- No. 302 'City of Poznan' Polish Fighter Squadron: This unit transitioned from the Hawker Hurricane to the Spitfire Mk. V in late 1941 while stationed in south-west England. Their mission was changed from providing aerial cover to convoys in the Irish Sea to fighter sweeps over France, which is the role they played for the most part of 1942.
In February 1943 the squadron was rebased north to provide aerial defence to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. In June 1943 the squadron was assigned to the 2nd Tactical Air Force (2nd TAF) and the fighter sweeps over mainland Europe were resumed. In April 1944 the squadron was converted to the fighter-bomber role and in August 1944 they were moved to France, where they took part in the Battle of Normandy, providing close air support. In October they were rebased to Belgium, from where they performed offensive sweeps over Germany.
Just as it happened to other Polish squadrons, their base was attacked by the Luftwaffe on Operation Bodenplatte and, in April 1945 they were operating from Germany until the end of the war. They operated the Spitfires Mk. V, Mk. IX and Mk. XVI. - Polish Fighting Team: This unit, nicknamed as 'Skalki's Circus', was formed at RAF Northolt in February 1943 and they were embarked for Tunisia later that month.
The team was initially attached to No. 145 Squadron and, equipped with the Spitfires Mk. Vc/Trop and Mk. IX operated from various airfields in western Libya and Tunisia providing very effective aerial cover and ground support throughout the whole Tunisian campaign and making themselves a name.
The Polish Fighting Team (PFT) had just one casualty, one pilot who was shot down and taken POW.
After the end of the Tunisian campaign, the PFT was disbanded and their pilots moved on to another units of the RAF, mostly Nos. 601 (where Skalki -founder of the PFT- became its CO), 43 and 152 which operated through the Italian campaign.
Sources:
1st http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/302_wwII.html
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Fighting_Team
3rd https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Polish_Fighting_Team
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