The Best Pilots of the Battle of Britain Weren't British—And Britain Betrayed

Описание: In September 1940, while Britain was fighting for its life, a squadron of Polish pilots who had already lost their country joined the RAF. They were called 303 Squadron. In just forty-two days of combat, they shot down 126 German aircraft — the highest kill rate of any squadron in the Battle of Britain. When the war ended, Britain excluded them from the Victory Parade.That sequence of facts should bother you. It should bother you the way a broken promise bothers you — not as some abstract historical injustice, but as something specific and personal and wrong. Because this isn't simply a story about brave pilots doing brave things. It's about what happens when a nation owes its survival to men it later decides are politically inconvenient. This story comes in two acts. The first will make you admire them. The second should make you ashamed. Both are true.To understand what 303 Squadron achieved in British skies, you have to understand what these men had already survived before they ever set foot on an English airfield.When Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, the Polish Air Force was overwhelmed. Not because its pilots couldn't fly. Because their aircraft were obsolete. PZL P.11 fighters — high-wing monoplanes with open cockpits and fixed undercarriages — going up against Messerschmitt Bf 109s. Imagine bringing a bicycle to a Formula One race. Despite that suicidal mismatch, Polish pilots shot down 285 German aircraft in five weeks before their country ceased to exist. These weren't cadets. Many had thousands of hours in the cockpit. Many had already killed.