The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in World War II by Zamoyski Adam

Author:Zamoyski, Adam [Zamoyski, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Published: 2019-08-18T16:00:00+00:00

9 - Bombing

For the British public there could hardly be an image more dashing and romantic than that of the daredevil Polish fighters giving their all to defend London from the Hun, even if few realized how decisive their contribution had been. To the Air Ministry, the Polish contribution to the build-up of its bomber force was just as crucial in the critical period before American support came on stream with the deployment of the 8th Air Force. It had been bombers, not fighters, that the RAF had wanted from the Poles in the first place, and the first two Polish bomber squadrons had gone into action while the Battle of Britain was still raging. The first Polish decoration to be bestowed on an airman in Great Britain went not to a fighter ace, but to an armourer of 301 Bomber Squadron. On 18 September 1940 Sergeant S. Nowak was unloading the bomb-rack of a plane that had returned from operations when the fuse of a flare bomb snagged on something and the safety catch blew out, wounding him in the shoulder. Knowing that there were three fitters working inside the plane, which was still fuelled up, he took the bomb in both arms and ran out from under the machine on to the open ground of the airfield. He managed to get fifteen yards between the plane and the bomb when it went off, nearly killing him.

The first, 300 Mazovian Bomber Squadron, was formed at Bramcote on 1 July 1940, the second, 301 Pomeranian Bomber Squadron, on 26 July. Their training presented a slightly different picture from that of the fighter squadrons. Here the Polish officers were in command, and their British counterparts were cast in the role of advisers. The Polish commanders of bombers tended to be older and more mature men than those of fighter squadrons. Waclaw Makowski of 300 Squadron, for instance, was forty-three in 1940. He had commanded a squadron against the Bolsheviks in 1920, and then moved into civil aviation, becoming General Manager of LOT and the last pre-war President of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). His British counterpart, Wing-Commander K.P. Lewis, deferred to him in most things, and left the management of the squadron in his hands. The commander of 301 was Roman Rudkowski, also an older man and something of a tough customer, as his British colleague, Squadron Leader C.G. Skinner, and several other top brass were to discover.

It was essential to have a good manager of men in command, since a bomber squadron was much larger than a fighter unit. At full strength it included up to twenty air crews (120 men) and many more ground personnel, bringing the total to anywhere between 400 and 500 men. It was also more diverse in its needs and functions, and required a high degree of co-ordination to ensure efficiency and safety.

The first two bomber squadrons were drawn from men who had reached England in late 1939 or early 1940. They had had plenty of time to learn English and retrain.

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