User:Brigade Piron/sandbox7

Country or territory	Number (by source)
	RAFR	BBM
Poland	143	145
New Zealand	124	127
Canada	92	112
Czechoslovakia	84	88
Belgium	30	28
Australia	26	32
South Africa	22	25
France	14	13
Ireland	10	10
United States	11	9
Southern Rhodesia	4	3
Jamaica	1	1
Newfoundland	1	1
Stateless	1	1
Northern Rhodesia	1	none
Barbados	none	1
Total:	564	596
United Kingdom	2,348	2,342
Percentage (total):	19%	20%

Many non-Britons served in the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain in July–October 1940, drawn from the British Empire and Commonwealth, neutral states, and from exiles from countries in German-occupied Europe. The largest contingents were provided by Poland, New Zealand, Canada and Czechoslovakia, though a total of 15 countries and colonial territories are represented between the two principle lists. While estimates of the number of foreign aircrew vary depending on documentation and definitions used, the two most authoritative sources cite between 564–596 foreign personnel, representing 19–20 percent of the RAF's active strength during the Battle.

Background

Europe and the British Empire

• British Empire in World War II: Statute of Westminster 1931
• German-occupied Europe

British poster from August 1941, focusing on the unity of Britain's colonies and European allies

RAF and the Battle of Britain

Aerial combat between a Supermarine Spitfire and Heinkel He 111 bomber during the Battle of Britain

Foreign personnel in the RAF

Legal and organisational basis

• All pilots from British Empire were white settlers or expatriates of British origin. Colour bar active in the RAF from 1923 until October 1939, see https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0031322X.2012.701807?src=recsys&journalCode=rpop20
  • At the start of the war, the RAF enforced a colour bar in recruitment, barring applicants who were not of "pure European descent", even though the RAF had admitted a small number of black pilots during the First World War. This was officially repealed in October 1939, though the ban was still enforced for a further six months. It was only in July-November 1940 that attempts to widen recruitment began, largely to compensate for the RAF's "critical" losses. By the end of the war, approximately 7,000 black West Indians and West Africans had enlisted in the RAF, approximately 500 as aircrew.

Prior to the outbreak of war, in view of the worsening European situation, the RAF had embarked on a series of expansion plans. These included Short-Service Commissions for pilots from the air forces of other British Commonwealth countries, namely Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia.

The governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, under an agreement signed in December 1939, created the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), also known as the Empire Air Training Scheme. The plan had three main effects: first, joint military aircrew training facilities were set up in each member country, as well as Southern Rhodesia; second, these air forces also formed a common pool of aircrew and ground staff, who were posted to units according to operational needs and regardless of nationality and; third, under Article XV of the agreement, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) formed squadrons for service under RAF operational control. These so-called "Article XV squadrons" were given numbers in the 400-series, to avoid confusion with RAF units. Other squadrons from Dominion air forces served under RAF control during the Battle and other units, composed mostly of RAAF, RCAF and RNZAF personnel were formed within the RAF itself. Most of these squadrons and personnel were still in training and/or were not involved in fighter operations during the Battle of Britain, although No. 1 Squadron RCAF took part in operations from August 1940.

Assessing the numbers

Estimates of the number of non-British pilots vary in different sources, notably in the two authoritative rolls of honour compiled after the war. The RAF's own roll lists 563 foreign pilots while the roll of the Battle of Britain London Monument recognises 595. The latter estimate was compiled in conjunction in 2005 in collaboration with the Battle of Britain Fighter Association, and was based on official records as well as "photographs, newspaper articles, books" and foreign archives. 15 countries and colonial territories are represented between the two lists.

The differing number of pilots results from various factors. It is comparable to the uncertainty about the number of British pilots which one historian has described as "arbitrary and haphazard". Reasons include poor record-keeping at the time, and clerical errors. Often other forms of confusion about the origins of a pilot existed. Many pilots from the British Empire and Commonwealth, for example, were British subjects and had either been born in the United Kingdom or had British ancestry. Some had lived in several countries and territories before enlisting, while others held several nationalities. In the case of Australian pilots, it had been noted that numbers vary because no form of Australian citizenship existed at the time and so classification is based on subjective assessments of "Australianness". As a result, the number of Australian pilots ranges between 21 and 37.

