Squadron 303 and America: From the Kościuszko Squadron to Emigration

The history of Squadron 303 begins not in England, but in Lviv in 1919, and with the participation of Americans. A group of American volunteer aviators arrived to fight for the reborn Poland. Their Kościuszko Squadron left behind an emblem that twenty years later was worn on the sides of Hurricanes by the most famous Polish squadron in the Battle of Britain.

In this guide, we gather the entire American thread of this story: who the volunteers of 1919 were and how they fought in the Polish-Bolshevik War, how Merian C. Cooper ended up from Soviet captivity to Hollywood and "King Kong," how the tradition of the squadron passed to Squadron 303, how Witold Urbanowicz fought with American aviators in China, and how America learned about the history of the squadron. We also recount the fates of the 303 pilots who settled in the United States and Canada after the war, and how they are remembered by the Polish diaspora. The Battle of Britain itself is described in a separate guide on Polish aviators in 1940.

Americans Who Came to Fight for Poland

The American thread of Squadron 303 begins twenty years before the Battle of Britain, near Lviv. In the autumn of 1919, a group of American aviators arrived, many of whom had fought in World War I. The Americans were not mercenaries in the usual sense of the word. They signed contracts with the Polish Army, received pay from Polish officers, and fought in a Polish unit named after Tadeusz Kościuszko.

It is worth clarifying a popular simplification right away. The Americans did not establish this squadron. The unit was formed on November 7, 1918, in Kraków as the 3rd Combat Aviation Squadron, using aircraft left by the Austrians, and by the end of 1918, it moved to Lviv and received the number 7. By the time the volunteers arrived from across the ocean, the Polish aviators had already completed nearly 200 combat flights in the Polish-Ukrainian War. The Americans gave it a new name and emblem that has survived to this day.

Merian C. Cooper and the Debt to Pułaski

The main initiator of the entire endeavor was Merian Caldwell Cooper, born on October 24, 1893, in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of a well-known lawyer. In the Cooper family, the story of their great-grandfather, Colonel John Cooper, who fought alongside Kazimierz Pułaski in 1779 near Savannah and carried the mortally wounded general from the fire, was passed down through generations. According to the account cited by the National Remembrance Institute, John Cooper swore at that time that the United States would repay the debt to Pułaski and Poland. The great-grandson regarded this family tradition as an obligation.

In 1917, he went to France, where he became a pilot of DH-4 bombers in the American aviation. On September 26, 1918, his plane was shot down. Cooper, burned and with injured hands, ended up in German captivity, and for some time, he was considered dead back home.

After the armistice, he volunteered for the American Relief Administration, led by Herbert Hoover, which provided food aid to Poland. In February 1919, he arrived in Poland with it and was assigned to a food mission in Lviv, which was then besieged by Ukrainian troops. He visited Polish trenches, which earned him the respect of the soldiers. There, he met General Tadeusz Rozwadowski, the commander of Polish forces in Eastern Galicia, and presented him with the idea of a squadron composed of American volunteers.

"Show Us What You Can Do"

At Rozwadowski's suggestion, Cooper went to Warsaw in May 1919 and offered his services to Józef Piłsudski. The meeting was not easy. Piłsudski reluctantly accepted the offer and, according to Polish sources, said that he did not need mercenaries. After a brief hesitation, however, he agreed to recruit a few experienced American aviators. "The fiery, piercing eyes of the Marshal looked at me for a second, and then he stood up and shook my hand," Cooper recalled years later.

In early July 1919, Cooper returned to Paris. There, he met Major Cedric Fauntleroy, a pilot born on a plantation near Natchez in Mississippi, who had left home at fourteen, served in the French Foreign Legion, and then as a test pilot in the American Expeditionary Forces. Fauntleroy was persuaded to support the Polish cause, and from then on, both began recruiting more aviators. According to the IPN, their informal recruitment office was the Paris Café de la Paix, where they spoke with candidates.

The formal consent of the American side, represented by Colonel Harry Howland, to form the squadron was issued on August 16, 1919. Ten days later, on August 26, 1919, at the Wagram Hotel in Paris, the contract was signed by General Rozwadowski, then head of the Polish Military Mission in Paris, Cooper, and Fauntleroy. Rozwadowski acted in agreement with General John Pershing, the commander of American forces in Europe, and even hoped for a larger formation called the American Legion. Only the squadron was realized from these plans.

The volunteers signed six-month contracts. Their pay, privileges, and duties were the same as those of Polish officers of the same rank. On September 16, 1919, the first group departed for Poland, traveling as the crew of a sanitary train, and a week later crossed the Polish-German border.

Who the Volunteers Were

According to the IPN, the first group consisted of eight aviators: Cedric Fauntleroy, Merian C. Cooper, Edward C. Corsi, George M. Crawford, Kenneth O. Shrewsbury, Carl H. Clark, Edwin L. Noble, and Arthur H. Kelly. In October 1919, Elliot W. Chess and Edmund P. Graves joined, and in November, Harmon Rorison. In 1920, more arrived, including John McCallum, Kenneth Malcolm Murray, John Maitland, John Speaks, Thomas Garlick, and Earl Evans. Murray brought with him his own Sopwith Camel fighter, the only one of its kind in the squadron.

The number of Americans who actually served in the squadron depends on who is counted. Polish monographs and the Polish edition of Murray's memoirs state that 21 Americans passed through the unit, 20 pilots and one observer. The description of the history of the monument at the Lviv Orląt Cemetery mentions 17 American aviators who came to Poland. The same number is in the title of Zbigniew Kowalewski's document "Seventeen Wonderful Ones" from 2005.

Alongside the Americans, Poles also flew in the squadron, including 1st Lt. Jerzy Weber, Ludomił Rayski, Ludwik Idzikowski, Władysław Konopka, and Aleksander Seńkowski. The entire ground crew, 31 mechanics, were Poles. Thus, the Kościuszko Squadron was a Polish-American unit of the Polish Army.

Lewandówka, the Name of Kościuszko, and the Emblem with Scythes

On October 14, 1919, the volunteers reported to Piłsudski. According to the IPN, the Chief accepted them coolly and compared them to mercenaries, but did not oppose their service, saying the famous "Show us what you can do." The Americans were then assigned to the 7th Squadron at the Lewandówka airport in Lviv, equipped with Albatros D.III fighters produced by the Austrian company Oeffag. In the autumn of 1919, Fauntleroy took command of the unit, and Cooper became his deputy, leading one of the two groups of the squadron named after Pułaski. On December 31, 1919, the unit adopted the name 7th Fighter Squadron named after Tadeusz Kościuszko.

The squadron's emblem was designed by 1st Lt. Elliot Chess. Against the red and white stripes of the American flag, he placed a red Kraków cap and two crossed battle scythes, reminiscent of the scythemen from the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794, and in the border, thirteen stars, symbolizing the thirteen original states. Due to the scythes, the emblem gained the unofficial name "Scythes," and the aviators of the squadron began to be called scythemen.

The first of the Americans died not in battle. On November 22, 1919, during an air show to commemorate the first anniversary of the defense of Lviv, Edmund Graves was performing aerobatics on an Albatros. During a double barrel roll, the right wing detached. According to Cooper's account, Graves tried to save himself with a parachute, but jumped too low, and the parachute did not open. Cooper considered him "undoubtedly the best pilot among us." His funeral on November 24, 1919, gathered thousands of Lviv residents. Graves was buried at the Lviv Orląt Cemetery and posthumously awarded the Cross of Valor. Harmon Rorison came to take his place.

