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Dave Coull · Oops........

From today's "Courier"

BNP campaign’s plane error

By Stefan Morkis

THE BRITISH National Party’s European Parliament campaign is using a Spitfire to illustrate an election leaflet calling for an end to immigration that was actually part of a Polish squadron.

The BNP is using an image of the Polish Spitfire on campaign literature that calls for an end to immigration from Eastern European counties.

According to the leaflet, which is being distributed to households across the country and has been described as “tasteless” by a leading military historian, there is a “new battle for Britain” taking place—and uses an image of a Polish fighter ace to reinforce its point.

The pamphlet goes on to say that a vote for the BNP is a vote against the EU, the Euro and immigration.

Embarrassingly, the Spitfire they have chosen to use for the leaflet, which features the tagline “British jobs for British workers—because we’ve earned the right” was flown by a Swiss-born Polish war hero who came to Britain after being evacuated from France in 1940.

The plane clearly shows the letters RF, the code for the 303 Squadron. It was formed in 1940 and manned entirely by Polish personnel who had escaped to the UK from France.

Other markings on the plane indicate it belonged to fighter ace Jan Zumbach who claimed eight kills and one probable during the Battle of Britain and earned his country’s highest military rewards.

As well as the red and white checks of the Polish Air Force that can also been seen behind the propellers of the plane, there is also a “Donald Duck” style cartoon painted below the cockpit—the same figure Zumbach had painted on each of his three Spitfires.

The BNP has been criticised for using three American models on adverts proclaiming their policy of “British jobs for British workers” while partly leader Nick Griffin has come under fire for suggesting that anyone who is not white cannot be considered British.

He launched the party’s European campaign using a poster of the Spitfire as a backdrop, but denied it had been a blunder to use the image.

However, Dr Diana Henderson, honorary research director with Scots At War, a charity set up to collect and preserve information about all aspects of Scottish military history, said the use of the plane would be insulting to Polish veterans and their families.

In 2002, she edited the book The Lion and the Eagle, which collected stories from Polish ex-servicemen who served and settled in Scotland.

As well as pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain, huge numbers of Poles escaped to the UK, around 50,000 of which were posted up and down the east coast of Scotland, including in Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross.

In all, around 10,000 Poles settled in Scotland.

“It is a very emotive issue and this is not the most sensitive way of handling it,” said Dr Henderson.

“This is a bit tasteless.”

She said that many Poles could not return to their homeland after the war so using an image of a Polish hero on material promoting an anti-immigration message was particularly insensitive but this claim has been denied by the BNP faithful.

Although neither the party’s press officer or lead Euro candidate in Scotland, Gary Raikes, responded to The Courier’s calls yesterday, Michael C. Smith—who is to stand against Gordon Brown at the next general election—said he did not believe using the image was insulting.

“They (Poles) played a very important role in what we all believe in, which is freedom and democracy,” said Mr Smith.

“I think it is quite appropriate —we’re not against sensible immigration, but there are a lot of issues.

“If you were born in Karachi and had lived there for 30 years you would not be Pakistani. Why is it a Romanian or an Asian Muslim coming off a plane in Glasgow is British?”

Born to Polish parents in Switzerland, Jan Zumbach hid his nationality to join the Polish army in 1934. He joined the Polish Air Force in 1938, the year before the country was invaded by the Nazis.

He escaped to England by boat in June 1940, and soon became a founding member of the No 303 Polish Fighter Squadron.

Formed in 1940, pilots flew Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain. The squadron was re-equipped with Spitfires in January 1941, when it began offensive sweeps over France.

The squadron was eventually disbanded in December 1946.

Zumbach, whose final tally during the second world war was 13 confirmed kills, five probables and one damaged, died in Paris in January 1986, and was buried at Powazski Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2009/05/19/newsstory13161624t0.asp

Reluctant Hero

BNP = British Numpty Party