No. 304 (Land of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

) Polish Bomber Squadron ( pl, 304 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi Śląskiej im. Ks. Józefa Poniatowskiego") was a Polish

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

unit. It fought alongside the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

under their operational Command and operated from airfields in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, serving from April 1941 as a bomber unit in

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

, from May 1942 as an anti-submarine unit in

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

and from June 1945 as a transport unit in

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967. ...

History

Bomber Command

304 Squadron was created on 23 August 1940 at

RAF Bramcote Royal Air Force Bramcote or more simply RAF Bramcote is a former Royal Air Force station located south-east of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England used during the Second World War. It later became HMS Gamecock and then Gamecock Barracks. Royal Air ...

, and from 1 December 1940 it operated from

RAF Syerston Royal Air Force Station Syerston, commonly known as merely RAF Syerston , is a Royal Air Force station in the parish of Flintham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire. Opened in 1940, it was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a bomber base during the ...

, as a part of No. 1 Bomber Group (along with No. 305 Squadron created at the same time). It was declared ready for operations with

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

Mk I medium bombers on 24 April 1941. The personnel included 24 entirely Polish air crews (initially three-men, later six-men) and approximately 180 ground crew. On the night of 24/25 April 1941 two crews flew the squadron's first combat mission against fuel tanks in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. In the following months the squadron joined the night bombing campaign over Germany and France. First losses occurred on 6 May and 8 May 1941 (in the second instance, a crew of the British advisor w/cdr W. Graham). On 20 July 1941 the squadron moved to

RAF Lindholme Royal Air Force Station Lindholme or more simply RAF Lindholme is a former Royal Air Force station in South Yorkshire, England. It was located south of Thorne and north east of Doncaster and was initially called RAF Hatfield Woodhouse. Ea ...

base. In 1941 the squadron completed 214 missions lasting 1,202 hours, losing 47 killed airmen. In first four months of 1942 the intensity of operations increased. Due to large losses suffered in early 1942, including six crews lost in April, and difficulties in recruiting replacements, it was decided to transfer the squadron to

. While in Bomber Command the squadron completed 488 missions in 2,481 hours, dropping some 800 tons of bombs, losing 102 airmen KIA or MIA and 35 POW.

Coastal Command

On 10 May 1942 the squadron was transferred to

along with the Wellington aircraft. From 14 May 1942 it based at

RAF Tiree Tiree Airport ( gd, Port-adhair Thiriodh) is located north northeast of Balemartine on the island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. It is owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. The airp ...

, from 13 June 1942 at RAF Dale. Apart from patrolling duties over the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

, seven crews took part in a thousand-aircraft raid at Bremen on 25/26 June 1942 (losing one crew). Several times Polish crews attacked

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s and fought with German long-range aircraft. On 13 August 1942 the Squadron was credited with sinking a U-boat, though this was not confirmed post-war. On 2 September 1942 one Wellington inflicted damage to Italian '' Reginaldo Giuliani'' submarine. A noteworthy event was a skirmish of one Wellington with six German

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...

on 16 September 1942 over the Bay of Biscay; The Polish aircraft was badly shot, but managed to hide in clouds, and claimed one Ju 88 shot down. On 9 February 1943 one Wellington evaded attacks by four Ju 88 for nearly an hour until they ran out of ammunition, and escaped with two Polish crewmen injured; similar combat with four Ju 88 took place on 5 September 1943, without losses, in spite of 116 bullet holes found. From 30 March 1943 the squadron based at

RAF Docking The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, from 10 June 1943 at

RAF Davidstow Moor Royal Air Force Davidstow or more commonly RAF Davidstow Moor is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Camelford, Cornwall and west of Launceston, Cornwall, England. It was used from late 1942 until 1945 and despite a few ...

(equipped with radar-fitted Wellington Mk XIII), from 20 December 1943 at

RAF Predannack Predannack Airfield is an aerodrome near Mullion on The Lizard peninsula of Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The runways are operated by the Royal Navy and today it is a satellite airfield and relief landing ground for nearby RNAS Culdrose. R ...

, from 19 March 1944 at

RAF Chivenor Royal Air Force Chivenor or RAF Chivenor was a Royal Air Force station located on the northern shore of the River Taw estuary, on the north coast of Devon, England. The nearest towns are Barnstaple and Braunton. Originally a civil airfield opene ...

. On 4 January 1944 a Wellington strafed and damaged

German submarine U-629 German submarine ''U-629'' was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's '' Kriegsmarine'' for service during World War II. She was laid down on 23 August 1941 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg as yard number 605, launched on 12 May 1942 and commissi ...

. On 18 June 1944 the squadron was credited with sinking a U-boat, but its identity is unknown. It was quoted to be U-441, but it has been negated afterwards, and possible victims remain U-988 or U-1191. From 19 September 1944 it was based at

RAF Benbecula Benbecula Airport ( gd, Port-adhair Bheinn na Faoghla) is located on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, off the West Coast of Scotland. It is a small rural airport owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. H ...

, from 5 March 1945 at

RAF St Eval Royal Air Force St. Eval or RAF St. Eval was a Royal Air Force station for the RAF Coastal Command, southwest of Padstow in Cornwall, England, UK. St Eval's primary role was to provide anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols off the south wes ...

. On 2 April 1945 one Wellington sunk German submarine U-321 with depth charges.Szlagor, Tomasz. ''Pogromcy U-Bootów. 3. Lotnictwo w walce z okrętami podwodnymi Kriegsmarine''. „Wojsko i Technika – Historia” special issue 6/2017 (13), p. 79, 84 (in Polish) In Coastal Command the squadron undertook 2,451 missions in 21,331 hours, losing 19 aircraft and 69 KIA, 6 MIA and 31 killed in non-combat flights. It claimed 31 submarine attacked and was credited with two U-boats sunk and five damaged, it also claimed three aircraft shot down, three probable and four damaged. Its last mission was on 30 May 1945, looking out for possible German submarines that would not surrender.Moyes 1976, p. 226.

Transport Command

After the end of the war in Europe, on 14 June 1945 the squadron was transferred to

Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967. ...

, and operated scheduled services with Warwick C.3s to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. From April 1946 onwards the Polish squadrons were restricted to flights within the UK.Rawlings 1982, p. 198. In May the squadron converted to Halifax Mk C.8 unarmed transports and was disbanded a few months later on 18 December 1946.

Aircraft operated

Squadron bases

The squadron operated from the following airfields:

Commanding officers

Officers commanding No. 304 Squadron were as follows: ''Ppłk. - podpułkownik - equivalent w/cdr; Mjr. - major - equivalent s/ldr; Kpt. - kapitan - equivalent f/lt''

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Halley, James J. ''The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918 -1988''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. . * Jaworzyn, Josef F. ''No place to Land: A Pilot in Coastal Command''. London, William Kimber, 1984. . * Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 1998 (second edition 2001). . * Konarski, Mariusz. ''304 Squadron''. Sandomierz, Poland/Redbourn, UK: Mushroom Model publications, 2005. . * * Moyes, Philip J.R. ''Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft''. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1964 (new edition 1974). . * Rawlings, John D.R. ''Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft''. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. . * Sturtivant, Ray

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

and John Hamlin. ''RAF Flying Training and Support Units since 1912''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1997, .

External links

Photo Gallery of 304 Squadron

Personnel of the Polish Air Force in Great Britain 1940-1947
{{Authority control

304 Year 304 ( CCCIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday A leap year starting on Saturday is any year with 366 days (i.e. it includes 29 February) that begins on Saturday, 1 January, and ends on Sunday, 31 December. Its dominical letters hence ...

Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946