Before the outbreak of World War II, the Polish government signed an agreement with the Royal Air Force which stipulated in part that should war break out with Germany two Polish bomber squadrons would be created on British soil, with an additional two squadrons formed en cadre.

[1] During the German and Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939 the country was overrun too quickly to allow for these units to be formed.

[2] With the fall of France the following spring Polish airmen began arriving in the United Kingdom in larger numbers.

[4] 301 (Polish) Squadron was initially commanded by podpułkownik (W/Cdr) Roman Rudkowski, and was equipped with 16 Fairey Battle light bombers.

Three aircraft took part in a night bombing raid against German invasion barges intended for Operation Sea Lion, which had been collected at Boulogne.

[8] In the following weeks the squadron bombed ports of Boulogne, Calais and Ostend without losses, performing a last mission on 15 October 1940.

[8] On 20 October 1940 the squadron was withdrawn from active service and re-equipped with heavier Vickers Wellington Mk IC bomber, with a crew of six instead of three.

Ground crew support for the squadron was expanded, however it did not reach British norms and amounted to some 220 men.

[6] On 22 December, the squadron's first mission in the Wellington (and the only that year) was flown against oil refinery facilities in Antwerp (three aircraft).

[10] Following a raid on Bremen on the night of 1 January 1941, the squadron was shaken when bad weather and poor visibility resulted in the loss of 3 of their aircraft and 11 airmen when the planes crashed while attempting to come down through a snowstorm at RAF Waddington.

[10] On 12 February 1942 the squadron took part in an exceptional daylight operation against Channel Dash of German battleships, but did not find targets due to bad weather.

[13] On the night of 30–31 May 1942, fourteen aircraft took part in a thousand-bomber raid against Cologne (Operation Millennium), without losses.

[15] In total, six crews were lost in June and five in July 1942, making these months the worst in the squadron's history.

[10] From end of May 1942 the squadron also performed low-level night mining sorties against German waters, in addition to the airwar over Germany.

[10] In first months 1943 it continued operations, and from 5 March 1943 participated in the Battle of the Ruhr, but it was only able to send 5-6 aircraft a night.

139 of them were killed in action (including five in training crashes), 55 were taken prisoner of war (two of whom were murdered after Stalag Luft III escape: Włodzimierz Kolanowski and Paweł Tobolski).

[18] It had seven crews and operated three Handley Page Halifax and three Consolidated Liberator special transport bombers.

[5] On 22 December 1943, the Polish flight was transferred to Campo Cassale near Brindisi, Italy, from where it flew special operations duties over occupied Europe.

An effort was undertaken to supply Polish insurgents after the start of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944.

The squadron operated the Handley Page Halifax and Consolidated Liberator until February 1945, flying supply missions to occupied Europe.

[5] Thus, 301 Squadron was in fact two completely different units, with two different roles and different aircraft types; one operated bombers, the other performed transport special duties.

[4] It featured a red griffin "rampant" (occasionally drawn "passant") on white pentagonal shield.