Newark
Boasting the largest volunteer-managed collection of aircraft in the UK, Newark Air Museum is a gem of aviation history. Tom Baker flew over on a recce
With most of Europe under Nazi occupation and Hermann Göring’s Luftwaffe attempting to wrestle the skies above Britain from the RAF, Polish pilots began to scramble to their Fairey Battle bombers at RAF Winthorpe, a satellite station of RAF Swinderby. It was late on September 14, 1940, the Battle of Britain was ongoing and hundreds of barges and ad-hoc invasion craft filled ports in France and the Low Countries waiting for the order to launch Operation Seelöwe. Attached to No.1 (Bomber) Group, RAF, three Battles of 301 (Polish) Squadron flew through thick cloud and total darkness towards their target: Boulogne, where seven German barges lay at anchor. The squadron’s first mission was a success, all aircraft returning to Winthorpe.