One notable example of confusion is the status of George Goodman, a pilot born into a British expatriate family in British-occupied Palestine (modern-day Israel) and who had lived in Nigeria before the war. Goodman himself had also spent time in a boarding school in the United Kingdom. He has sometimes been listed as "Israeli" or "Palestinian", though the Battle of Britain Memorial notes that "the suggestion that he did not die fighting for his own country has distressed members of his family ever since". Most lists now consider him British.

Contribution by country

Australia

Australia was a self-governing dominion within the British Empire at the outbreak of the Second World War. It possessed an independent air force, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), but individual Australians had long been permitted to enlist in the Royal Air Force. By 1939, there were about 450 Australians serving in the RAF in various roles.

• Exact number of Australian participants in the Battle of Britain remains disputed, ranging from 25 to 36. At least ten were killed in action.

• Australians were distributed among largely British-manned squadrons, rather than in independent units.

• No. 10 Squadron RAAF was present in Britain at the time of the Battle of Britain, the only RAAF unit to be present at the time. Its pilots flew large Short Sunderland flying boats on shipping protection duties and did not participate in the fighting.

Australia was among the first countries to declare war on Germany and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF; previously the Australian Flying Corps) was among the world's oldest air forces, having served during the First World War, in the Middle East and Europe. Under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS), a total of 37,000 aircrew were trained in Australia during 1939–45.

However, the flow of RAAF personnel to the European theatre was slowed by three factors: first, establishment of the massively expanded training process meant that first aircrews trained by the RAAF during the war did not graduate until November 1940; second, RAAF doctrine emphasised the army co-operation and maritime patrol roles; third, the Australian authorities placed great emphasis on a provision of EATS, that Dominion personnel should serve with units from their own air forces, wherever possible. RAAF Article XV fighter squadrons were not operational in Europe until mid-1941.

Nevertheless, more than 30 Australians served in RAF Fighter Command during the Battle. The highest scoring Australian ace of the Battle was Flight Lieutenant Pat Hughes, of No. 234 Squadron RAF, who claimed 14 kills before his death in September 1940.

No. 10 Squadron RAAF, a flying boat squadron was also based in Britain at the time, as part of Coastal Command.

Barbados

Barbados was a British crown colony in the Caribbean. Aubrey "Sinbad" de Lisle Inniss (1916–2003) was the sole Barbadian to serve as a pilot during the Battle of Britain. Inniss was born in Barbados to a British family and joined the RAF in 1939. He flew a Bristol Blenheim night fighter with No. 236 Squadron RAF, shooting down a Heinkel He 111 in September 1940. He remained in the RAF until his retirement in 1957. The RAF Monument lists Inniss as Barbadian, while the RAF Roll of Honour lists him as British.

Belgium

Belgian pilots of No. 609 Squadron RAF, pictured c.1943

Belgium was a neutral state which was invaded and defeated between 10–28 May 1940. The Aéronautique militaire (AéMI) was largely destroyed during the fighting but many of its personnel were withdrawn to Montauban in France and later to Oujda, Morocco. Unsure of its position, the Belgian government in Bordeaux, France refused a British offer to re-equip its air force if it was transferred the United Kingdom. Frustrated, a number of Belgian pilots and cadets attempted to cross on their own into Britain. 124 had reached Britain by August 1940 and some were convicted of desertion by military courts still in France. However, few were considered sufficiently trained to participate in combat operations before October 1940.

Although the position of the Belgian government remained ambiguous until September or October 1940, the Belgian pilots were quickly enrolled on an individual basis into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR). They were initially mixed into British squadrons rather than in separate units. Estimates put the number of Belgian participants in the Battle of Britain at between 28 to 30. They were divided between RAF Fighter Command (approximately 15) and Coastal Command (14). By the summer of 1940, Belgians made up around half of the pilots in No. 609 Squadron RAF, a unit flying Spitfires. Belgian pilots were responsible for shooting down 21 German aircraft and up to 10 were killed. In its aftermath, the number of Belgian pilots in the RAF expanded rapidly as did the Free Belgian forces. Two all-Belgian squadrons were formed in 1942 and, in total, 1,200 Belgians served in the RAF during the course of the war.

