Now a major motion picture "Hurricane," starring Iwan Rheon and Milo Gibson. Excerpted in Smithsonian's Air & Space Magazine. "About as exciting as it gets. A must read." -The Washington Times

The summer of 1940 and the Battle of Britain-the darkest days of World War II. France, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway had all been crushed by the powerful Nazi German war machine. Great Britain stood alone, fighting for its life.

Award-winning "303 Squadron" is the thrilling story of the celebrated squadron of Polish fighter pilots whose superb skill in the air helped save England during its most desperate hours. They were the highest-scoring Allied fighter squadron in the Battle of Britain, downing three times the average RAF score while incurring only one-third the average casualties. The dashing and gallant 303 Squadron was lionized by the British press, congratulated by the King, and adored by the British public.

With an immediacy that vividly brings to life those harrowing days, Fiedler paints the bravery, the poignancy, the breathtaking gambles with death risked daily by this exceptional group of young men far from home, who fought to preserve freedom for all.

Author Arkady Fiedler (1894-1985) was born in Poznan, Poland, educated at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, in Poznan and at the University of Leipzig.

A best-selling travel writer researching in Tahiti when World War II began, Fiedler made his way back to Europe and joined the Polish Army in France after Poland was overrun by the Germans. Fiedler managed to get to England with other Polish forces after France surrendered. He undertook to chronicle the extraordinary achievements of 303 Squadron during the Battle of Britain with the blessing of Polish Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief General Wladyslaw Sikorski.

Fiedler's thirty-two books have been translated into twenty-three languages, selling over 10 million copies. 303 Squadron is his most famous and popular book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . xxi A Note About... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv Translator's Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxix Author's Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii

Chapter 1 - The Battle of Britain 1940 . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 2 - The Fighter Pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Chapter 3 - 31st August: The First Battle . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Chapter 4 - 2nd September: Comradeship . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 32 Chapter 5 - When the Ammunition Ran Out... . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 41 Chapter 6 - 5th-6th September: You Win Some, You Lose Some .. 49 Chapter 7 - 7th September: A Tasty Morsel-Dorniers . . . . .. . . . 64 Chapter 8 - Pain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Chapter 9 - A Smile Through the Blood . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 84 Chapter 10 - The Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Chapter 11 - 11th September: The Greatest Victory . . . . .. . . . . . . . 100 Chapter 12 - The Enemy's Dance of Death . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 113 Chapter 13 - A Brave Czech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Chapter 14 - The Colourless Roots of Brilliant Flowers . . .. . . . . . 128 Chapter 15 - A Fearless, Flawless Airman . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 141 Chapter 16 - The Myth of the Messerschmitt 110 . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 152 Chapter 17 - Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Chapter 18 - 15th September: Fate in the Balance . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 172 Chapter 19 - 15th September: Fate Decided . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 183 Chapter 20 - 'We Are Beginning to Understand the Poles' . .. . . . . 191 HISTORICAL HORIZON The Road to Britain for the Polish Air Force: A Brief Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 203 APPENDICES Appendix 1 - Glossary of English, Polish, German and French Terms and Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 221

Appendix 2 - Polish Air Force Ranks and their Royal AirForce Equivalents During World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 227

Appendix 3 - 303 Squadron Personnel in the Battle of Britain. . . . 231

Appendix 4 - PilotBiographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 TadeuszAndruszków . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Michal Brzezowski. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Arsen Cebrzynski. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Jan Daszewski . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Miroslaw Feric .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Athol Forbes . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Josef FrantiSek .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 ZdzislawHenneberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Stanislaw Karubin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Ronald Kellett .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 John Kent . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Zdzislaw Krasnodebski. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 WitoldLokuciewski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 LudwikPaszkiewicz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Marian Pisarek .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 EugeniuszSzaposznikow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 Witold Urbanowicz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Stefan Wójtowicz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Kazimierz Wünsche. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 Jan Zumbach . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Appendix 5 - 303 Squadron Claimed Victories During the Battle of Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 289 Appendix 6 - Brothers In Arms: The 303 Squadron Badge and the Original Kosciuszko Squadron . . . . . . . . . . . .297 Appendix 7 - The Song of 303 Squadron . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 313 Appendix 8 - Against All Odds: The Creation of the Polish Air Force Colour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 319 Appendix 9 - Operational Units of the Polish Air Force in Great Britain during World War II . . . . . . . . . . . .. 327 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE