter pilots, although their antics sometimes upset the RAF higher echelons (no bad thing?).
I don't have the figures handy, but the numbers of Luftwaffe planes shot down by them proportionate to the number of Polish pilots was very high.
Very aggressive pilots and may well have made the difference between winning and losing the battle.
Dowding opinion of them changed once he'd seen the reports of them in battle and a certain squadron leader rapdily changed his view once he'd flown with them (given they saved his life a number of times by chasing off or shooting down Me109s that were on his tail).
We owe them, as all other allied soldiers/airmen/sailors, a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid. |