Canada

Many Canadians served in the fighter squadrons which repulsed the Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940. In fact, although the RAF only recognises 83 Canadian pilots as flying on fighter operations during the Battle of Britain, the RCAF claims the actual figure was over 100, and that of those 23 who died and 30 more were killed later in the war. Much of this confusion can be attributed to the fact that apart from RCAF members flying in RCAF units, there were those RCAF members who were in RAF units as well as Canadians who were members of the RAF, not the RCAF. Another 200 Canadian pilots fought with RAF Bomber Command and RAF Coastal Command during the period and approx 2,000 Canadians served as ground crew.

Canadian pilots from No. 1 Squadron RCAF, photographed in October 1940

Of these, 26 were in No. 1 Squadron RCAF, flying Hurricanes. The squadron arrived in Britain soon after Dunkirk with 27 officers and 314 ground staff. This squadron would later be re-numbered as No. 401 "City of Westmount" Squadron RCAF, in line with Article XV of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (see above). It was the only fighter unit from the Commonwealth air forces to see combat in the Battle of Britain.

No. 1 Squadron made an inauspicious start to its service with Fighter Command, when on 24 August 1940 two of its Hurricanes mistook a flight of Bristol Blenheims for Junkers Ju 88s, shooting one down with the loss of its crew; an example of what is now known as friendly fire. No. 1 became the first RCAF unit to engage enemy aircraft in battle when it met a formation of German bombers over southern England on 26 August 1940, claiming three kills and four damaged, with the loss of one pilot and one aircraft. By mid-October the squadron had claimed 31 enemy aircraft destroyed and 43 probables or damaged for the loss of 16 aircraft and three pilots.

Other Canadians were spread across RAF squadrons, and on the second day of the Battle, 11 July, Canada suffered its first fighter casualty. In a Luftwaffe attack on the Royal Navy Dockyard naval base at Portland Harbour, Plt Offr D. A. Hewitt of Saint John, New Brunswick, flying a Hurricane with No. 501 Squadron RAF, attacked a Dornier Do-17 bomber and was hit himself. His aircraft plunged into the sea. Another Canadian pilot, Richard Howley, died eight days later.

The dispersed Canadian airmen included one who flew with No. 303 (Polish) Squadron. A total of 12 Canadian pilots in the Royal Air Force including Willie McKnight flew with No. 242 Squadron RAF at various times through the Battle. On 30 August, under the command of Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, nine 242 Squadron aircraft met 100 enemy aircraft over Essex. Attacking from above, the squadron claimed 12 victories for no loss.

Canadians also shared in repulsing the Luftwaffe's last major daylight attack. On 27 September, 303 Squadron and 1 Squadron RCAF, attacked the first wave of enemy bombers. Seven aircraft were claimed destroyed, one probably destroyed and seven were damaged.

The top Canadian scorer during the Battle was Flt Lt H. C. Upton of No. 43 Squadron RAF, who claimed 10.25 aircraft shot down.

Czechoslovakia

A Hawker Hurricane of No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron is resupplied, c.October 1940

Czechoslovakia became an independent country in 1918. Nazi Germany had annexed the Sudetenland in October 1938, before invading and occupying the rest of the country in March 1939. Czechoslovakia was dismantled, being replaced with a German protectorate in the West and a semi-independent Slovak puppet state in the East. Ordered not to resist the German invasion, many personnel of the former Czechoslovak Air Force crossed the border into Poland and travelled to France to enlist in the French Armée de l'air. Despite heavy losses during the Battle of France, many Czech and Polish pilots were able to escape to Britain in June 1940.

Nearly 90 Czechoslovak pilots would fly in the Battle of Britain, with No. 310 and No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadrons, RAF, formed in the summer 1940 and operational during the battle. Some Czechs also served in other Fighter Command squadrons. Both Czech squadrons were equipped with Hurricanes, later replaced by Spitfires.

Czech fighters earned a reputation for aggressive aerial combat and for skills and bravery. Together with Czechoslovak pilots serving in other RAF units, a total of 88 - 86 Czechs and 2 Slovaks - served, claiming almost 60 air kills. Nine pilots were killed. The top Czech ace was Sgt. Josef František, flying with No. 303 (Polish) Squadron, who claimed 17 confirmed kills, making him the highest scoring allied pilot in the Battle of Britain.

