DO NOT be fooled by the age old claim and propaganda, completely false and groundless, that the Polish air force was destroyed on the ground and that there `was no campaign in September 1939 as the Poles were caught completely by suprise!’ The only possible reason to promote these lies is to cover up the extent to which the Polish Air Force damaged the `invincible' Luftwaffe.
For Germany, the stunning reverse the Luftwaffe suffered in the air over Poland needed covering up, particularly from its own population and ground forces. With Germany facing the combined strength of France and Britain in the next campaign, it would hardly have inspired confidence to learn that the Luftwaffe had outnumbered its opponent by 4:1 in its first serious outing, had superior aircraft, and had been humiliated.
This is also borne out by the statistics of the air campaign, one of the most striking being the comparative losses in fighter combat. In the first six days of the war, Polish fighters racked up 105 confirmed kills, while losing only 63 of their own fighters. Overall in the campaign the Poles would maintain a 2:1 kill ratio in aerial combat – not bad for a force outnumbered 4:1 and with slower and more lightly armed aircraft.
Statistics – particularly air combat statistics – can often be misleading, but there is one element to the statistics of this air campaign that is unique in World War II. Routinely, and in almost every air force in the world, the “confirmed” kills from aerial combat usually ran about two to three times higher than the actual losses suffered by the opponent, as verified by the post-war examination records of those air forces. To my knowledge there is only one exception to this rule. The claimed kills by Polish pilots and AA gunners in the September campaign – because the Polish criteria for a confirmed kill was so exacting – were actually lower than the recorded German combat losses.

Here are the statistics on the comparative numbers and losses in the campaign.
Polish Air Strength:
Total Aircraft: 435
First Line Combat Aircraft: 313
Total Losses: 327 (75%)
Combat Losses: 187
Air-to-air combat: 70
Enemy ground fire: 30
Friendly Ground Fire: 33
Destroyed on ground: 54
Damaged and written off: 140
Evacuated to Romania: 98 (mostly fighters) Unaccounted for: 10

German Air Strength:
Total Aircraft: 2085
First Line Combat Aircraft: 1323
Total Losses: 564 (27%)
Combat Losses: 285 (from German records) (Polish claimed kills: 220) (Polish claimed air-to-air kills: 133) (Polish claimed ground-to-air kills: 87) Damaged and written off: 279
As you can see, the German losses were higher – 172% - of the Polish losses for this period, hardly a walkover!!

Also the claim and false propaganda that the Luftwaffe caught the Polish Air Force on the ground and destroyed it in the opening round of the offensive which has been not only broadcast by major British TV channels and also `documented’ falsely in publications
The Polish Air Force was mobilized and prepared for the German offensive, and its combat squadrons were well-dispersed to satellite fields the day before the war began. On the first day of the German offensive, the only airfield attacked in strength was a field near Krakow where 28 unserviceable aircraft (which had not been able to fly to the dispersion fields) were destroyed. The only other really successful Luftwaffe attacks on a Polish airfield took place on September 14 and 15, two weeks into the campaign, when German bombers managed to catch and destroy 17 serviceable PZL 23B light scout bombers at the Hutniki airfield.

The Polish Air Force remained a dangerous  seriously out-numbered force throughout the campaign until the Soviet intervention on September 17, at which time the surviving fighter squadrons were ordered to fly to Romania and intern themselves. By this act, one third of the original first-line combat strength of the Polish Air Force survived destruction.
So as you can see by the information above, especially the combat losses suffered by the Luftwaffe which are documented in official records and the Germans were very serious about keeping accurate records, that the statements often spouted by so called `historians’ who make these wild unsubstantiated claims are indeed not only statistically incorrect but also blatant lies, carried on from the false propaganda spouted by Germany and obviously never actually checked to see if these statements were in fact correct.

Information curtesy of Rob Citino, Historian, University of North Texas

Polish Squadron scores (taken from www.polishairforce.pl)

including the date they become operational with the RAF

Dest – prob - dam

302 op’n with RAF 26th July 40 in France was 1/145 Escadrille (squadron)

50½ - 31 – 16 (with RAF)

First kill 20-8-40

32 kills poland Sep 39

12 kills France 40 (1/145)

Total:

94½ - 31 - 13

303 op’n 30th aug 40

203 – 39 – 24

First kill 30-8-40

306 op’n aug 40

69 – 15½ – 27

307

30¾ - 7 - 17

308 op’n Sep 40

69½ – 13 – 21

315 op’n Jan 41

84 – 18 – 30

316 op’n feb 41

45½ - 19 – 21

317 op’n feb 41

48⅓ - 10 – 27

Polish Fighting Team (Skalski's Circus) op'n Feb 43

25 - 3 - 9

Polish `Lista Bajana' totals:

922 19/30 - 188 - 258 23/30

*Note* that official RAF records credit the Polish squadrons with a total of 957 destroyed

Also 58 aces (claiming 5 kills or more)