Polish evacuees and refugees with experience in aerial warfare were at first housed in a military camp in Eastchurch.
No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron was created On 1 July 1940[2] as the first such Polish unit at RAF Bramcote, as a part of the Polish Air Forces in Great Britain. As there was a large number of Polish airmen, often with experience in combat against German forces in Poland and France, further bomber squadrons were created by 24 July.
Between 19 July 1940 and 8 May 1945, the crews of 300 squadron flew 3,891 sorties and spent 20,264 hours in the air.
At first equipped with Fairey Battlelight bombers, the squadron was re-equipped with Vickers Wellingtonmedium bombers on 16 November 1940. The squadron used several variants, including Mark IC, IV, III and X. In 1941 while the unit was equipped with Wellingtons and flying from Hemswell on "gardening" (mining) operations, the squadron's Intelligence Officer was Michael Bentine, later to become well-known as an entertainer. On 5 March 1944 the unit was re-equipped with Avro Lancasterheavy bombers. It was the only Polish squadron that operated Lancasters, and it continued to use them until the end of World War II (Mk I and Mk III variants).
The last mission was the bombing of Obersalzberg on 25 April 1945 against Adolf Hitler's residence in Berchtesgaden. The unit was disbanded in January 1947,[2] after the Allies withdrew their support for the Polish government-in-exile.