with German fighters, new FW190s among them. New scores were added.

With unfavorable weather setting in, the rest of the year brought much less action. In November, the 303 made seven offensive missions and only three in December. In combat in 1941, No. 303 Squadron aggregated 46 enemy aircraft destroyed, seven probably destroyed and four damaged, with a loss of 9 pilots (three COs). Two pilots were lost in accidents and were rescued from the channel. The unit also lost 20 Spitfires. The beginning of the year featured long stretches of a bad weather, and only one offensive sortie was flown in January. Few, one-section convoy patrols was all the unit had done till mid February. On the 12th that month, the whole squadron was scrambled for the searchof German battleships "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau", dashing through the channel. Led by W/Cdr Rolski, Poles flew a fruitless sortie in a bad weather and were directed by the ops to patrol some 100 km east of German convoy.

Two days later, the 303 suffered a painful loss. F/O Feric, the BoB veteran and the unit's chronicler died crashing a newly received Spitfire during test flight. Toward the end of February, the weather begun to cooperate and the RAF seized the opportunity to renew its offensive actions. The American 8th Air Force joined in and the Allied bombing effort intensified. Numerous missions needed escort, and the 303 flew many of those. On 13 March, Poles flew as a top cover in the "Circus" of 8 Bostons on their way to