France

The French Republic was Britain's most significant ally at the start of World War II, but was defeated in a disastrous military campaign in May-June 1940. A new government, led by Marshal Philippe Pétain, came to power and sought an an armistice with Germany which was signed on 22 June. The new authoritarian regime he created, known as Vichy France, was neutral in theory but clearly pro-German. Opposition to the surrender and the Vichy regime crystallised around General Charles de Gaulle and his Free French Movement in London, who had broadcast his intention to continue fighting shortly before the armistice.

• Armée de l'Air

Ireland

Brendan "Paddy" Finucane, an Irish ace who is believed to have shot down four aircraft during the Battle of Britain and 28 by his death in 1942

Southern Ireland (Éire) seceded from Great Britain in 1922 after a war of independence lasting two years. Though technically a dominion, it chose to remain neutral at the outbreak of World War II and its relations with Britain were strained, notably over the status of Northern Ireland. However, large numbers of Irish citizens lived in the United Kingdom as a result of significant migration since the nineteenth century and many served in the British military during the war.

Ten Irish pilots fought in the RAF during the Battle of Britain. The most prominent was Brendan "Paddy" Finucane, born in County Dublin in 1920. Though his family had been Irish nationalists and his father had participated in the Easter Rising of 1916, Paddy emigrated to Britain and enlisted in the RAF in 1938. He became operational in July 1940 in No. 65 Squadron, flying Spitfires. He shot down four aircraft during the Battle of Britain and was believed to have destroyed 28 by the time of his death in July 1942.

Jamaica

Jamaica, a Caribbean island, was a British crown colony. Herbert Capstick is considered the only Jamaican participant in the Battle of Britain. He was born into a British settler family on the island in 1920 and served in No. 236 Squadron RAF, part of Coastal Command. It was equipped with Bristol Blenheims and participated in anti-submarine operations in the English Channel. Capstick survived the war and returned to live in Jamaica where he practised as a lawyer.

Newfoundland

Newfoundland was an independent dominion within the British Empire. However, a long-running debt crisis made it unusually dependent on the United Kingdom. Pilot Officer Richard A. Howley, from St John's, is believed to be the only Newfoundlander to serve in the Battle of Britain. He served in No. 141 Squadron RAF which flew Boulton Paul Defiant turret fighters. His aircraft was shot down over Dover on 19 July 1940 and he posted missing in action. Howley was the third Newfoundlander in the RAF killed since the start of the conflict.

New Zealand

Official history online New Zealand, a dominion since 1907, provided the largest continent of airmen from the British Commonwealth and the second largest overall foreign contingent after Poland. The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) had been founded in 1937 but remained small, numbering just 1,200 personnel by 1939. Under the Empire Air Training Scheme, some 100 RNZAF pilots had been sent to Europe by the outbreak of the Battle of Britain. Unlike other dominions, New Zealand did not insist on its aircrews serving with RNZAF squadrons, thereby speeding up the rate at which they entered service. An annual rate of 1,500 fully trained pilots was reached by January 1941.

• Four New Zealanders command RAF squadrons during the battle

• Three prominent NZ aces: Colin Gray (No. 54 Squadron) shot down 14 aircraft during the Battle; Brian Carbury (No. 603 Squadron) shot during 15; Al Deere (No. 54), a law clerk from Whanganui, shot down 4 during the battle.

The number of New Zealand participants in the Battle of Britain is estimated between 124–127. However, one New Zealand estimate puts the number at as many as 135, of whom 95 are said to have been pilots.

New Zealander and Air vice-marshal Keith Park

The most prominent New Zealander in the Battle was Air Vice Marshal Keith Park, a high scoring air ace in the First World War and a member of the RAF since its creation. He was Commander of No. 11 Group RAF, which was tasked with the defence of London and south-east England.

If any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I do not believe it is realised how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgment and his skill, did to save, not only this country, but the world.

— Lord Tedder, Chief of the Royal Air Force, February 1947 about Keith Park.

The RAF recognises 135 Fighter Command aircrew from New Zealand as having served in the Battle. Several New Zealanders became high scorers, including Plt Offr Colin Gray (No. 54 Squadron RAF) with 14 claims, Fg Offr Brian Carbury (No. 603 Squadron RAF) 14 claims and Plt Offr Alan "Al" Deere (54 Squadron), 12 claims. Carbury shot down the first German aircraft over British territory since 1918 and was also one of two aces in a day in the Battle.

