'Battle of Britain' won thanks to Polish aces !!

Their skill and bravery in winning the Battle of Britain is legendary, but many of the RAF's Spitfire and Hurricane pilots were actually so short on training they were unable to shoot straight, claims historian Dr Anthony Cumming !

An inadequate training programme meant many pilots were sent into battle with just ten hours of solo flying under their belts, and some were ordered into battle without ever having fired their guns, and unable to 'shoot straight'due to 'completely inadequate' gunnery training.

The RAF's two top aces during the Battle of Britain were Seregeant J Frantisek and Flying Officer Witold Urbanowicz; both had been trained in foreign air forces !

Sounds to me that without these Polish aces the outcome may have been very different - I read somewhere that 1 in 3 RAF pilots were Polish.

This article can be found in the latest edition of BBC History Magazine, and there is bit on page 6 of Tuesday's Daily Mail.

My sources tell me Polish pilots constituted 5% of RAF during the Battle of Britain. They were responsible for a disproportionately high number of kills (12%), even though they were allowed to join the Battle when it was about 1/2 way through.

The Brits did not believe Poles could actually fly, so they made them train flying formations on the ground using tricycles. Some of the best pilots in Europe (and possibly the world) during WW2 were riding tricycles while British rookies were slaughtered in the air.

Lt-Colonel - Gabreski of USAF In 1943 joined RAF 315-th (Polish) Fighter Squadron "Deblinski" since the Americans believed he was not good enough to join any of their air units. He became the top U.S. ace of WW2 in Europe with 28 air-to-air combat victories and 2 enemy planes destroyed on the ground. Gabreski's parents were both Polish.

If you want to learn more I recommend this book URL

tell us something we dont know

Air Marshall Dowding, the RAF commander during the Battle of Britain, said after that had it not been for the Polish pilots the result may have been very different.

Maybe this is something that can be brought back into RAF training.
How about all the armed forces on tricycles. They can work their way up to unicycles before taking to the air/sea/tanks.
Bring back national service.

Although undoubted great Pilots and cracking nazi hunters the Polish contribution to the Battle of Britain is being played up a smidge. They were the most undisaplined aircrew around at that time,in a complex air battle that was won by putting the right amount of aeroplanes in the right place at the right time Polish aircrew would fly off on what would now be termed "wild weasel" flights,ie tearing out of formation after stragglers and lone bombers. None of this takes away from the bravery or valor but battles are won through disapline and team work,not individual acts of heroism.
All aircrew were initial trained on bycycles for formation flying,in fact the Modern RAF still uses this practice,in the Red Arrows,and no one complains about their lack of skill.
BTW,my 2 great uncles were pre war trained RAF Pilots, ,the one who fought in the B of B finished it with 8 confirmed solo "kills" and went on to another 12,so to sweeping ly imply that the Poles were the only trained Pilots is utterly ludecrus.

thank you for telling me something i didnt know

well done the poles

That's a great teaching technique for the inexperienced. Not for the few in RAF who actually had experience, not only flying but actually fighting against German pilots.


Did anyone imply that here?

A statement refuted by numerous recollections of the British officers attached to the Polish squadrons. In fact they say that the Polish squadrons were far more effective at stopping, shooting down and turning back the German formations than the British ones.

Well said,but this turn around came after the turning points of the Battle. All points are moot really though,much as I obviously ,being a descendant of one,have the utmost respect for all the aircrew of every nationality involved(bar the hun,d'oh) it has to be said that the Battle was "lost" by Hitler pulling the main forces back in preperation for Barbarossa.

and wasnt frantisek a Czech flying with 303?

Yes...

Im afraid "your" aircrew needed it as much as anyone,you cant just join a forgiegn force without cross over training or chaos would ensue as has been demonstrated in recent "blue on blue " incidents in hot and dusty places. Speaking personally my relative had as much fighting experiance as the average Polish Pilot by then as he had been in France with his Hurricane Sqdn prior to Dunkirk and the B of B. The Air war for Europe was won by terrific co operation between men of many nationalities coming together with a coomen cause and a commen training regime and tactics,without that we would have all lost against the hun.

My Grandad said the craziest Pilot he ever knew was a pole :D

I would really recommend the book I suggested in post #2 above.


Not every Polish pilot was a better flier than every British pilot. The top aces in the Battle of Britain were undoubtedly Poles though. As a matter of fact, they were legendary to the point that some British pilots (and some Brits in general) pretended Polish accent to get dates with British chicks :)



That is true.