The Kościuszko Squadron in the 1920 War

The winter of 1919/1920 was relatively calm on the front, so the squadron trained and replenished its equipment. On February 1, 1920, it had 12 pilots, 2 observers, and 10 aircraft. On April 3, 1920, the squadron was moved to the airport in Połonne, from where it began operational flights, and on April 10, its raids on troops in Czudnow facilitated the capture of that locality.

The fighter squadron did not engage in aerial combat during this war, as there were no clashes with Soviet aviation. Its fighters flew reconnaissance and ground attack missions. The pilots descended low and fired machine guns at enemy troops, primarily cavalry.

The Kyiv Expedition

The offensive on Kyiv began on April 25, 1920. The next day, during the fighting for Berdyczów, Edwin Noble was seriously wounded. The squadron was stationed successively in Berdyczów, and from May 8 in Biała Cerkiew near Kyiv. On May 2, Fauntleroy returned from Warsaw with the first Ansaldo A.1 Balilla fighters. On May 10, George Crawford attacked and sank a Bolshevik ship on the Dnieper. From May 17 to early June, Cooper, with three pilots, Clark, Corsi, and Weber, operated as a detachment from Kyiv, covering Polish bombers attacking shipping on the Dnieper. According to Polish sources, on May 30, during an attack near Trypol, one ship was sunk, and another, armored, ran aground.

On May 25, Crawford was the first to report to command that the 1st Cavalry Army of Semyon Budyonny was approaching the area of Humań. From that moment, Budyonny's cavalry was the main opponent of the squadron until the end of the war.

Retreat and Hunting Cavalry

During the retreat, the squadron evacuated from Biała Cerkiew, Koziatyn, Zhytomyr, and Berdyczów. On June 7, Fauntleroy spotted Budyonny's cavalry units near Zhytomyr, which no one expected on that section of the front. This information allowed for the efficient withdrawal of General Antoni Listowski's troops along with his staff. At the airport in Berdyczów, Soviet cavalry surprised and damaged the planes of Cooper and Crawford, who had to escape on foot. At that time, the squadron was living in railway cars. Murray later emphasized that no other aviation unit had a base in a moving railway composition and fought behind the front lines during a 650-kilometer retreat.

According to Kenneth Malcolm Murray's book, Polish intelligence intercepted a radiogram in which the commander of the Cavalry Army requested air support and doubled the reward to 25,000 rubles for each captured American pilot, dead or alive. The traces of the squadron were also found in Russian literature. Isaac Babel, who was himself among Budyonny's ranks in 1920, described in the collection of stories "Cavalry Army" the attacks of Fauntleroy's squadron on the Soviet cavalry.

During this time, the command of the squadron changed. By the end of June 1920, Cooper became the commander, and Fauntleroy took command of the 2nd Air Squadron of the 2nd Army, to which the squadron belonged. After Cooper was shot down in July, George Crawford took over the squadron. On July 15, 1920, Arthur Kelly was killed. He was flying as an observer in the crew of the 21st destroyer squadron with pilot Stanisław Skarżyński, a different aviator than the later Atlantic conqueror. Their plane was shot down over the Łuck–Klewań road during an attack on cavalry.

The Defense of Lviv in August 1920

In August 1920, as the fate of Warsaw was being decided, Budyonny advanced on Lviv. On August 16, the 3rd Air Squadron received orders to stop the Cavalry Army. At that time, the 7th Squadron had only five pilots capable of flying: Fauntleroy, who was already commanding the squadron, Edward Corsi, Elliot Chess, Jerzy Weber, and Aleksander Seńkowski. Crawford was ill. Over two days, August 16 and 17, this group performed 36 assault flights, 18 each day.

The day of the greatest combat effort by the aviators defending Lviv was August 18, 1920. On that day, 72 combat flights were made, with Corsi and Weber particularly standing out. How much the infantry valued the Americans is shown by a note from 1920, cited by the IPN without specifying the author and exact date. One of the Polish infantry commanders reported in it: "American aviators, despite exhaustion, fight like possessed," adding that without their help, "we would have been taken by the devil long ago." The IPN Bulletin considers the defense of Lviv to be probably the first case in which aviation alone defended an important strategic target against ground forces.

On the evening of August 18, fearing the capture of Lviv, the squadron flew to Przemyśl. Only the front aviation command remained in Lviv, with Fauntleroy at the helm, and the planes continued to fly over Lviv, treating the local airport as an advanced base. On August 24, the squadron returned to Lviv. In total, in August 1920, its aviators performed 79 combat flights. On August 31, John McCallum, who arrived as a reinforcement, was killed. Sources differ regarding the circumstances: some speak of an accident, others of death in battle defending the city.

September and the Balance

In September, the squadron fought against Soviet cavalry in the area of Hrubieszów and Uściług, but the fighting had already lost its intensity. The squadron performed another 19 reconnaissance flights, and for the last time, its aviators participated in combat on September 23, 1920. The war was formally concluded by the peace treaty signed in Riga on March 18, 1921.

According to Marian Romeyka's study from 1933, during the entire period of fighting, the squadron performed 462 combat flights and spent 682 hours in the air. Fauntleroy himself had, according to Polish sources, 80 combat flights. Three Americans were killed: Edmund Graves, Arthur Kelly, and John McCallum. Cooper was captured, and Noble was seriously wounded.

Virtuti Militari and the End of the American Chapter

For their participation in the war, the aviators of the squadron received the Virtuti Militari order. According to the IPN, in October 1920, General Stanisław Haller presented Silver Crosses to the aviators of the 3rd Squadron, and on May 10, 1921, after Cooper's return from captivity, the pilots of the squadron were decorated personally by Józef Piłsudski. Among those who received the Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari were Fauntleroy, Cooper, Corsi, Crawford, and Chess, and according to English-language studies, also Clark, Noble, Rorison, and Shrewsbury, alongside Polish aviators such as Weber, Rayski, and Idzikowski. Cooper briefly recalled this moment: "We blushed." Fauntleroy, who was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel in the Polish Army, also received the Cross of Valor four times. Graves was posthumously awarded the Cross of Valor, and the Polish personnel list of the squadron also records this award next to Kelly's name.

With the end of the war, American involvement came to an end. Fauntleroy was released from service at his own request on May 10, 1921, the day of the decoration. The Americans returned home, and the squadron became fully Polish. In May 1921, the 7th Fighter Squadron became part of the 3rd Fighter Squadron of the 1st Air Regiment in Warsaw. In 1925, it was renamed the 121st, and later the 111th Fighter Squadron, which fought in September 1939. The emblem with scythes and stars survived all these reorganizations and then passed to Squadron 303.

Merian C. Cooper – from Soviet captivity to "King Kong"

On July 13, 1920, Cooper's airplane was shot down, and the pilot made an emergency landing behind enemy lines. According to "Rzeczpospolita," he was hit by a burst from a machine gun mounted on a taczanka, a horse-drawn combat wagon.

Frank Mosher, a proletarian from America

To the Cossacks who captured him, he introduced himself as Frank Mosher, an American worker forcibly conscripted into the Polish air force. Some authors note that this ruse likely saved his life. While in captivity, he spoke with Isaac Babel, the same person who described the Cavalry Army.

After a failed escape attempt, Cooper was sent to a prison in Moscow and then to a camp for prisoners who were clearing railway tracks near Moscow. He spent nearly nine months in captivity. Finally, he escaped along with two Polish prisoners, 1st Lt. Sokołowski and Capt. Zalewski. They traveled about 700 kilometers and reached Latvia in April 1921, from where Cooper returned to Poland. In Warsaw, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and the Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari, number 3024, awarded by a decision on April 8, 1921, was presented to him by Piłsudski on May 10.