Northern Rhodesia

In 1940, Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia) was a British protectorate in Central Africa with a white population of about 15,000, most of whom were employed in the colony's copper mines. One Northern Rhodesian of British origin is recognised as a participant in the Battle of Britain. Pilot Officer John Ellacombe was born in Livingstone in 1920 and was educated in South Africa. He joined the RAF in 1939 and served in No. 151 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, flying Hurricanes. During the Battle, Ellacombe shot down several German bomber aircraft and was himself shot down on two occasions. He enjoyed a successful career in the RAF after 1940, retiring as an Air Commodore in 1973. He died in 2014. He is listed as Northern Rhodesian by the RAF but as British in other sources.

Poland

Polish pilots from No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron in October 1940

• Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September–October 1939. The Polish Air Force was small and its aircraft outdated.
• Departure of 200,000 (?) Polish men for abroad in the aftermath of the German invasion, dubbed "Sikorski's tourists".
• Polish Army in France (1939–40), notably the I/145 Polish Fighter Squadron. But most Polish pilots in the French Armée de l'Air did not see combat in 1940. Sending of the Polish navy to Britain in the Peking Plan
• Approximately 79 Polish pilots served individually in British squadrons while others served in specifically Polish units. 32 were in No. 302 (Polish) Fighter Squadron and 34 in No. 303 (Polish) Fighter Squadron.

Poland became independent in 1918. Following the German invasion of Poland, many Polish pilots escaped and made their way to France and Britain. During the German invasion of France in May 1940, of the 1,600 Polish pilots available to the Armee de l'Air it is estimated that only about 150 took an active part in combat. Many of these personnel escaped to the UK around the time of the fall of France. By mid-1940 some 35,000 Polish airmen, soldiers and sailors had made their way to Britain, making up the largest foreign military force in the country after the French; of these some 8,500 were airmen. Many were members of the Polish Air Force which had fought the Luftwaffe. However, the Air Ministry and the RAF underestimated their potential value in fighting against the Luftwaffe. Most of the Poles were posted either to RAF bomber squadrons or the RAF Volunteer Reserve.

On 11 June 1940, the Polish government in exile signed an agreement with the British Government to form a Polish Air Force in Great Britain. Finally, in July 1940 the RAF announced that it would form two Polish fighter squadrons: 302 "Poznański" Squadron and 303 "Kościuszko" Squadron were composed of Polish pilots and ground crews, although their flight commanders and commanding officers were British.

The two fighter squadrons went into action in August, with 89 Polish pilots. Another 50 Poles took part in the Battle, in RAF squadrons.

Polish pilots were among the most experienced in the Battle; most had hundreds of hours of pre-war flying experience and had fought during the Invasion of Poland and/or the Battle of France. The Polish pilots had been well trained in formation flying and had learned from combat experience to fire from close range. By comparison, one Polish pilot referred to the close formation flying and set-piece attacks practised in the RAF as "simply suicidal".

The 147 Polish pilots claimed 201 aircraft shot down. 303 Squadron claimed the highest number of kills (126) of all Allied squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain. Witold Urbanowicz of 303 Squadron was the top Polish scorer with 15 claims. Sgt Tony Glowacki was one of two Allied pilots in the Battle to shoot down five German aircraft in one day, on 24 August (the other being New Zealander Brian Carbury). One Polish veteran, Stanislaw Skalski, became the top-scoring Polish fighter ace of the Second World War.

File:Marian&Irene Katlewicz (Kay).jpg

Polish corporal wearing RAF service dress, with family

In all, 30 Polish airmen were killed during the Battle. One of them died at the hands of an angry crowd in east London. He had baled out of his fighter and landed, injured in Wapping. His incoherent rambling was mistaken for German and he was set-upon by the people who had gathered round him. They were incensed by recent Nazi raids on civilian targets, but he was a member of the RAF.

The close range tactics used by the Poles led to suggestions of recklessness, but there is little evidence for this view. For example, the death rate in 303 Squadron was lower than the average rate for other RAF squadrons, despite the squadron having been the highest-scoring Allied squadron during the Battle.

The Polish War Memorial on the outskirts of RAF Northolt was dedicated in 1948 as a commemoration of the Polish contribution to Allied arms.

