Continuing with their very nicely done Commonwealth Squadrons at War books, this one covers one of the early Polish squadrons in the UK. 309 squadron was initially an Army Cooperation unit and began their training on Lysanders. It was soon quite obvious that the Lysander would be easy prey over the battlefield and this unit was one of the fortunate ones to start flying the Alison engine Mustang.

Despite being formed in October 1940, it was not until December of 1942 that they started flying operational missions. This was much due to a need to conform to RAF policies and to learn English. In mid-1943, Army Cooperation Command was disbanded and the unit became part of Fighter command. in early 1944, they turned in their Mustangs for Hurricane IVs and then Hurricane IIs to fly fighter defense in Scotland. In October 1944 then converted to Mustang IIIs and in December started flying escort missions. This was their job until the end of the war. The pickings were very slim for 309 as they only shot down 4 enemy aircraft, three of them being Me-262s.

After the war, few Poles wanted to return home and be under the yoke of the Soviets. Those that did were either killed outright as traitors and spies or sent to die in gulags. 309 squadron was one of the last Polish RAF units and disbanded in 1947 with most of their members emigrating or finding other work in the UK. Despite owing a huge debt to Polish soldiers and fliers, the UK quickly turned its back on the legitimate Polish government in London and acknowledged the Soviet controlled one in Warsaw.

In common with other editions, this one is basically a stats book that includes a unit history with lists of known aircraft/serials, a war diary of missions flown, aircraft lost, pilots and commanders. 

Overall, it is another superbly researched and presented edition that is chock full of photographs of 309's aircraft and the men who flew them. It also includes three pages on very high quality paper of  color profiles of the aircraft flown by the unit. In fact, all the paper in this book is thicker than the norm. A book I found fascinating and one that is bound to be a valuable reference resource in the years to come. Most highly recommended.

July 2012

Review book courtesy of www.raf-in-combat.com. Visit them for other great titles

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