From "Grass" to "King Kong"

After returning to the United States, Cooper published his memoirs in 1922 in Chicago titled "Faunt-le-Roy and His Squadron in Poland. The History of the Kościuszko Squadron." He then returned to journalism and became involved in documentary filmmaking. Together with Ernest B. Schoedsack, he made "Grass" (1925), a film about the migration of the Bakhtiari tribe in Persia, and "Chang" (1927), followed by the feature film "The Four Feathers" (1929).

The greatest success came in 1933. "King Kong," which premiered on March 2, 1933, was Cooper's idea. He produced it for RKO Pictures along with his regular partner Schoedsack, filming scenes in the jungle himself, and in the finale, both appeared in the cockpit of the plane that was attacking the giant gorilla atop the Empire State Building.

In the following years, Cooper became one of the most important producers in Hollywood. According to Polish sources, he produced 62 films, and in 1934, "Fortune" magazine listed him among the most important people in the industry. In 1946, he co-founded Argosy Productions with John Ford, which produced, among others, the westerns "Fort Apache" (1948), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), and "Wagon Master" (1950). He was the executive producer for Ford's "The Searchers" (1956). In 1952, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, and in 1960, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

World War II: China, the Pacific, "Missouri"

During World War II, Cooper returned to uniform as a colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He served in India, acting as a liaison officer for logistics during Doolittle's raid on Japan. He then went to China as the chief of staff to Gen. Claire Chennault, commander of the China Air Task Force, the successor to the "Flying Tigers" and predecessor to the 14th Air Force. On October 25, 1942, he led a raid of 12 B-25 bombers and 7 P-40 fighters on the docks of Kowloon in Hong Kong.

From 1943 to 1945, he was the chief of staff of the bombing command of the 5th Air Force in the southwestern Pacific region. He was aboard the battleship "Missouri" when Japan signed its surrender.

A Friend of Poland Until the End

Cooper did not forget about Poland. In 1937, he joined the Polish Army Veterans Association in America and supported the Paderewski Fund for Disabled Veterans. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, he organized a charity concert for Poland, and during the war, he cared for Poles in the United States and met with Polish authorities. On March 14, 1941, while in England, he visited Squadron 303, which bore the insignia of his former squadron. According to the IPN, Cooper also presented the Kościuszko Badge to Witold Urbanowicz, who commanded the squadron in the fall of 1940, in recognition of the achievements of Squadron 303. Half a century later, Urbanowicz passed it on to the 23rd Tactical Air Base. Later, he sent congratulations and greetings to the squadron, and after the war, he maintained contact with Polish aviators who settled in the United States.

In addition to the Virtuti Militari, Cooper received the Cross of Valor and the Polish pilot badge. In 1966, the Polish government in exile in London awarded him the Gold Cross of Merit with Swords. The Institute of National Remembrance describes him as a friend of Poland until the end of his life.

Merian C. Cooper died of cancer on April 21, 1973, in San Diego, California, at the age of 79. His ashes were scattered over the ocean with full military honors. In 2024, the IPN showcased the document by Rafał Sałata titled "Three Deaths of Merian Cooper" in Warsaw. The premiere took place on November 8, 2024, at the Kultura cinema, as part of the Independence Day celebrations.

Graves at the Orląt Cemetery and Memory

Three Americans who died in Polish service did not return home. Edmund Graves, Arthur Kelly, and John McCallum rest at the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lviv, known as the Orląt Cemetery. The gravestone bears the inscription "Officers Aviators of the Kościuszko Squadron." According to the descriptions of the monument, their details are also provided on the stone: Graves, lieutenant, born in 1891 in Boston, died on November 22, 1919, in Lviv; Kelly, captain, born in 1890 in Richmond, died on July 16, 1920, near Łuck; and McCallum, lieutenant, born in 1890 in Detroit, died on August 31, 1920, near Lviv.

The 1925 Monument

A monument to American aviators was erected above the graves. It was funded by the National Polish Alliance from Chicago. The figure of the aviator with outstretched wings and an uplifted head was sculpted by Józef Starzyński, while the pyramid-shaped background was designed by Józef Ludwik Różyski, selected in a competition. At the top, inscriptions were placed in Polish and English. The Polish inscription read: "To the Americans Who Fell in Defense of Poland in 1919–1920."

The monument was solemnly unveiled on May 30, 1925. During the interwar period, ceremonies were held there in honor of the American defenders of Lviv.

Destruction and Return

After 1945, Lviv fell within the borders of the Soviet Union. By the late 1940s, the graves in the catacombs were plundered, and the monuments to American aviators and French infantrymen who fought on the Polish side were destroyed. In 1971, Soviet authorities sent tanks and heavy equipment to the cemetery, which destroyed the colonnade and most of the remaining graves, including the American monument.

Cleanup efforts began in 1989 by employees of the Polish company Energopol, and the reconstruction dragged on for years amid Polish-Ukrainian disputes. An agreement on the shape of the cemetery was signed by the authorities of both countries in December 2001. The ceremonial opening of the rebuilt cemetery took place on June 24, 2005, with the participation of Presidents Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Viktor Yushchenko.

The monument to American aviators returned to its place, but initially without the English inscription, and the Polish text was changed to "To the Americans Who Fell in the Fight for Poland 1919–1920." The English inscription was restored only in May 2016.

Memory in the United States

In October 2020, on the hundredth anniversary of the Polish-Bolshevik War, a Polish flag, the squadron emblem, and a candle were placed on the grave of Edwin Noble at Wildwood Cemetery in Winchester, Massachusetts. This was done by Lt. Col. Karol Budniak, deputy defense and air attaché at the Polish Embassy in Washington. As he told a local newspaper, his office decided to find and visit the graves of all American volunteers who formed the squadron to commemorate the centenary. Noble was one of the first eight. After returning in 1921, he became the general director of the Noble Milk Company and lived with his wife in Winchester from 1933.

On November 11, 2021, the day Americans celebrate Veterans Day and Poles celebrate Independence Day, an exhibition about Polish aviators was opened at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, with the Kościuszko Squadron in a central place. The co-organizer was Central Connecticut State University. The Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York, Adrian Kubicki, said at the opening that the exhibition showcases the heroes who made Poland independent today.

On the Polish side, the military primarily commemorates the American volunteers. The traditions of the Kościuszko Squadron and Squadron 303 are now inherited by the 23rd Tactical Air Base in Mińsk Mazowiecki. Portraits of Cooper and Fauntleroy were painted on its MiG-29 fighters. On August 17, 2023, at the Museum of the Air Force in Dęblin, Poczta Polska presented a stamp "American Pilots in Defense of Lviv 1920," issued in cooperation with the General Command of the Armed Forces.

"Starry Squadron" and "Wings over Poland"

The story of Americans in Polish uniforms quickly made its way to cinema. In 1930, Leonard Buczkowski directed the silent film "Starry Squadron" based on a screenplay by Janusz Meissner. The action takes place in the Kościuszko Squadron during the Polish-Bolshevik War, and the love story of an American pilot and a Polish girl was inspired by the true experiences of Cooper. The Polish premiere took place on April 10, 1930. The film was made in cooperation with the military aviation. Over 200 aircraft were gathered at the Ławica airport near Poznań, and aerial combat scenes were filmed for the first time in Polish cinema using cameras mounted on airplanes.

