No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron
Encyclopedia
No. 300 "Land of Masovia" Bomber Squadron was a Polish
World War II
bomber
unit. It was fighting alongside the Royal Air Force
and operated from airbases in the United Kingdom
.
, the Polish government signed an agreement with the Royal Air Force
. According to the appendix to the Polish-British Alliance, should the war with Germany break out, two Polish bomber squadrons were to be created on British soil. However, following the German invasion of Poland
and subsequent Soviet invasion of Poland
, most of Polish airmen who managed to get to the west were incorporated into the Polish Air Forces being created in France. It was not until the fall of France that Polish airmen started to arrive to the United Kingdom in large numbers.
Polish evacuees and refuges with experience in aerial warfare were initially kept in a military camp in Eastchurch
.
Finally on July 1, 1940 the No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron was created as the first such Polish units at RAF Bramcote
, as a part of the Polish Air Forces in Great Britain.
As the number of Polish airmen, often with experience in fights against the Germans from Poland and France, was high, by July 24 additional bomber squadrons were created.
Between July 19, 1940 and May 8, 1945, the crews of the squadron flew 3,891 sorties and spent 20,264 hours in air.
Initially equipped with Fairey Battle
light bomber
s, the squadron was equipped with Vickers Wellington
medium bombers on November 16, 1940. The squadron used several versions, including Mark IC, IV, III and X. In 1941 while the unit was equipped with Wellingtons and flying from Hemswell
on 'Gardening' (mining
) operations, the squadron's Intelligence Officer was Michael Bentine
, later to become well known as an entertainer. On March 5, 1944 the unit was re-equipped with Avro Lancaster
bombers and continued to use that bomber until the end of World War II (versions Mk I and Mk III).
During the war, the squadron took part in most of the notable air offensives in Europe, including attacks on the German Navy
preparing for Operation Seelöwe, also its naval ships such as the German battleship Gneisenau
docked in Brest, other naval facilities in Wilhelmshaven and its U boat facilities in St. Nazaire, Millennium Offensive on large bombing raids on Cologne, bombing raids on V-weapon sites, D-Day
, in support of crossing the Rhine, the Battle of the Ruhr
, the bombing of Hamburg and the Battle of Berlin
.
A number of the crew members were in late 1942 attached to the RAF Tempsford
based No. 138 (Special) Squadron RAF as the newly-formed Flight C operating Handley Page Halifax
bomber.
The last mission was flown on May 8, 1945 against Adolf Hitler
's residence in Berchtesgaden
. The unit was disbanded on January 2, 1947, after the Allies withdrew their support for the Polish government.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
unit. It was fighting alongside the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
and operated from airbases in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
History
Already before the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Polish government signed an agreement with the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. According to the appendix to the Polish-British Alliance, should the war with Germany break out, two Polish bomber squadrons were to be created on British soil. However, following the German invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
and subsequent Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland can refer to:* the second phase of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 when Soviet armies marched on Warsaw, Poland* Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939 when Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany attacked Second Polish Republic...
, most of Polish airmen who managed to get to the west were incorporated into the Polish Air Forces being created in France. It was not until the fall of France that Polish airmen started to arrive to the United Kingdom in large numbers.
Polish evacuees and refuges with experience in aerial warfare were initially kept in a military camp in Eastchurch
Eastchurch
Eastchurch is a village on the Isle of Sheppey, in the English county of Kent, two miles east of Minster.The village website claims "... it has a history steeped in stories of piracy and smugglers".- Aviation history :...
.
Finally on July 1, 1940 the No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron was created as the first such Polish units at RAF Bramcote
RAF Bramcote
RAF Bramcote was a Royal Air Force station near Nuneaton in Warwickshire during World War II. It later became HMS Gamecock and then Gamecock Barracks.-RAF operations:The Station opened in 1939. The main user No...
, as a part of the Polish Air Forces in Great Britain.
As the number of Polish airmen, often with experience in fights against the Germans from Poland and France, was high, by July 24 additional bomber squadrons were created.
Between July 19, 1940 and May 8, 1945, the crews of the squadron flew 3,891 sorties and spent 20,264 hours in air.
Initially equipped with Fairey Battle
Fairey Battle
The Fairey Battle was a British single-engine light bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company in the late 1930s for the Royal Air Force. The Battle was powered by the same Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that gave contemporary British fighters high performance; however, the Battle was weighed...
light bomber
Light bomber
A light bomber is a relatively small and fast class of military bomber aircraft which were primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance....
s, the squadron was equipped with Vickers Wellington
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...
medium bombers on November 16, 1940. The squadron used several versions, including Mark IC, IV, III and X. In 1941 while the unit was equipped with Wellingtons and flying from Hemswell
RAF Hemswell
RAF Hemswell was an airfield used by RAF Bomber Command for 20 years between 1937 and 1957 and saw most of its operational life during World War II. Later used by RAF Fighter Command as a nuclear ballistic missile base during the Cold War it closed to military use in 1967...
on 'Gardening' (mining
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
) operations, the squadron's Intelligence Officer was Michael Bentine
Michael Bentine
Michael Bentine CBE was a British comedian, comic actor and founding member of the Goons. A Peruvian Briton by heritage as a result of his father's nationality, In 1971 Bentine received the Order of Merit of Peru because of his fund-raising work for the 1970 Great Peruvian...
