Author Arkady Fiedler was a bestselling travel writer researching in Tahiti when World War II began. He made his way back to Europe and joined the Polish Army in France after Poland had fallen to the Germans. Fiedler managed to get to England with the other Polish forces after the fall of France, where he saw all the attention that the Polish pilots of 303 Squadron were getting from the British press—they were the highest-scoring Allied fighter squadron in the Battle of Britain. Fiedler recognized that their story would make a great book.