"Starry Squadron" cannot be watched today. According to Polish sources, the film has likely not survived, and its copies were taken or destroyed by the Russians after 1945. The "IPN Bulletin" adds that during the Stalinist years, all known copies were destroyed, and at the same time, the publication of "Squadron 303" by Arkady Fiedler was banned. In 2005, the aforementioned documentary "The Seventeen Wonderful Ones" was made.

The most important firsthand account remains Kenneth Malcolm Murray's book "Wings over Poland," published in 1932 by the American publisher D. Appleton. Murray, a lieutenant pilot in the squadron, described the unit's actions from 1919 to 1921, the Kiev expedition, and battles against Budyonny. He wrote that the volunteers wanted to repay the debt that America owed to Kościuszko and Pulaski for their participation in the war for independence. The Polish edition of the book waited nearly 90 years. In December 2020, the KARTA Center published it under the title "Wings over Poland. 7th Fighter Squadron Named After Tadeusz Kościuszko." A scientific monograph of the squadron, published in English in 2002, was written by historian Janusz Cisek.

From the Kościuszko Squadron to Squadron 303

American volunteers returned home after the war with the Bolsheviks, but the squadron in which they flew remained in Poland. Over the next twenty years, it changed numbers, airfields, and aircraft, yet it retained two things: the Kościuszko tradition and the insignia designed by an American. It is this continuity that allows the Polish diaspora in the United States to view Squadron 303 as a unit that has a bit of American blood in it.

The Squadron That Changed Numbers

The history of the unit began before the first American arrived. On November 7, 1918, at the Kraków airport in Rakowice, the 3rd Air Combat Squadron began to be organized, and on December 21, 1918, it was renamed the 7th Air Squadron. The Institute of National Remembrance reminds us that when American pilots were assigned to it, the squadron had already completed nearly 200 combat flights. Therefore, the Americans did not create the unit from scratch but gave it fame, a patron, and a distinguishing emblem.

In May 1921, after the war, the squadron moved to Warsaw. It became part of the newly organized 1st Air Regiment's 3rd Fighter Squadron, which initially stationed at Mokotów Airport and later at Okęcie. In the spring of 1925, the 7th Squadron was renamed the 121st Fighter Squadron, and by order of the Ministry of Military Affairs on August 2, 1928, it became the 111th Fighter Squadron. Together with the 112th Squadron, it formed the III/1 Fighter Squadron, which was responsible for the sky over the capital.

The aircraft also changed. The squadron's pilots flew Italian Ansaldo Balilla, French Spads, and from 1933, Polish PZL P.7a. In the mid-1930s, the PZL P.11 fighters arrived, and from 1936, their latest version, the P.11c. The Kościuszko tradition lived not only on the fuselages. In 1930, the film "Starry Squadron" was released, inspired by the experiences of Merian C. Cooper. In the early 1930s, squadron pilot Stanisław Latwis composed a march for it, which later became the anthem of Polish aviation.

September 1939

In August 1939, the III/1 Squadron was mobilized and included in the Pursuit Brigade, which was to defend Warsaw. The squadron was commanded by Capt. pilot Zdzisław Krasnodębski, and the 111th Squadron by Capt. Gustaw Sidorowicz. When Sidorowicz was wounded on September 1, the squadron was taken over on September 2 by 2nd Lt. Wojciech Januszewicz. The squadron had 22 fighters, mostly P.11c, which were slower and less armed than the German Messerschmitts.

In the victory tally of the 111th Squadron from September 1939, compiled by the London Air Historical Office, names appeared that the whole of England would know a year later. Januszewicz shot down a twin-engine Messerschmitt Bf 110 on September 3, and on September 4 and 6, dive bombers Ju 87. 2nd Lt. Mirosław Ferić damaged a Bf 110, shot down a reconnaissance aircraft Henschel Hs 126, and on September 9, together with colleagues, including Kazimierz Wünsche, destroyed a He 45. On September 17, the last four P.11c of the squadron flew to Romania, and on September 18, the remaining personnel crossed the border. For the September campaign, the III/1 Squadron was awarded the Virtuti Militari order.

The Insignia with the Rogatywka, Sickles, and Stars

The insignia that survived all these changes was drawn in the Kościuszko Squadron by American pilot Elliot Chess, who lived from 1899 to 1962. At the center of the emblem is a red krakuska cap, or rogatywka, with a peacock feather, similar to the one Kościuszko wore during the insurrection of 1794. Behind it, two sickles cross, reminiscent of the peasants fighting alongside Kościuszko.

The background comes from the flag of the United States: vertical red and white stripes and thirteen stars, which represent the thirteen original states. The stars and stripes reminded that Kościuszko first fought for America's independence and only later for Poland's freedom. The metal badge of the squadron, also designed by Chess, was made by Eugeniusz Marian Unger from Lviv. The aviators simply called the insignia "The Sickle" and the pilots of the squadron "sicklemen."

The IPN points out a certain paradox. The squadron that defended Great Britain in 1940 bore the name of a general who helped Americans defeat the British and the insignia with the stars and stripes of the rebellious colonies.

How the Name and Insignia Reached Northolt

Squadron 303 was officially established on August 2, 1940, in Northolt. It was not a new unit without a past. Polish sources call it the heir of the Warsaw III/1 Squadron, from which it took part of the initial personnel and the badge of the 111th Squadron. The IPN states that many pilots and mechanics from the former 111th Squadron served in Squadron 303. The Polish commander of the new unit was the same Zdzisław Krasnodębski who led the III/1 Squadron over Warsaw in September 1939, and in England, Januszewicz, Ferić, and Wünsche also flew in it.

The old insignia of the 111th Squadron appeared on the fuselages of the Hurricanes. In a photo from October 1940, published by the IPN, the "Sickle" can be seen on a squadron aircraft with the tally of victories written below it. The insignia painted on the aircraft differed from the later squadron badge only in that it did not have the digits "303."

The squadron received its name on a symbolic day. According to the IPN, on September 17, 1940, the first anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, it received the full name 303 Fighter Squadron Named After Tadeusz Kościuszko. Today, the full form 303 Fighter Squadron of Warsaw Named After Tadeusz Kościuszko is most commonly used, in which the word "Warsaw" recalls the pre-war origins of the unit from the 1st Air Regiment.

Did Americans Fly in Squadron 303?

Many readers in America ask this question because if the insignia came from American volunteers, perhaps someone from across the ocean joined the Poles in 1940. However, the sources we used do not mention any Americans among the pilots of Squadron 303 during the Battle of Britain. The American heritage of the unit was primarily symbolic: twenty years passed between Cooper's squadron and the Northolt squadron.

Foreigners were certainly present in the squadron. The first commander was British Ronald Kellett, the squadrons were commanded by British Athol Forbes and Canadian John Kent, born in Winnipeg, and the most effective pilot of the battle in the colors of 303 was Czech Josef František. Among them, the only newcomer from North America was Kent, a Canadian in RAF service.

The Kościuszko tradition did not end with the dissolution of the squadron in 1946. In May 1993, the 1st Fighter Aviation Regiment "Warsaw" in Mińsk Mazowiecki adopted the traditions of the pre-war 1st Air Regiment, to which the 111th Squadron belonged. In 2009, the emblem with a diameter of three meters was painted on fighter MiG-29 number 15, and as part of the "Warsaw Sicklemen" project, each aircraft of the unit received a patron. One of them is American Cedric Fauntleroy, commander of the Kościuszko Squadron, commemorated by MiG-29 number 42.

