No. 308 "City of Kraków" Polish Fighter Squadron RAF ( pl, 308 Dywizjon Myśliwski "Krakowski") was one of several Polish squadrons in 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) an ...

(RAF) during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

. It was formed as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and 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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1940.

History

The squadron was formed on 5 September 1940 at the RAF Polish Depot in Squires Gate, Blackpool, from pilots of the Fighter Squadron of the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Krakow (in September 1939 the regiment was part of the Krakow Army). The personnel list was approved on 9 September 1940, and on 12 September the squadron of 170 personnel were transferred to

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Airport near Liverpool for initial training. It was supplied with

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(trainers) and

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

fighters. The first CO, Squadron Leader John Davies, was killed after striking a balloon cable just a few weeks after taking command. On 24 November 1940, the first air victory was recorded on the Squadron's account when Pilot Mieczysław Parafiński downed a twin-engine Ju-88 bomber during a training flight. The squadron began combat service on 1 December 1940, also preparing for night flights in order to repel Luftwaffe night raids. By October 1941 the squadron was based at Baginton Aerodrome where "Tommy" Yeo-Thomas was intelligence officer.James Hutchison, ‘ Thomas, Forest Frederic Edward Yeo-(1902–1964)’, rev.

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, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2010 It then converted to

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and operated from

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. The new equipment was quickly mastered by the pilots, as evidenced by the success of 2nd Lt. pil. Wandzilak, who was the first of the PSP pilots to shoot down an Fw-190 on 21 September 1941. The squadron was then operated over

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before its transfer to the

2nd Tactical Air Force The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forc ...

in 1943 as a fighter-bomber squadron. Its main task became the destruction of ground targets. Squadron pilots destroyed a total of 536 land vehicles, 17 locomotives, 109 wagons, 45 ships and 28 buildings. The squadron then followed the allied advance across Europe after the

Normandy Landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

in 1944. It disbanded at

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on 18 December 1946 after hostilities had ceased. 308 Squadron was one of the most effective PSP fighter units (69 certain kills, 13 probable, 21 damage).

Aircraft operated

References

External links

History of No.'s 300–318 Squadrons at RAF Web

308 Squadron history on the official RAF website

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

{{Authority control 308 308 Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946

History

Aircraft operated

See also

References

External links