111th Fighter Escadrille ( Poland ) The 111th Fighter Escadrille of the Polish Air Force ( ) was one of the fighter units of the Polish Army . Created in 1921 , immediately after the end of the Polish - Soviet War , the unit inherited the traditions of the famous war - time Polish 7th Air Escadrille ( known as the Kościuszko Squadron ) , in which both Polish and American volunteers served . History . The unit was created on May 19 , 1921 out of two previously - existing units , the Polish 7th Air Escadrille and the Polish 18th Air Escadrille of the 1st Air Regiment . Initially it was manned mostly by the American veterans of the earlier unit , including Cedric Fauntleroy . However , soon afterwards most of the American pilots returned home and the unit was manned with Polish officers . Nonetheless , it retained the roundel and the traditions of the Polish - American unit . In 1934 the unit was the first to receive the then - modern PZL P . 11c fighters . In 1936 the escadrille was stationed in Sarny and was providing air cover for a construction of border fortifications at the frontier with the Soviet Union . During one of the sorties Lt . Witold Urbanowicz , later to become one of the fighter aces of World War II , downed a Soviet Polikarpov R - 5 biplane reconnaissance aircraft flying a reconnaissance mission over the area . In 1939 it was attached to the Pursuit Brigade , a large fighter unit held in reserve of the Commander in Chief . As part of the Polish 3rd Squadron of the 1st Air Regiment ( ) under Zdzisław Krasnodębski , the unit was stationed at the airfield at Zielonka and provided air cover for the nearby city of Warsaw . During the Polish September Campaign the first sortie — and the first success of the escadrille — took place on September 1 , at 4 in the morning , that is roughly an hour before the fights for Westerplatte started , an event which is usually taken as the starting point of World War II . The escadrille was scrambled to intercept a large formation of enemy bombers escorted by Messerschmitt Me110 heavy fighters . Over the area of Modlin the enemy formation was intercepted and forced to retreat , dropping their bombs on uninhabited areas . Lt . Palusiński downed one enemy Dornier Do17 and probably damaged another plane of that type . Palusiński himself was wounded by enemy fire . Later that day another bombing raid on Warsaw was intercepted , this time covered by Messerschmitt Me109 fighters . During the air battles over Warsaw the escadrille ' s commanding officer managed to down one enemy fighter , but was then shot down and wounded . The command was taken over by his deputy , Lt . Januszewicz . The following day the escadrille did not encounter any enemy formations . On September 3 a flight from the escadrille , providing air cover for Col . Stefan Pawlikowski intercepted a formation of enemy Me110 fighters over Wyszków . Lt . Januszewicz and Corporal Karubin downed two enemy fighters . However , at the same time another flight led by Ferić was dispersed and had to return to base . One of its pilots did not return to the escadrille until September 10 . On September 4 the escadrille was transferred to the Zaborów airfield near Leszno . Its commanding officer downed a Junkers Ju87 ( other sources mention a Dornier Do17 ) . The following day Strzembosz and Januszewicz scored another two victories , this time over a Me110 and Ju87 , respectively . On September 6 Januszewicz scored yet another Ju87 . On September 7 the escadrille was evacuated to eastern Poland and was stationed in the Kierz airfield near Lublin . It briefly operated from the airfield of Ostrożec near Łuck , but returned to Lublin area the following day ( Strzelce and Werba airfields ) . The last confirmed victories were over a reconnaissance Henschel Hs 126 on September 9 ( Ferić ) and Heinkel He 111 on September 11 ( Wróblewski ) . Altogether during the campaign the unit downed 8 enemy planes ( other sources mention 7½ ) while losing 9 of its own PZL P . 11c fighters . After the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17 , the unit was evacuated to Romania together with its 4 remaining fighters . From there the majority of the pilots were able to get to France and the United Kingdom , where many joined the Polish Air Forces in exile . The traditions of the escadrille , as well as its predecessor , was then continued by the No . 303 Polish Fighter Squadron , one of the most successful Allied fighter units of the war . Crew and equipment . On September 1 , 1939 the escadrille had 9 planes , including 7 PZL P . 11c and 2 PZL P . 11a . Throughout the war it received an additional PZL P . 11c as reinforcement . The air crew consisted of kapitan ( Captain ) Gustaw Sidorowicz , his deputy porucznik ( Lieutenant ) Wojciech Januszewicz and 16 other pilots :