, later to become well known as an entertainer. On March 5, 1944 the unit was re-equipped with Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
bombers and continued to use that bomber until the end of World War II (versions Mk I and Mk III).
During the war, the squadron took part in most of the notable air offensives in Europe, including attacks on the German Navy
German Navy
The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...
preparing for Operation Seelöwe, also its naval ships such as the German battleship Gneisenau
German battleship Gneisenau
Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...
docked in Brest, other naval facilities in Wilhelmshaven and its U boat facilities in St. Nazaire, Millennium Offensive on large bombing raids on Cologne, bombing raids on V-weapon sites, D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
, in support of crossing the Rhine, the Battle of the Ruhr
Battle of the Ruhr
The Battle of the Ruhr was a 5-month long campaign of strategic bombing during the Second World War against the Nazi Germany Ruhr Area, which had coke plants, steelworks, and 10 synthetic oil plants...
, the bombing of Hamburg and the Battle of Berlin
Battle of Berlin (air)
The Battle of Berlin was a British bombing campaign on Berlin from November 1943 – March 1944. The campaign was not limited solely to Berlin. Other German cities were attacked to prevent concentration of defences in Berlin, and Bomber Command had other responsibilities and operations to conduct...
.
A number of the crew members were in late 1942 attached to the RAF Tempsford
RAF Tempsford
RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire, England was perhaps the most secret Royal Air Force airfield in World War II. It was home to the Special Duties Squadrons, No. 138, which dropped Special Operations Executive agents and their supplies into occupied Europe, and No...
based No. 138 (Special) Squadron RAF as the newly-formed Flight C operating Handley Page Halifax
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
bomber.
The last mission was flown on May 8, 1945 against Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's residence in Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich...
. The unit was disbanded on January 2, 1947, after the Allies withdrew their support for the Polish government.
Details
| Period | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers | ||
| July 1, 1940 | Lt.Col. engineer pilot Wacław Makowski | with W/Cdr K. P. Lewis as a British supervisor |
| July 18, 1941 | Maj. pilot Stanisław Cwynar | |
| January 27, 1942 | Maj. pilot Romuald Suliński | |
| August 1, 1942 | Maj. pilot Władysław Dukszto | Since July 9 a c/o commander |
| October 31, 1942 | Maj. pilot Adam Kropiński | |
| May 4, 1943 | Maj. pilot Mieczysław Kucharski | |
| November 18, 1943 | Maj. pilot Kazimierz Kuzian | |
| January 18, 1944 | Maj. pilot Adam Kowalczyk | |
| April 1, 1944 | Maj. pilot Teofil Pożyczka Teofil Pozyczka Teofil Pożyczka was a Polish pilot during World War II. He served as technical officer in the Centralne Warsztaty Lotnicze in the Polish September Campaign of 1939.-Biography:... |
|
| February 2, 1945 | Maj. pilot Bolesław Jarkowski | |
| September 17, 1945 | Maj. pilot Romuald Suliński | |
| February 22, 1946 | Maj. pilot Bolesław Jarkowski | until the dissolution of the unit after the Allies withdrew their support for the Polish government. |
| Airfields | ||
| July 1, 1940 | Bramcote Bramcote Bramcote is a settlement in the Broxtowe district of Nottinghamshire, about five miles west of Nottingham. It was a separate village but is now a suburb of Greater Nottingham. Originally one of the main roads between the cities of Nottingham and Derby passed through the village centre... |
|
| August 22, 1940 | Swinderby Swinderby Swinderby is a settlement and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, on the A46 road between Lincoln and Newark, within a rural agricultural community. It covers an area of , and has a population of 773.... |
|
| July 18, 1941 | Hemswell RAF Hemswell RAF Hemswell was an airfield used by RAF Bomber Command for 20 years between 1937 and 1957 and saw most of its operational life during World War II. Later used by RAF Fighter Command as a nuclear ballistic missile base during the Cold War it closed to military use in 1967... |
|
| May 18, 1942 | RAF Ingham RAF Cammeringham RAF Cammeringham was a Royal Air Force base used by RAF Bomber Command between 1940 and 1945 and the Polish Air Force until 1946... |
|
| January 31, 1943 | Hemswell | |
| June 22, 1943 | Ingham | |
| March 1, 1944 | Faldingworth RAF Faldingworth RAF Faldingworth was an airfield used by RAF Bomber Command during and after World War II. It was located close to the village of Faldingworth in Lincolnshire... |
|
| November 25, 1946 | Skipton-on-Swale RAF Skipton-on-Swale RAF Skipton-on-Swale was a Royal Air Force air station operated by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. The station was located at Skipton-on-Swale four miles west of Thirsk , North Yorkshire, England. The village of Sandhutton is located just to the east... |
|
See also
- Polish Air Forces in Great Britain
- Polish contribution to World War IIPolish contribution to World War IIThe European theater of World War II opened with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The Polish Army was defeated after over a month of fighting. After Poland had been overrun, a government-in-exile , armed forces, and an intelligence service were established outside of Poland....
- List of RAF squadrons