No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron

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No. 300 Bomber Squadron
The crew of the "Assam Bomber", Hemswell, 1942
Information
Role	-
Aircraft Operated	Fairey Battle, Vickers Wellington, Avro Lancaster
Home Station	varied
Unit's code	BH
Squadron holiday	-
Ussualy	-
History
Date Founded	July 1, 1940 in Bramcote
Date Disbanded	February 2, 1947 in Faldingworth
Badge
Notable Battle Honours	Operation Seeloewe, Millennium Offensive, bombing raids on V-weapon sites, D-Day, crossing the Rhine, Battle of the Ruhr, bombing of Hamburg and Battle of Berlin.

No. 300 (Polish) "Land of Masovia" Bomber Squadron (Polish: 300 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi Mazowieckiej") was a Polish World War II bomber unit. It was fighting alongside the Royal Air Force and operated from airbases in the United Kingdom.

Władysław Sikorski (right) visits base of the 300 Squadron, with (left) RAF Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal.

It was created on July 1, 1940 at RAF Bramcote, as a part of the Polish Air Forces in Great Britain. Between July 19, 1940 and May 8, 1945, the crews of the squadron flew 3891 sorties and spent 20,264 hours in air.

Initially equipped with Fairey Battle light bombers, the squadron was equipped with Vickers Wellington medium bombers on November 16, 1940. The squadron used several versions, including Mark IC, IV, III and X. On March 5, 1944 the unit was re-equipped with Avro Lancaster bombers and continued to use that bomber until the end of World War II (versions Mk I and Mk III).

Lancaster "Madame 4x Hard-to-Get" from the 300 squadron. (August, Feldingworth, 1944).

During the war, the squadron took part in most of the notable air offensives in Europe, including attacks on German Navy preparing for Operation Seelöwe, Millennium Offensive, bombing raids on V-weapon sites, D-Day, crossing the Rhine, the Battle of the Ruhr, the bombing of Hamburg and the Battle of Berlin. The last mission was flown on May 8, 1945 against Adolf Hitler's residence in Berchtesgaden. The unit was disbanded on January 2, 1947, after the Allies withdrew their support for the Polish government.

[edit] Details

Period		Notes
Commanding Officers
July 1, 1940	Lt.Col. engineer pilot Wacław Makowski	with W/Cdr K. P. Lewis as a British supervisor
July 18, 1941	Maj. pilot Stanisław Cwynar
January 27, 1942	Maj. pilot Romuald Suliński
August 1, 1942	Maj. pilot Władysław Dukszto	Since July 9 a c/o commander
October 31, 1942	Maj. pilot Adam Kropiński
May 4, 1943	Maj. pilot Mieczysław Kucharski
November 18, 1943	Maj. pilot Kazimierz Kuzian
January 18, 1944	Maj. pilot Adam Kowalczyk
April 1, 1944	Maj. pilot Teofil Pożyczka
February 2, 1945	Maj. pilot Bolesław Jarkowski
September 17, 1945	Maj. pilot Romuald Suliński
February 22, 1946	Maj. pilot Bolesław Jarkowski	until the dissolution of the unit after the Allies withdrew their support for the Polish government.
Airfields
July 1, 1940	Bramcote
August 22, 1940	Swinderby
July 18, 1941	Hemswell
May 18, 1942	Ingham
January 31, 1943	Hemswell
June 22, 1943	Ingham
March 1, 1944	Faldingworth