Witold Urbanowicz in China with American Pilots

The most American chapter in the history of Squadron 303 was written by its commander during the hottest days of the Battle of Britain. Witold Urbanowicz, who led the squadron into battle in September and October 1940, flew over China three years later with an American unit descended from the legendary "Flying Tigers."

Lectures for the Polish Community and the Mission in Washington

After the Battle of Britain, Urbanowicz worked on the staff of the 11th Fighter Group, and from April 15, 1941, he commanded the 1st Polish Fighter Wing in Northolt. Biographers agree that he was not well-liked by the Polish aviation authorities. In June 1941, he was removed from flying duties and sent to the United States for a series of lectures aimed at encouraging Americans of Polish descent to join the Polish Armed Forces.

According to the Battle of Britain London Monument, he also gave lectures on tactics at American air bases. In the summer of 1942, he completed an instructor's course in the United Kingdom, and on November 3, 1942, he became the deputy air attaché at the Polish embassy in Washington. Sources differ on the details here. Some English-language accounts state that he was assigned as the second air attaché in the USA as early as June 1941, while Polish sources and the Battle of Britain London Monument mention lectures in 1941 and a diplomatic post from the autumn of 1942.

Guest of the 14th Air Force

In the spring of 1943, Urbanowicz met General Claire Chennault, who invited him to China. In September 1943, the Pole volunteered and joined the American 14th Air Force, fighting against the Japanese in China. Chennault commanded it, being the creator of the volunteer group "Flying Tigers." After brief stints in the 16th and 74th squadrons, on October 23, 1943, Urbanowicz was assigned to the 75th Fighter Squadron, part of the 23rd Fighter Group, which inherited the traditions and nickname of the "Flying Tigers."

He flew the American fighter Curtiss P-40N, known as Kittyhawk in the RAF and Warhawk in the USA. He participated in battles during the fight for Changde, escorting bombers and transport planes. The most notable day came on December 11, 1943, over the airfield in Nanchang. Urbanowicz engaged in combat with Japanese fighters and shot down two of them. These two victories were officially recognized.

As for the types of aircraft involved, sources disagree. Reports mentioned Zeroes, but British historian Nicholas Millman writes that they were actually Nakajima Ki-44 fighters from the 85th Sentai, while Polish sources speculate they were Nakajima Ki-43s. This is common in aviation history: a pilot recognizes the silhouette of an aircraft in a split second and does not always do so accurately.

How Many He Really Shot Down in China

Officially, he was credited with two shootdowns over China. Urbanowicz claimed that there were many more. In his memoirs, he wrote that he destroyed 11 aircraft in the Far East, six in aerial combat and five during attacks on Japanese airfields in China and Taiwan, at the moment of takeoff or landing. He added that upon returning from China, he submitted the documents to the Polish Aviation Inspectorate in London. These additional victories were never officially confirmed, so only two Japanese aircraft are counted in ace tables.

His American colleagues remembered him as an exceptional observer. In "Fire Over China," Urbanowicz quotes the words of one of the pilots from the 75th squadron, who compared Urbanowicz to a Hindu master, a swami, because after the fight, the Pole could recount what each participant in the encounter was doing. Urbanowicz himself claimed that no enemy bullet ever hit his aircraft.

Medals and a Meeting That Never Happened

For his service in China, Urbanowicz received the American Air Medal, announced in 1944, as well as the Chinese Aviation Cross and the Chinese pilot badge. Some Polish sources also list the American Distinguished Flying Cross among his awards, but without a date, and English-language accounts and the Battle of Britain London Monument do not mention this decoration, so it is not confirmed. It is certain that he has the British Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded in October 1940 for the Battle of Britain.

It is tempting to connect this story with Merian C. Cooper, the founder of the Kościuszko Squadron. Cooper was indeed in China and worked for Chennault. He was the chief of staff of the China Air Task Force, the predecessor of the 14th Air Force, and on October 25, 1942, he led a raid of twelve B-25 bombers and seven P-40 fighters on the docks of Kowloon in Hong Kong. However, from 1943, he served as the chief of staff of the bombing command of the 5th Air Force in the South-West Pacific. The sources we used do not confirm that Urbanowicz and Cooper met in China, so this should be treated solely as an interesting coincidence of fates.

Return to Washington

He ended his combat flights in China in mid-December 1943. Some accounts state that he returned to the United Kingdom in December, but the Battle of Britain London Monument indicates that he was once again in Kunming at the beginning of 1944. This is corroborated by a photograph from January 11, 1944, in which General Chennault presents him with an award. After that, Urbanowicz returned to the United Kingdom, and in August 1944, he went back to Washington, this time as the Polish air attaché. He held this position until July 1945, when the United States withdrew recognition of the government of the Republic of Poland in exile. In October 1945, he was placed in inactive status. He described his Chinese adventures in the book "Fire Over China," published in Kraków in 1963. After the war, he settled permanently in New York.

America Looks at Squadron 303

For the average American in 1940, the Battle of Britain was taking place far away, and the United States was not yet at war. American interest in Squadron 303 grew slowly: through books, visits from Polish pilots, and later through historians, filmmakers, and museums. Many of these stories begin with the same question: how did stars and stripes end up on a Polish aircraft in the RAF?

America Remembered Cooper's Squadron

Americans could learn about the history of the Kościuszko Squadron long before the Battle of Britain. In 1932, D. Appleton published in the USA the book "Wings Over Poland" by Kenneth Malcolm Murray, one of the American pilots of the squadron, about the history of the 7th Squadron from 1919 to 1921. The Kościuszko Squadron was the first aviation unit to have a mobile base in a train. Specially adapted cars transported aircraft, and they also housed the staff, spare parts, workshops, and the pilots' quarters.

In the case of Squadron 303 in 1940, the British press documented it better. The IPN states that their successes, personal charm, and complicated biographies made the Poles favorites of the newspapers, and reporters filled English pages with reports about the heroic pilots. In America, the legend mainly reached through books and people.

Lectures, Recruitment, and Camps in Canada

The Supreme Commander General Władysław Sikorski, after a warm welcome from the Polish community during his visit to America, hoped that thousands of volunteers would come from the USA and Canada. In April 1941, Canadian authorities agreed to enlist, and two centers were established: a recruitment center in Windsor in Ontario, just across from Detroit, and a reserve center in Owen Sound. General Bolesław Duch arrived in Windsor on July 20, 1941. He had at his disposal 37 officers and 57 soldiers, including five aviation officers and two from the navy.

Witold Urbanowicz was also involved in this action, working in the aviation mission. The hero of the Battle of Britain was supposed to attract young Americans of Polish descent, but the mission ended in failure. The Polish youth often did not read Polish, the older generation remembered that the Second Polish Republic did not keep its promises to volunteers from World War I, and after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the USA's entry into the war, the influx of volunteers from the United States ceased. By March 15, 1942, 895 volunteers had been accepted, of which 727 came from the United States. The mission leaders argued among themselves, and Urbanowicz criticized General Duch for attempts to subordinate the aviation mission. On April 25, 1942, Duch ended his mission, and on June 27, 1942, the entire Polish Military Mission in Canada was disbanded.

"Squadron 303" in English

An important ambassador for the squadron in America turned out to be the book by Arkady Fiedler. After the British edition in 1942, an American edition was published in 1943 by the New York publishing house Roy Publishers, titled "Squadron 303: The Story of the Polish Fighter Squadron with the R.A.F." As in other wartime editions, the pilots appeared under pseudonyms to protect their families in occupied Poland.

