Interesting tidbit

[Simaril]

He flew for the 303 Kosciuszko Squadron.  Very interesting book written on the named A Question of Honor By Lynne Olson abd Stanley Cloud.

#S#  Banshee7

Great book. The "Question of Honor" cut many ways - the pilots who flew for the honor of Poland, the RAF's honor in their treatment of the unit during the war (they didn't want to cut the foreigners loose, so the Poles almost had to go off the reservation to get into their first scraps), and especially the dishonorable way the Poles were treated at war's end.

Many of these guys were flight instructors, the best of the best and enormously skilled. Olson suggests their reputation for being overly aggressive hot dogs likely came more from their uberness compared to the average BoB pilot, as the Poles were confident enough to dive in where the doctrinaire feared to tread.

[uptown]

Anyone care to guess where the first American officer was killed in WWII?I will check back and see if anyone can get it right later.
ID

I would have to guess that the first American officer to be killed was in China flying for the Flying Tigers.

[Tyrannis]

I would have to guess that the first American officer to be killed was in China flying for the Flying Tigers.

forgive my limited knowledge of beginning ww2, but didnt the FT get transfered to china in 1937? and ww2 didnt officially start till august 1939? 

[uptown]

well it's all i could think of 

[Banshee7]

Great book. The "Question of Honor" cut many ways - the pilots who flew for the honor of Poland, the RAF's honor in their treatment of the unit during the war (they didn't want to cut the foreigners loose, so the Poles almost had to go off the reservation to get into their first scraps), and especially the dishonorable way the Poles were treated at war's end.

Many of these guys were flight instructors, the best of the best and enormously skilled. Olson suggests their reputation for being overly aggressive hot dogs likely came more from their uberness compared to the average BoB pilot, as the Poles were confident enough to dive in where the doctrinaire feared to tread.

I do remember reading about how "crazy" the Brits thought the Poles were for getting up close and personal when firing.  But what really hit me was the way the Brits treated the Poles.  It's almost like that they still regarded them as a minority after all they'd done.  An example is when the Polish pilot, I can't remember his name, stood watching the Air Parade in tears because they wouldn't allow the Poles to be involved in it.

#S#



Banshee7

[Simaril]

yeah, the Brits were afraid of offending the Communist government by honoring expatriates.