Page 44 - Demo

44aroused suspicion, and on one occasion Group Captain Vincent followed the Poles into action to see if they were telling the truth. To his surprise, Vincent was treated to a bravura display of air fighting as the Poles took apart a large German formation over the London docks He returned completely convinced, telling his Intelligence Officer, Flight Lieutenant Wilkins, %u2018that what they claimed they did, indeed, get!%u201932 It appears that the pilots of %u2018303%u2019 had anticipated that their word might be doubted by their British comrades and they did their level best to submit accurate combat reports and claims.33 No 302 Sqn was based at Duxford in 12 Group for most of the campaign, and thus saw far less action than its sister squadron to the south. The Czechoslovaks of 310 Squadron flew from the same airfield, and both fought hard when operating as part of the famous %u2018Duxford Wing%u2019 over London on the 15th and the 18th of September. In all, 302 Squadron claimed a total of 21 enemy aircraft destroyed in return for eight pilots killed, while %u2018310%u2019 claimed 42 victories for the loss of four.34 In common with all of the units that comprised the %u2018Big Wings%u2019, both squadrons appear to have been guilty of inadvertent over8claiming. This was, however, likely to occur whenever large numbers of defending fighters were deployed against enemy formations in congested airspace.35 The second Czechoslovak unit, 312 Squadron, operated from Speke in 9 Group and was tasked with defending Liverpool. The squadron suffered one pilot killed and its sole victory was a Junkers 88, despatched on 8 October in a combat lasting less than eight minutes from %u2018scramble%u2019 to return.36 The Central Europeans reinforced Fighter Command in the weeks from the middle of August to the middle of September, when the shortage of pilots had become critical and it appeared that the RAF might well lose the Battle. The statistics make interesting reading. The 145 Polish pilots, representing a little over 5% of Fighter Command%u2019s overall strength, claimed 203 German aircraft for the loss of 29 killed. This amounts to 7.5 % of the Command%u2019s total score or 1.4 enemy aircraft for every Pole engaged.37 Nearly three8quarters of these men served in the front line in 11 Group, and, at the climax of the fighting, they comprised over 10% of the Group%u2019s complement. On 15 September, now celebrated as %u2018Battle of Britain Day%u2019, one in five of the pilots in action was Polish.38 The 88 Czechoslovaks serving with British units and in the two %u2018national%u2019 squadrons shot down nearly 60