The book found new life again in America. In 2010, on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and at the request of the writer's son, the California publishing house Aquila Polonica from Los Angeles released a new English translation titled "303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron." This was the first new English edition since 1942, with the real names of the pilots and nearly 200 historical photographs, maps, and illustrations. In 2011, it won the gold Benjamin Franklin Award in the history category.

"A Question of Honor" – American Journalists on Squadron 303

In September 2003, the New York publishing house Knopf released the book "A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II." It was written by American journalists Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud, authors of the previously published book about CBS correspondents, "The Murrow Boys." It has over 500 pages and traces the fates of five pilots from the squadron from pre-war training, through escape to France and England, and the Battle of Britain, to the post-war years.

The book is more than just a history of the unit. The authors show how Poland, a loyal ally, found itself under communist rule for over forty years with the consent of Britain and the United States, attributing this to the misjudgment of Stalin's intentions by Western leaders. "Publishers Weekly" called it "a solid addition to the history of World War II aviation" and praised the thoroughness of the research. A reviewer from the magazine "Military History," whose text is published by HistoryNet, criticized the authors for allowing the thread of great politics to overshadow the pilots themselves for a long time.

In 2004, the book was published in Polish as "Sprawa honoru. Dywizjon 303 Kościuszkowski. Zapomniani bohaterowie II wojny światowej." On January 30, 2009, Stanley Cloud, along with the air attaché of the US embassy, Colonel Walter Munyer, visited the 23rd Tactical Aviation Base in Mińsk Mazowiecki, a unit that cultivates the traditions of Squadron 303, and spoke there about his book.

"Hurricane," or "Mission of Honor"

The English-language film "Hurricane" by David Blair was released in Polish cinemas on August 17, 2018, under the title "303. Battle of Britain," and in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2018. In the United States, it was distributed under the title "Mission of Honor." On April 30, 2019, Cinedigm released it in the USA on Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming services. On Rotten Tomatoes, the American version has 86 percent positive ratings, but based on only seven reviews. The portal Culture.pl noted that the film tries to stick to the facts, but the needs of drama often take precedence over history, so the film should be treated as an entry into the subject rather than a history textbook.

"Kosa" in Connecticut and Washington

In the United States, the squadron has its own permanent exhibition at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The museum prepared it together with researchers from Central Connecticut State University, where a Polish studies program operates. The organizing committee was led by historian Professor Mieczysław B. Biskupski, and the fundraising for the project and installation of the exhibition aimed to raise $125,000.

The exhibition was officially opened on November 11, 2021, on the National Independence Day of Poland and American Veterans Day. It tells the entire Kościuszko line, from the volunteers of 1919, such as Merian C. Cooper and Cedric Fauntleroy, to the pilots of Squadron 303. It features photographs, films, pilots' diaries, wartime uniforms, replicas of aircraft, a restored Merlin engine, and an interactive kiosk with stories of flights and people. The Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York, Adrian Kubicki, said during the opening that the exhibition showcases the heroes who made Poland an independent country today.

The emblem with the rogatywka and scythes also has its place in Washington. At the Institute of World Politics, there is the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies, and the badge of Squadron 303 is its symbol. The group of donors supporting the chair is called the "303 Squadron Club." The insignia designed over a hundred years ago by an American pilot in Polish service thus returned to the country from which its stars and stripes originated.

Pilots of Squadron 303 Who Settled in America

The war ended in May 1945, but for Polish pilots in Great Britain, it did not mean a return home. The Poland they fought for was under communist rule, and many of them were born in territories that, after Yalta, fell under Soviet control. Those who returned quickly realized how "Western pilots" were treated: verifications, surveillance, and in the worst cases, arrest and trial. According to Krzystek's List, out of approximately 11,000 members of the Polish Air Force Resettlement Corps, less than 3,000 returned to the country, about 500 joined the RAF, and around 2,800 left the Islands for other countries of settlement.

Where did they go? They spread across the globe, from Argentina to Australia, with North America being just one of the directions. Sometimes the routes across the ocean were indirect, for example, through the Republic of South Africa or Swaziland.

How They Went Across the Ocean

The door to the United States was opened by the Displaced Persons Act, signed by President Harry Truman on June 25, 1948. Thanks to this, by 1952, 393,542 displaced persons settled permanently in the USA, and one in three of them was born in Poland. However, the soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces living in England were not typical "D.P.s" from camps in Germany. Their situation was resolved only by the amendment of June 16, 1950. By signing it, Truman declared that 18,000 honorably discharged veterans of the Polish Army in exile, who had found a temporary home in England after the war, would be able to settle permanently in the United States. This was a number of places, not the number of those who actually arrived.

Canada agreed to accept Polish veterans earlier, as early as 1946, mainly soldiers of the 2nd Corps from Italy. The conditions were tough: everyone had to sign a contract and work as agricultural laborers for two years, regardless of education and previous profession. The first transport arrived in Halifax on the ship "Sea Robin" in November 1946. Sources vary on the number of those accepted under this program: the Association of Polish Combatants in Ottawa mentions about 5,000, while the Canadian Museum of History states 4,527.

The pilots from Great Britain took various paths: to family, for work in the aviation industry, sometimes after spending several years elsewhere. Below, we describe individuals whose service in Squadron 303 and later life in the USA or Canada are confirmed by biographies based on personnel records and relevant literature. Many well-known "Kościuszkowcy" do not belong to this group. Jan Zumbach settled in France, Jan Rogowski and Eugeniusz Szaposznikow in England, Leon Świtoń in Argentina, and Mirosław Wojciechowski served in the RAF until his death in an aircraft accident in 1956.

Witold Urbanowicz – From Airline Statistician to General

His story is described in more detail in the guide on the Battle of Britain, so here are just a few lesser-known details. After being discharged from service, he started modestly in New York: for about a year, he was a statistician at American Overseas Airlines, and from November 1946 to June 1947, he was the secretary of the YMCA board. On August 17, 1947, he sailed to Poland on the "Batory," officially to visit family and gather materials for lectures in America. We discuss his detentions during this trip and his obligation to cooperate with the military intelligence of the PRL in the guide on the Battle of Britain. According to documents stored in the IPN, he maintained contacts with this intelligence in the United States from 1948 to 1949, and the materials he provided were assessed as of little value. After returning in January 1948, as reported by Sławomir Koper, he lost his job because he did not yet have American citizenship. Later, he worked among others at Eastern Airlines, and according to Koper, he was also unemployed for over a year. Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud quote a memory from his son, according to which his father was bitter for many years: a small house in a working-class neighborhood in Queens and a low-paying office job did not resemble the dreams of a young pilot. He retired in 1973, but until 1994, he still advised the American aviation industry. He died in a veterans' hospital in Manhattan.

Zdzisław Krasnodębski – From Taxi Driver in Cape Town to Motorola in Toronto

The first Polish commander of Squadron 303 got to know North America during the war. After leaving the hospital in June 1941, he was sent on a military mission to Canada. He traveled around Canada and the United States, encouraging young people of Polish descent to join the Polish Armed Forces. After the war, he and his wife Wanda moved to Cape Town in 1948, but he could only find work as a taxi driver. In 1951, they moved to Canada. He first worked as a driver, then as an inspector at Sanderson Aircraft in Malton, and later worked at Motorola Canada, Addison Industries, and Canadian Radio Manufacturing in Toronto. The British Battle of Britain London Monument summarizes this briefly: he made a successful career in the radio and television industry. In 1956, he became a Canadian citizen, and in 1976, he received the Gold Honor Badge from the Lwów Circle for his efforts to preserve the memory of the Kresy. He died at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and was buried at Prospect Cemetery on St. Clair Avenue West.

