Corgi AA39303 Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I 307 (Polish) Sqn EW-K, N3437

The only Polish Night Fighter Squadron to fly alongside the RAF’s own, 307 Squadron was formed on the 24th August 1940 as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in exile and the RAF. Flying from RAF Kirton-In-Lindsey in Lincolnshire, the squadron soon acquitted itself well, flying the Boulton Paul Defiant. Moving to RAF Clyst, Honiton, in 1941, the Squadron succeeded in shooting down a number of enemy bombers, including a brace of Heinkel He111s. Already outclassed as a day fighter due to its unorthodox turret armament, the Defiant found itself to be a capable night fighter, able to bring its powerful turret armament to bear more easily against lone German bombers operating at night. The Polish were not however that keen on their mounts and when the Squadron exchanged the Defiants for Beaufighters in the autumn of 1941, the squadron personnel where not too sad to see the single engine fighters depart.