(An appendix issue of Britain's war stamps)

 1941 

Jan 21 315 Polish Fighter Squadron formed at Acklington. Read more.

Jan 25 S/Ldr H.D. Cooke appointed British CO of the 315 Squadron.

Feb 21 First order of the day.

Mar 13 The unit arrived at RAF Speke (9 Group), Lancashire. Pilots still flew training flights.

Mar 18 Squadron became operational.

Mar 23 Squadron's first operational flight. Section of four a/c flew patrol over the convoy. Till July 14, when squadron moved to Northolt, 315's pilots flew 447 patrol flights. Most of them were over the sea in defense of the Mersey mouth. See photos. 

Mar 27 Patrol over Preston in a force of six Hurricanes. Four a/c and three pilots lost. Read more.

Jun 3 Lady Jersey's first visit to "her" squadron. Read more.

Jul 1 British officers, S/Ldr H.D. Cooke, F/Lt H. Davy and F/Lt A. Edy left the squadron. 315 is solely under Polish command from then on.

Jul 13 Squadron moved to Northolt (11 Group), Middlesex, to be a part of the 1 Polish Fighter Wing under the command of the valiant and shrewd W/C T. Rolski. Next day got reequipped with Spitfire MkIIA and MkIIB . Pilots welcomed this move with jubilation since, for a long time they anticipated fighting the enemy plane and they all hated flying patrols. Some recollections of F. Kornicki in Read more.

Aug 9 Circus 68 (Wing) over Cap Gris Nez/Saint Omer/Gravelines. Take-off at 10:40 a.m. Yellow section attacked Schwarm of Bf109s. As a result F/Lt Mickiewicz scored the first victory for the squadron; P/O Fiedorczuk claimed one Bf109 destroyed, Sgt Malczewski one Bf109 probable, and P/O Gil one Bf109 damaged.
Circus 69(10 a/c). Same route. Take-off at 17:30 p.m. Squadron clashed with e/a. F/Lt Mickiewicz 1 Bf109 destroyed, S/Ldr Pietraszkiewicz 1 Bf109 probable, P/O Gil 1 Bf109 probable, F/Lt Szczesniewski 1 Bf109 damaged.
F/O Czerniak (P8506) and Sgt Niewiara (P8696) were KIA. Combat reports.

Aug 14 Rodeo (Wing) over Hardelot/Fruges/Saint Omer. "Deblinski's" great day. Read more.

Aug 19 Circus 81 (Wing) 6 Blenheims escorted to Bethune. Led by F/Lt Szczesniewski were F/O Falkowski, F/O Nowak, F/O Wolinski, F/O Czaykowski, P/O Miksa, Sgt Matus, Sgt Blok, Sgt Kowalski, Sgt Jaworski, Sgt Stalinski and Sgt Cwynar. At 5:35 p.m. squadron took off with the whole Wing to fly medium-level cover. Few minutes after crossing a French coast "Deblinski" was attacked by 8 Bf109s. Section led by F/O Falkowski successfully engaged right Schwarm, shooting down three e/a. Some pilots landed in Manston and Biggin Hill with empty fuel tanks. For 315 scored: F/O Falkowski, F/O Nowak and Sgt Blok.
Circus 82 over Manston.

Aug 21 Squadron (11 a/c) assisted in repelling e/a attacks on Circus 83 - 6 Blenheims and 5 Spitfire squadrons - coming back from Bethune. F/O Falkowski claimed one Bf109 destroyed. Squadron suffered no losses.
Rodeo over St. Omer.

Aug 29 Circus 85 (6 Blenheims) over Hazebrouck. Fight with Bf109s. F/Lt Mickiewicz (P8713) became a POW. Read more.

Aug 31 Squadron got reequipped with Spitfire V. Shipping protection over S. Dungeness. Circus 85 over Mardyck.

Sep 13 Sweep (Wing) over St. Omer. Fight with Bf109s. F/O Wolinski (AB923) KIA. Read more.

Sep 15 The squadron reequipped with Spitfire VB.

Sep 21 Circus 101. Blenheims escort over Bethune (France). Read more.

Sep 22 S/Ldr Szczesniewski became 315's new commander.

Sep 27 Circus 103 over Le Crotoy. Combat report.

Oct 21 Rodeo (Wing) over St. Omer. Takeoff at 11:00 a.m. ~2.5 hrs. Led by S/Ldr Szczesniewski were F/Lt Falkowski, P/O Miksa, P/O Drybanski, P/O Zajac, Sgt Chudek, Sgt Kowalski, P/O Fiedorczuk, P/O Lukaszewicz, Sgt Jaworski, Sgt Malczewski and Sgt Gruszczynski. Squadron clashed with multiple e/a (Bf109 and FW190).
P/O Lukaszewicz, P/O Miksa and P/O Drybanski, 1 Bf109 destroyed, each. Sgt Chudek 1 FW190 destroyed. P/O Fiedorczuk, P/O Miksa, P/O Zajac and Sgt Gruszczynski, 1 Bf109 probable, each. P/O Miksa 1 Bf109 damaged. Squadron suffered no losses. Three Spitfires returned badly shot-up. See photos.

Oct 24 Rodeo (Wing) over Gravelines/Foret Deperlegues/Cap Gris Nez. Takeoff at 2:40 pm. Squadron clashed with ~60 Bf109s. Victory scored: F/Lt Falkowski and Sgt Malczewski, 1 Bf109 destroyed, each. F/Lt Czajkowski and P/O Gil, 1 Bf109 probable, each. Wounded, P/O Fiedorczuk crashed landed in England.

Nov 8 Circus 110. (Three full Wings. Two Polish and one British) Blenheims escorted to Bethume-Livin. Takeoff at 11:05 a.m. While returning home, near Arras, S/Ldr Szczesniewski (W3944 PK-A) R/T empty fuel tanks. He forced-landed and became POW.

Nov 12 S/Ldr Janus took command of 315. Read more.

Nov 23 Low Ramrod over Gravelines.
"Rhubarb". Escorting Hurribombers over to Bourbourg. Squadron strafed various ground targets and experienced a very heavy flak. F/O Grzech (AB934 PK-E), Sgt Kosmalski (W3698), Sgt Stalinski (AB937), P/O Grudzinski (W3896) and P/O Lukaszewicz (W3573), all KIA. With badly shot-up a/c, Sgt Jaworski and wounded in the hand Sgt Krieger, landed in Manston. F/O Olszewski landed in Castle Camps. Only four a/c returned to Northolt. S/Ldr Janus's and P/O Stembrowicz's a/c were damaged. F/O Groszewski and Sgt Lipiec were the only ones with undamaged a/c.

Dec 8 Low Ramrod 15 (Wing) over Berck sur Mer/LeTouquet. Squadron fought with Bf109s. Read more.

Year 1941 ended for 315 "Deblinski" with a total of 33 e/a destroyed, 12 probable and 7 damaged.
Its losses were: 14 pilots KIA or KAS, 3 POW and 2 wounded. Squadron lost 18 Spitfires.