South Africa

Adolph "Sailor" Malan, the most prominent South African pilot, depicted by Cuthbert Orde in 1940

The Union of South Africa was a British dominion under white minority rule. Many South Africans, both of British ancestry and Afrikaners, enlisted in the RAF rather than the country's own nascent air force, the South African Air Force (SAAF). According to most estimates, between 22–25 South Africans were involved in the Battle of Britain. At least nine were killed in action. South Africans were involved at all levels of the RAF's hierarchy, including Air Vice-Marshal Quintin Brand who commanded No. 10 (Fighter) Group in South-West England.

The most prominent South African fighter pilot was Adolph "Sailor" Malan, who received his nickname from his pre-war career in the Union-Castle Line. Malan was credited with destroying six aircraft during the Battle of Britain while commanding No. 74 Squadron. During this time, he wrote a brief text entitled "Ten Rules for Air Fighting" which was official endorsed by Fighter Command and distributed to all its squadrons. Malan survived the war and subsequently became a leading figure within Torch Commando, a veterans association which opposed the establishment of Apartheid in South Africa after 1951. He died in 1963. Another South African pilot, Albert "Zulu" Lewis, destroyed ten aircraft during the same period. He was profiled in Life magazine, before being shot down and badly burned.

Southern Rhodesia

Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) was a self-governing crown colony with a large population of white settlers. Besides its own war effort, three pilots from Southern Rhodesia took part in the Battle of Britain: Squadron Leader Caesar Hull, Pilot Officer John Chomley, and Flight Lieutenant John Holderness. Hull, the highest-scoring RAF ace of the Norwegian Campaign earlier in the year, was killed in a dogfight over South London on 7 September 1940, a week after taking command of No. 43 Squadron RAF. Chomley went missing in action over the Channel on 12 August 1940 and was never found.

Stateless

One individual is listed as stateless. Alfred Lammer was born into an aristocratic family in Linz, Austria in 1909. He was posted to London to work for the Austrian Travel Bureau in 1934 and chose to remain in the United Kingdom after the German annexation of Austria in 1938. He refused to take German nationality, rendering him effectively stateless until May 1941 when he received British citizenship. He enlisted in March 1940 as a "friendly enemy alien" and served as an air gunner in No. 141 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. He remained in the UK after the war, working as a professional photographer. He died in 2000.

United States

Billy Fiske, an American volunteer who was killed in August 1940

The United States of America was officially neutral in 1940. Many individual Americans sympathised with the Allies and, after 1939, some left to enlist in the French, British, and Canadian air forces following the example of the Lafayette Squadron during World War I. This was contrary to the policy of the US Government, which had enacted a series of "neutrality acts" in the 1930s to prevent the US being pulled into an overseas war. In 1939, a presidential proclamation on 5 September 1939 had threatened American citizens serving in belligerent armies with imprisonment or the removal of citizenship.

The RAF officially recognizes seven American citizens who participated in the Battle of Britain, though it is believed that four others may have enlisted under assumed Canadian or foreign nationalities. They included Pilot Officer Billy Fiske, a member of a wealthy New England banking family who had studied at the University of Cambridge before the war. Fiske flew a Hurricane in No. 601 Squadron RAF but was killed after a dogfight on 16 August 1940, aged 29. A larger number of American volunteers enlisted for service in the RAF during the Battle of Britain, but did not see action until after its end. In September 1940, No. 71 Squadron RAF was created as the first of the all-American so-called "Eagle Squadrons". However, they were still undergoing training at the time and would only become ready operational in January 1941.

American pilots represented a propaganda asset in the British struggle to encourage the United States to abandon its neutral stance. Hoping to sway American popular opinion against neutrality, Fiske's death was used a propaganda opportunity and a plaque was put up in St Paul's Cathedral, London, emphasizing and even exaggerating his individual role in the battle.