Wojciech Kołaczkowski – Racer Who Sold Jaguars in New York

He was born on April 16, 1908, in Moszenki in Lublin Voivodeship, into a landed family. Before becoming a pilot, he was a rally driver. He participated three times in the Monte Carlo Rally, and in 1928, driving a Czechoslovak Zbrojovka, he was not classified, but according to Polish biographies, he received an award for being the youngest participant. As the IPN reminds us, he achieved his greatest successes in the late 1930s. In 1937, he won the smallest class of the International Rally of the Automobile Club of Poland on a DKW, and the following year, he was second in his class on a Lancia Aprilia.

He joined Squadron 303 in December 1940. On June 17, 1941, he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 over Cape Gris Nez, and on November 21, 1941, he took command of the entire squadron and held it until May 6, 1942. He then commanded the 2nd Polish Fighter Wing. After the war, he traded used cars in England, and then emigrated across the ocean and settled in the United States. In New York, he was a sales representative and factory driver for companies such as Austin, BMC, Leyland, and Jaguar. He was active in the Polish Pilots Association and the Józef Piłsudski Institute in London. In the mid-1990s, he moved to Sarasota, Florida, where he died on July 19, 2001, at the age of 93. According to his wishes, his ashes were interred on September 6, 2001, at Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Tadeusz Sawicz – The Last of the Battle of Britain

He was born on February 13, 1914, in Warsaw. In September 1939, he flew as a liaison officer and on September 14 landed his P.11 in besieged Warsaw with orders for General Juliusz Rómml. He was assigned to Squadron 303 on October 20, 1940, in the final phase of the Battle of Britain, and in February 1941, he transferred to Squadron 316. Later, he commanded Squadron 315 and Polish fighter wings. In 1944, he was a liaison officer with the American 9th Air Force and organized a Polish section in the 61st Fighter Squadron of the USAAF. For this, he received the American Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal.

In November 1957, he emigrated to Canada. He worked in the aviation industry and airlines, living in Montreal and then in Etobicoke near Toronto. In 2005, he flew to London for the unveiling of the Battle of Britain London Monument. On May 3, 2006, President Lech Kaczyński promoted him to brigadier general. He died on October 19, 2011, in Toronto, at the age of 97, as probably the last living Polish pilot of the Battle of Britain. On November 29, 2011, his ashes were transported from Canada to Warsaw, where the next day, in the presence of Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak and British honor guard, he was buried at Powązki Military Cemetery.

Jan Falkowski – Farmer Near Toronto and Flight Instructor

He was born on June 26, 1912, in Pohulanka. He spent his childhood in Siberia, where his parents died during the revolution, and he reached Warsaw only in September 1922. He fought in the Battle of Britain in the British 32nd Squadron. In July 1943, he took command of Squadron 303 and led it until November 1943. During this time, he shot down two Focke-Wulfs Fw 190, on August 22 and September 6, and a third one probably. On March 9, 1945, already as the commander of the 3rd Polish Fighter Wing, he was hit by anti-aircraft artillery over the Netherlands and was captured. He escaped from transport in Zwolle and hid with the Dutch resistance until the arrival of Canadian troops.

The Canadians proved important for him even after the war. In 1947, he moved to Canada, bought a farm about 20 miles from Toronto, and taught flying at a local flight school. On August 9, 1962, he was flying with his wife, son, and another passenger in a single-engine Mooney west of Toronto, lost his way, and ran out of fuel. He made an emergency landing in a swamp from which it was impossible to walk out. By chance, he was spotted by the pilot of another plane, and all four were rescued by helicopter. In the 1960s, he wrote his memoirs "With the Wind in My Face," later published in Poland as "Z wiatrem w twarz." He died on July 27, 2001, in Peterborough, Ontario.

Tadeusz Kotz – From Escape Through the Pyrenees to Collingwood

He was born as Tadeusz Koc on August 9, 1913, in Grabanów. Before joining 303 in July 1943, he flew in squadrons 307, 317, and 308. On February 3, 1943, he was shot down over northern France, landed near Saint-Omer, and with the help of the French resistance, crossed through Paris and the Pyrenees to Spain, and from there to Gibraltar. On February 21, he reported to Northolt. His escape report was classified until 1973. From November 1943 to September 25, 1944, he commanded Squadron 303.

In 1948, he married Julia Jacyna, who served in the British WAAF and had previously gone through Soviet exile in Siberia with her family. They went together to Swaziland, where he worked on a farm for a year, but returned to England and got a job at Martin-Baker, which produced ejection seats. In 1956, he moved to the company's branch in Collingwood, Ontario. He worked there until its closure, which occurred after the cancellation of the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow fighter program, and then until retirement at a refrigerator and automotive glass factory. During his emigration, he changed the spelling of his surname to Kotz. In 2005, he published his memoirs "Błękitne niebo i prawdziwe kule" in Canada, which were only released in Poland in 2018 as "303. Mój dywizjon." He died on June 3, 2008, in Collingwood and is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery there.

Bolesław Gładych – "Mike Killer" and Psychotherapist from Seattle

He was born on May 17, 1918, in Warsaw and as a student caused so much trouble that he was expelled from three Warsaw high schools. According to Polish biographies, he was assigned to Squadron 303 in the spring of 1941 (some sources say autumn 1940), and he made his first operational flight on May 3, 1941. On June 23, 1941, in two flights, he claimed the destruction of several Messerschmitts, and while flying a damaged Spitfire, he crashed at Manston Airport and was seriously injured. Later, he flew in Squadron 302, and from 1944, thanks to Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, in the American 61st Fighter Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group on Thunderbolts. He was never formally accepted into the USAAF, and his colleagues called him "Mike Killer." On the Polish list of Bajana, he has 14 confirmed kills, while American records attribute him with 10 victories during his service in the USA.

After the war, he reportedly smuggled goods from England to France and flew illegally in a Norseman towards Linz in occupied Austria to fetch his brother Jan. He then emigrated to New York and flew DC-3s for Rainbow Airlines. He became a naturalized American citizen and settled with his wife Elisabeth in Seattle. According to Polish biographies, he collaborated with Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed and earned a doctorate in psychology. In Seattle, he worked for many years as a psychotherapist. He died in Seattle on July 12, 2011, at the age of 93.

Walerian Jasionowski – From Squadron 303 to Los Angeles

He was born on February 10, 1905, and started as an observer in the Naval Aviation Squadron. On September 1, 1939, after the death of Mieczysław Medwecki, he took command of the Kraków III/2 Fighter Squadron. In Great Britain, he was the first commander of the newly formed Squadron 308, and he served briefly in Squadron 303 in the summer of 1943. From January 1944, he was an operations officer at the headquarters of the American air forces. After the war, he did not return to communist Poland, emigrating to the United States, where he died on June 17, 1977, in Los Angeles.

Juliusz Frey – From Leconfield to Canada

He was born on July 14, 1907, in Opary near Drohobycz. On September 1, 1939, as the commander of the 114th Fighter Squadron, he shot down a Heinkel He 111. On November 12, 1940, he was transferred to Squadron 303, which was resting after the battle in Leconfield, Yorkshire, and on February 19, 1941, he was sent to Pembrey to organize Squadron 316. He encountered Canada during the war: in 1943, he flew Mosquitos in the Canadian 418 Squadron, a night intruder unit. In 1946, he left the military and later settled in Canada. He last lived in White Rock, British Columbia, and died on March 30, 1991.

