Page 49 - Demo

49campaign, 130 Polish pilots destroyed 60 German aircraft and suffered 13 killed. By the time they reached this country, the Slav airmen had undergone what has been characterised as a process of %u2018natural selection.%u2019 In other words, those that had experienced Blitzkrieg twice, and survived, clearly had something going for them. Of course, flying within the constraints of the %u2018Dowding System%u2019 was more demanding than anything they had experienced hitherto, and their poor English impeded their progress.54 The British also found it very difficult to get the Poles to observe correct R/T procedures %u2018especially when excited.%u201955The novelty of Imperial rather than metric measurements and aircraft with constant speed propellers and retractable undercarriages caused, in addition, a number of minor accidents. Despite these problems, it was apparent that the exiles under training were very good and that they were flying their aircraft to the limit. The Slav veterans knew they were good. Often older than their RAF comrades, nearly all were fully trained and each had an average of 500 hours flying.56 They brought to this country valuable %u2018corporate knowledge%u2019 of the business of air fighting, and with it a touch of arrogance. This was encapsulated in the Czech phrase V%u015becko zn%u00e1me?v%u0161ude jsme byli, which translates as %u2018We%u2019ve been everywhere %u2013 we know everything.%u201957 Some of the Polish veterans meanwhile took to calling their RAF instructors %u2018ostriches%u2019 because they considered they underestimated the nature of the German threat.58 The exiles were particularly contemptuous of the RAF%u2019s outmoded battle formations and tactics. Rather than adopting the inflexible parade ground %u2018Vic%u2019 they had learned to fly in more open formations which freed each man to watch out for the enemy. Their tactics were also more versatile, and more deadly, than the RAF%u2019s cumbrous Fighting Area Attacks.59 These evolved throughout the Battle, and, for example, the defensive circles flown of necessity by Messerschmitt 110 pilots were studied and methods of breaking them devised. 60 Trained to get in close, Polish airmen made the most of their battery of rifle8calibre machine guns; and all of the Hurricanes on 303 Squadron had their guns harmonised to converge at 200 yards rather than the standard RAF spread of 400 yards or the 250 yards favoured by more astute British pilots.61 It should be added that while the Poles fought with aggression they were far from the suicidal cavaliers of legend. They had both the confidence and the