Evaluation

A Polish Hawker Hurricane gate guardian at RAF Uxbridge

Foreign pilots considered:

• • More motivated.
  • More experienced and accustomed to aerial combat techniques like close-range bursts honed in low-performance biplanes.
  • Less bound by RAF discipline and regulations, allowing them freer to improvise.
• Severe lack of British pilots with prior combat experience - unlike many Germans who had served during Spanish Civil War.
• Frantisek (Czech) was leading BofB ace with 17 victories; W. Urbanowicz (Polish) was second with 15.
• 303 Polish Sqn shot down 3x more planes than the average RAF squadron and suffered 1/3 casualties.
• Use of American pilots, notably Billy Fisk, in propaganda to encourage the US to join the war, even at the risk of exaggerating the achievements of individuals.
• Belgian pilot Rodolphe de Hemricourt de Grunne, for example, had served as a fighter pilot for the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War where he shot down 14 aircraft.

Legacy

• In a Gallup Poll in 1944 showed that 56 percent of the British public believed that Polish servicemen should be forcibly repatriated if they did not choose to leave the UK of their own accord.

The contribution of foreign pilots was generally absent from popular memory of the Battle of Britain in the UK itself. As Paul Addison and Jeremy Crang have argued, the Battle of Britain became the subject of "a predominantly English legend about the resistance of a liberty-loving people fighting on alone against continental tyranny" into which they did not fit. Belief that Britain "stood alone" in 1940 is generally considered to have sharpened a sense of British identity and led to distrust of European engagements after the war. While most foreign pilots returned home after the war, some Eastern European pilots who chose to remain in Britain after the war "found themselves regarded in post-war Britain, no longer as heroes, but as undesirable aliens now that they sought work and housing". Polish and Czechoslovak veterans returning to their countries after the war were distrusted by their countries' new Eastern Bloc governments. Disenchanted, the Polish veteran Jan Zumbach became a mercenary pilot in Africa, fighting for the secessionist states of Katanga and Biafra in the 1960s.

The role of European pilots during the Battle of Britain has frequently invoked in the political discussions around contemporary immigration to the United Kingdom. During campaigning for the 2009 elections for the European Parliament, the far-right British Nationalist Party (BNP) used an image of a Spitfire, with the caption "Battle for Britain", in publicity to attempt to win support for the party's anti-immigration stance. The picture chosen, however, depicted a Spitfire flown by a Polish pilot from No. 303 (Polish) Squadron and the party was mocked in the British media as "absurd". A memorial to the Polish pilots in Hyde Park, London was proposed in 2016, "following a spate of xenophobic attacks on Poles in Britain in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote".

• In 2010 the Swedish power metal band Sabaton recorded a song called "Aces in Exile" about the non-British personnel in their album Coat of Arms.
• A 2018 film, Hurricane, directed by David Blair, focuses on the Polish No. 303 Squadron, with Jan Zumbach as its protagonist.

See also

• List of RAF aircrew in the Battle of Britain
• No. 164 Squadron RAF—Anglo-Argentine volunteers in the RAF during World War II
• Flying Tigers—American volunteer squadron in the Chinese air force, 1941-1942

