A Hurricane lifts from RAF Northolt into a late summer sky, but the pilot climbing with it is not fighting his first war. He has already seen Poland fall. He has already seen France collapse. Now, over southern England, he is going back into combat once more.

This episode matters because 303 Squadron brought more than another line on the order of battle to the fight for Britain. It brought the anger, experience and determination of men who had already lost one country and had no intention of losing this one too, and in doing so, it proved something about what Fighter Command's system could absorb under pressure.

In this episode:

• How Polish pilots who'd already fought in Poland and France came to serve in RAF squadrons while keeping their national identity
• The initial doubts some British officers held about foreign airmen, and how quickly that changed
• Pilot Officer Ludwik Paszkiewicz's unauthorised kill, and why it forced the squadron into action a day early
• 303 Squadron's role in the 7 September 1940 attacks over London, and why its combat claims need careful handling
• The cost behind the reputation, nine pilots killed during the Battle of Britain
• What happened to Polish airmen after 1945, when many couldn't safely return home

Listen if you're interested in:

• Royal Air Force history
• British military history
• The Battle of Britain
• Exile, allied forces and multinational RAF service
• The human cost behind celebrated combat records

Explore more from The RAF Chronicle: For more on the history of the Royal Air Force, visit therafchronicle.co.uk to read the latest articles and explore the archive.

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