Over the Normandy Rooftops
Text: Jan Zdiarský
Illustration: Kateřina Borecká
Cat. No. 8281
The activities of the RAF Fighter Command in the spring of 1944 were mainly focused on supporting Allied air superiority over the western part of Europe and on blowing wide open the Western Front. The tasks of the fighters therefore consisted in escorting tactical and strategic bombers and, above all, in attacks on ground targets that supported the main adversary, the German Luftwaffe, as well as the transport infrastructure.
The Second Tactical Air Force was set aside within the RAF to coordinate the air force with ground forces, especially in the post-invasion period. Its headquarters was established on June 1, 1943, and more than seventy squadrons from the fighter and bomber headquarters of the RAF (including all three Czechoslovak fighter squadrons) were gradually included in it.
Changes to the structure required reorganization at Fighter Wing level. Polish fighter squadrons were also included in the new organizational structure, for which the 131st and 133rd Fighter Wings were created. While the 131st Fighter Wing consisted of Polish Nos. 302, 308 and 317 Squadrons, the 133rd Wing had the 306th, 315th and 129th (British) Squadrons under it. The 131st Fighter Wing flew British Spitfire Mk.IXs and the 133rd used Mustangs Mk.IIIs. The main task of both units was to support the invading troops directly on the front line. This is also why troops were moved to the continent as soon as the situation allowed. The Spitfire Mk.IXs were equipped with bombs weighing 250 pounds under each wing, or 500 kg bombs under the fuselage. Before and after the invasion, fighter planes operated at ground level, where they were easier prey for German light and medium flak, but also German fighter planes, especially in the pre-invasion period. Another significant opponent of these operations was the difficulty of comparative navigation, flying purely according to maps, without the possibility of support from operation centers and often complicated by the unclear situation on the front.
In the period before the invasion, in addition to these ground attacks, Polish airmen from both fighter wings also participated from time to time in the search and destruction of V-1 missile launch sites, and the escort of American, also as RAF bombers. The tasks were challenging. Many took off two or three times a day, the ground crews worked tirelessly from morning to late evening or through the night to get the planes ready for the next day.
The Poles participated in the invasion itself on June 6, 1944, in the form of repeated armed patrols covering the disembarking troops. Similar tasks were repeated in the following days. Already on the fifth day of the invasion, the 302nd squadron became the first Polish unit to land in liberated territory in northern France. The landing took place after a morning patrol over the combat area for refueling. The newly built landing strip (RRS - Rearming and Refueling Strip) was used for this. The Poles then continued their patrol before returning to their English base.
In order for air units to be able to move to France permanently, demanding preparations had to be undertaken. Practically all airports on the western part of continent were damaged by previous Allied bombings or by German units during evacuation. Often, it was the result of both. Build facilities for air and ground personnel, aircraft maintenance, arming and refueling presented significant challenges. And although the engineer troops, following behind the invading troops, did what they could, the desire of the ground troops to have their air support and protection as close as possible could only be fulfilled after several weeks. Provisional airstrips and often primitive facilities were created in the front area.
The 131st Fighter Wing, of which the 302nd Squadron was a part, moved to France on August 3rd, 1944. Its temporary home was an airstrip in northwestern France designated B-10, near the village of Plumetot in northern Normandy. From there, the airmen continued to attack German ground and naval forces. Conditions at Plumetot were difficult. Airmen slept in tents, there was no protection for parked aircraft, significant when you consider that the base was still within range of German artillery. Hot days filled the air with dust, while rainy days created ubiquitous mud. Combat activity was demanding, each squadron engaged in several combat operations a day.
One of the members of the Polish 302nd ‘City of Poznaň’ Squadron, who participated in its operations for a long time, was twenty-five-year-old W/O Henryk Dygala, whose Spitfire LF Mk.IXc became the subject for Kateřina Borecká's box art for a kit of this type in 2012. which we are currently producing as a second re-release.
In the following months, the 302nd Squadron, and with it the entire 131st Fighter Wing, undertook operations in the campaigns to liberate Western Europe and to occupy Germany, such as the Ardennes offensive, the German Operation Bodenplatte, and the operations in the north of Germany. The unit ended the war at Base B-113 near Bremen. After the war, it was part of the British Occupation Forces, after which it returned to Great Britain at the end of 1946. The 131st Fighter Wing was disbanded on January 3rd, 1947. A large part of the Polish airmen decided not to return to their homeland, for which they had fought throughout the war, because it was already clear that a communist future awaited them. Many of Polish airmen therefore remained in the UK. One of them was W/O Henryk Dygala, who lived there until the age of 83.