The Blackhawk Squadron was formed in the early days of World War II. A Polish American pilot was in Poland, flying for the Polish air force, when Germany invaded. The pilot's brother and sister were killed in a German bombing raid. He swore vengeance and gathered a team of crack pilots from the nations allied against the Nazis. In one version of this origin, the team was secretly sponsored by Winston Churchill. The Blackhawks battled both the Nazis in the European Theater and the Japanese in the Pacific.