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The owl, in the left upper corner of the main aviation page, is actually the emblem of 113 Eskadra, one of the more successful Polish fighter units in the September 1939 campaign. On this page you'll see the insignia and statistics concerning this, and all the other regular Lotnictwo Wojskowe fighter squadrons. Aside from these, there were also some other units (most notably, the Deblin Group), which were organized ad hoc during the first days of fighting. One pilot, Lt. Henryk Szczesny, scored 2 kills while single-handedly defending Wielick airfield, flying the PZL P.11g Kobuz prototype. The numbers of kills by Polish units are cited after J. Pawlak's Polskie eskadry w wojnie obronnej 1939, which is an invaluable reference work for the subject. However, these numbers likely include a certain number of what should be classified as probable kills. Numbers given by Pawlak add up to 147 kills, while the actual number of confirmed kills in the Polish campaign, according to the war-time research by special Polish Air Force commission, was 126. There is also a likelihood of some overclaiming, but considering all circumstances, the actual number of German aircraft shot down by fighter pilots in the campaign was probably somewhere between 110 and 130. Given the enormous technical and numerical advantage of the Luftwaffe, these numbers show the excellent skills and determination of Polish fighter pilots, which they went on to prove in the Battle of Britain, and other campaigns on the Western front. |
