If I already mentioned this

[jc pacquin]

My sincere apologies......two books that some of you may enjoy....1. " A question of Honor" deals with the refugee Polish pilots who, after fighting the Germans in Poland, in lousy aircraft, fled to England and volunteered for The RAF. The British pilots, rather stuffy and full of themselves did not think these fellows were worth much. Finally, the poles were allowed to strap on spitfires and hurricanes and quickly showed the Brits how air combat should really be! They were a deciding factor in the Battle of Britian, shooting down lots of Germans and in doing so, changed the way the British flew. GREAT BOOK! Also " SPITFIRE! " by Jeffery Quill. Quill flew every spitfire from its inception with a wooden prop to the final griffon powered four bladed prop. Forced landings, in flight emergency s, etc. all in a days work. Being a history major I always look for this type reading. My wife found the first one for me. Bless her! JC

[Matt]

Thanks, JC, for the recommendations.

Sounds like great reading. I remember one scene in "Battle of Britain", when the Polish yelled in their language on the air-to-air radio, with the British pilots in the formation not understanding what the hell they were talking about. Even though probably exaggerated in the movie, communication between the two nationalities must have been a factor in real combat.

Matt

[jc pacquin]

That sure is a magnificent sedan you have! RE the polish pilots, eventually they had their own squadron, probably due to the language barrier. The polish pilots really had an axe to grind with the Germans so in the air it was no holds barred. They flew VERY close to the Germans before firing which accounted for their high rate of kills plus they already had quite a bit more experience than most of the Brits at the onset of the war. Some of the poles, after running out of ammo, would try to ram the German airplane. Some succeeded!