Bolesław Fujarczuk – From the Telephone Exchange in Northolt to House Construction in Mississauga

The squadron is not just pilots. Bolesław Fujarczuk was born in 1924 in Romanówka in the Tarnopol district and as a teenager was deported deep into the Soviet Union. With Anders' army, he escaped to Iran, enlisted in the air force in Iraq, and by ship around Africa, he reached Liverpool at the end of 1942. In 1943, he was assigned to Squadron 303. In a recording for the IPN Oral History Archive, he recounted that he operated the telephone exchange through which pilots were called for dispersal before combat flights, and that all his colleagues envied him for being assigned to such a famous unit. In 1944, he was with the squadron over the English Channel during the invasion, then completed a radio navigator course.

Until 1949, he worked in the demobilization office of the resettlement corps and helped send his colleagues to Australia, America, Mexico, and Africa. He himself went last, to Canada, where his brother and aunt were waiting. He arrived still in uniform. He worked in a foundry, then sold real estate, until he and his brothers started building houses. They built their first house by hand, and in total, as he recalled, they built 68 houses, then residential buildings and industrial facilities in Mississauga, employing Poles wherever possible. Since 1951, he belonged to the Toronto "Warsaw" Wing. As a 97-year-old, he was one of the initiators of the Polish pilots' monument in Mississauga.

Polonia and Veterans

The aviators who arrived in North America did not land in a vacuum. Organizations established by veterans of the First World War were waiting for them, and soon they began to create their own circles and wings. For many, these were the only places where they could talk about the war with people who understood what Northolt or Dęblin meant.

Veterans' Associations

The oldest is the Polish Army Veterans Association in America (SWAP). It was founded in May 1921 at a convention in Cleveland, Ohio, by volunteers from the USA and Canada, over 20,000 of whom fought in the Polish Army in France, known as the Blue Army. In 1939, SWAP had 141 branches in the USA, Canada, and Poland. During World War II, it assisted in the recruitment campaign for the Polish Army conducted in the States and Canada from 1941 to 1942, the same campaign in which Krasnodębski and Urbanowicz participated. After 1945, its ranks were joined by veterans of the Second World War. It was the Toronto Branch 114 of SWAP, initiated by Commander Krzysztof Tomczak, that led to the exhumation of the ashes of Zdzisław and Wanda Krasnodębscy in 2013 and their transportation to Poland.

Veterans of the Polish Armed Forces in the West also created their own Polish Combatants Association (SPK), founded in 1946 in London as a federation of organizations in the countries of settlement. The first Canadian SPK circle was formed in Italy on October 3, 1946, before the soldiers left the Falconara camp near Ancona. At its peak, SPK in Canada had 22 circles, from Victoria to Montreal. In the United States, SPK organized itself in 1952, had its headquarters at 180 Second Avenue in Manhattan, and operated until 2012. Among its goals was to secure rights for Polish veterans similar to those enjoyed by American veterans.

Aviators' Wings

The aviators had a separate organization. The Polish Air Force Association, later known as the Polish Pilots Association, was established in the United Kingdom in 1945, and by the end of that year, 6,000 people had registered. Its branches abroad were called wings. In Los Angeles, Dr. Tadeusz Mrozowski gathered former Polish aviators into a local squadron of the association on December 21, 1951. In 1962, its scope was expanded to Arizona, Oregon, and Washington, and the organization adopted the name Pacific Coast Wing. Its headquarters was located at 3424 West Adams Boulevard. The number of members decreased from 120 in 1962 to 50 in 1993, but the main task of the association remained to raise funds for veterans, widows, and orphans.

In Toronto, there was the "Warsaw" Wing. Among its members were Bolesław Fujarczuk from Squadron 303, Marceli Ostrowski, a pilot and gunner from Bomber Squadron 301, who joined in 1956, and radio navigator from Squadron 307 Stanisław Sadowski, elected president in 1977. Zdzisław Krasnodębski dedicated much of his time to social work within the aviation community.

Monument in Mississauga

The first monument to Polish aviators in Canada had to wait until November 28, 2021. The "Spiral of Victory" was erected in front of the John Paul II Cultural Centre in Mississauga. It was designed by Canadian artists of Polish descent, Ania and Wojtek Biczysko. From a steel obelisk on a triangular base rises a composition of three airplanes, symbolizing the fight in the air. The monument commemorates not only the pilots but also the ground personnel and women from the Women's Auxiliary Air Service, and no names were intentionally placed on the plaque. The construction cost was estimated at 195,000 Canadian dollars. Part of the funding came from the Canadian Ministry of Veterans Affairs, and the project was also sponsored by the IPN. Among the initiators were Bolesław Fujarczuk and the son of the late Marceli Ostrowski, Chris, who passed away in 2020. "There is no such monument in Canada," Fujarczuk told Polish Radio while fundraising.

Honors After 1989

For the aviators in exile, the fall of communism meant that the homeland could finally officially say "thank you". Witold Urbanowicz came to Poland in June 1991, and on November 11, 1995, President Lech Wałęsa appointed him a brigadier general. Wojciech Kołaczkowski received the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland on August 27, 1998, and his image was later placed on the MiG-29 fighter number 67 from the 23rd Tactical Air Base. Streets in Kraków and Lublin, as well as a school in his hometown of Olszanka, bear Urbanowicz's name.

Graves on Both Sides of the Ocean

Some of the "Kościuszkowcy" rest in North America. Witold Urbanowicz is buried in the Polish cemetery at the Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, known as American Częstochowa, where many Polish veterans are buried. Tadeusz Kotz rests in Collingwood, Ontario. Others returned to Poland after their deaths, such as Sawicz and Kołaczkowski, while Zdzisław Krasnodębski and his wife Wanda, after more than thirty years at Toronto's Prospect Cemetery, were laid to rest at Powązki on May 14, 2014.

Interesting Facts

• Francis Gabreski, an American of Polish descent and son of immigrants from Frampol, wanted to fly with Squadron 303. Since 303 was resting at the time, he joined the Polish Squadron 315 in Northolt in January 1943.
• In April 1944, the American 61st Fighter Squadron accepted five more Polish pilots as the "Polish Flight". The Polish section was organized in this squadron by Tadeusz Sawicz, a former pilot of 303.
• Bolesław Gładych painted a penguin with the inscription "Pengie" on his planes. This was the name he gave to his girlfriend, a Canadian from the WAAF.
• Arkady Fiedler's book about Squadron 303 was published in English in New York as early as 1943 by Roy Publishers.
• A new English edition of Fiedler's book was published in 2010 by Aquila Polonica from Los Angeles. It included the real names of the aviators, hidden under pseudonyms in the wartime edition, and in 2011, the book won the Benjamin Franklin Gold Award in the history category.
• The most famous American book about Polish aviators, "A Question of Honor" by Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud, was published in 2003 by the New York publishing house Knopf. In the subtitle, the authors simply referred to the squadron as "The Kosciuszko Squadron".
• Zdzisław Krasnodębski, before becoming the head of Squadron 303, volunteered as a sixteen-year-old in the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920, the same one in which American volunteers from the Kościuszko Squadron flew.
• The chronicle of the California Pacific Coast Wing notes that in September 1992, aviators from around the world gathered to transfer the banner of the Polish Air Force, donated during the war by women from Vilnius. Ceremonies were held in London, Warsaw, and Dęblin.