References

Bibliography

• Rens, Gustave (1992). "Les ailes belges de la Bataille d'Angleterre". Jours de Lutte. Jours de Guerre No. 7. Brussels: Crédit Communal. pp. 7–14. ISBN 2-87193-163-1.
• Becker, Dave (1990). "South Africans in the Battle of Britain". Military History Journal. 8 (4).
• Tidy, D.P. (1970). "South Africans in the Battle of Britain". Military History Journal. 1 (7).
• Herington, John (1954). Australia in the War of 1939–1945 (Series 3–Air). Vol. iii. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
• Lambo, Roger (1993). "Achtung! The black prince: West Africans in the Royal Air Force, 1939–46". Immigrants & Minorities. 12 (3): 145–163. doi:10.1080/02619288.1993.9974823.
• "The Airmen of the Battle of Britain". Battle of Britain London Monument. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
• "Battle of Britain Roll of Honour". Royal Air Force. February 2012. Archived from the original on 10 April 2014.
• Crang, Jeremy A. (2005). "Identifying the 'Few': The Personalisation of a Heroic Military Elite". War & Society. 24 (2): 13–22. doi:10.1179/072924705791602054. S2CID 153752646.
• Veranneman, Jean-Michel (2014). Belgium in the Second World War. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-78337-607-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Webster, Wendy (2009). ""Europe against the Germans": The British Resistance Narrative, 1940-1950" (PDF). Journal of British Studies. 48 (4): 958–982. doi:10.1086/603602. S2CID 163113960.
• Coulthard-Clark, Chris. The Encyclopedia of Australia's Battles. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2001. ISBN 1-86508-634-7.
• Eather, Steve (1995). Flying Squadrons of the Australian Defence Force. Weston Creek, Australian Capital Territory: Aerospace Publications. ISBN 1-875671-15-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Fiedler, Arkady. 303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron. Los Angeles: Aquila Polonica, 2010. ISBN 978-1-60772-004-1.
• Olson, Lynne; Cloud, Stanley (2003). For Your Freedom and Ours: The Kościuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II. London: Heinemann. ISBN 0-434-00868-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Orange, Vincent. Park: The Biography of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park. London: Grub Street, 2001. ISBN 1-902304-61-6.
• Polak, Thomas with Jiri Radlich and Pavel Vancata. No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron 1940-1945; Hurricane, Spitfire. Boé Cedex, France: Graphic Sud, 2006. ISBN 2-9526381-1-X.
• Salt, Beryl (2001). A Pride of Eagles: The Definitive History of the Rhodesian Air Force, 1920–1980. Weltevredenpark, South Africa: Covos Day Books. ISBN 978-0-620-23759-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Saunders, Andy (2003). No 43 'Fighting Cocks' Squadron. Aviation Elite Units. Vol. 9 (First ed.). Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-439-9.
• Shores, Christopher and Clive Williams. Aces High. London: Grub Street, 1994. ISBN 1-898697-00-0.
• Wood, Derek; Dempster, Derek (1967). The Narrow Margin: the Battle of Britain and the Rise of Air Power, 1930–1940. London: Arrow Books. OCLC 459294.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• De Vos, Luc (2001). "The Reconstruction of Belgian Military Forces in Britain, 1940-1945". In Conway, Martin; Gotovitch, José (eds.). Europe in Exile: European Exile Communities in Britain, 1940-1945. New York: Berghahn. ISBN 1-57181-759-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Cumming, Antony J. (2015). The Battle for Britain: Interservice Rivalry between the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, 1909-1940. Anapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1612518343.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Klan, Kenneth C. (2007). First in the Air: The Eagle Squadrons of World War II (PDF). Washington: Air Force History and Museums Programme.

Further reading

• American Pilots in the Battle of Britain, John D. Lauher (1973).
• Alexander, Kristen (2014). Australia's Few and the Battle of Britain. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
• Bennett, G. H. (2011). The RAF's French Foreign Legion: De Gaulle, the British and the Re-emergence of French Airpower, 1940-45. London: Continuum International. ISBN 978-1-4411-0662-9., ch. 3.
• Francis, Martin (2008). The Flyer: British Culture and the Royal Air Force, 1939-1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199277483.
• Overy, Richard (2010). The Battle of Britain : the myth and the reality (1st US ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-02008-3.

External links

• Battle of Britain Memorial, London website - participants
• Northern Irish pilots in Battle of Britain
• Irish pilots from the Republic of Ireland who fought in the Battle of Britain

Reading

Paul Addison & Jeremy A. Crang, 'A Battle of Many Nations', in idem and idem (eds.) The Burning Blue: A New History of the Battle of Britain (Pimlico: London, 2000). ISBN: 0-7126-6475-0

• 33 AU, 126 NZ, 98 CA, 25 SA, 1JA, 1Nfland, of whom 2nz and 1au are among top 10 aces.-p252
• Archibald McIndoe (plastic surgeon) is NZ-255
• 11 US, who come from wealthy Anglo-American backgrounds. 601sqn is known as "millionaires' squadron" because of this.-257
• Fiske, Olympic gold bobslayer 1932, is KIA 16/8/40.-257
• 145PL, 88Cz, 29be, 13fr, of whom 1 pole and 1 czech in top 10.-p. 258
• "The Battle was, moreover, fought partly for Europe. Franticek and his fellow pilots from the occupied countriesno doubt believed that the Battle would help to pave the way for the liberation of their homelands."-p259
• "Out of the Battle of Britain there arose, in the course of time, a predominantly English legenda about the resistance of a liberty-loving people fighting on alone against continental tyranny. The principal effect on post-war British history was to convince many policy-makers that Britain's destiny must always remain separate from that of Europe."-p260
• "it seems likely that the RAF's victory in that crucial year owed much to Britain's diverse international connections and to the multinational solidarity of Britain itself."-p260