No. 302 Squadron — City of Poznań

No. 302 (City of Poznań) Polish Fighter Squadron was formed at RAF Leconfield on 13 July 1940, one of several Polish units established in Britain following the collapse of France and the evacuation of Polish airmen who had already fought in the campaign there. Equipped initially with Hawker Hurricanes and assigned to No. 12 Group, Fighter Command, the squadron entered combat in August 1940 and took part in the closing stages of the Battle of Britain as part of the Duxford Wing. After converting to Supermarine Spitfires in late 1941 the unit shifted to offensive operations — bomber escort, cross-Channel sweeps, and convoy protection over the Irish Sea — before adopting a fighter-bomber role in the spring of 1944 in preparation for the Normandy invasion. On 11 June 1944, five days after D-Day, No. 302 became the first Polish squadron to land in France, subsequently advancing through Belgium and into Germany as part of No. 131 Polish Fighter Wing and No. 84 Group, Second Tactical Air Force. The squadron’s combat record included 63 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed and 43 damaged at a cost of 20 pilots killed, 12 missing, and 9 taken prisoner before it was finally disbanded at RAF Hethel on 18 December 1946.